10-12-2020, 11:08 AM | #1 |
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Recurring warranty issue - Pursue a buyback?
I picked up my X7 40i at the beginning of June. I didn't go for the night vision or B&W sound, but it's otherwise loaded (~$94K MSRP).
Overall, I love the car. It's unbelievably quiet and smooth for cruising, and with the DHP, it's more fun to drive than a car this size has any right to be. The car looks great in Carbon Black with Extended Shadowline, and the interior is the nicest and most comfortable of any car I've owned. There is one issue that is really beginning to annoy me though. The first day I got the car, my family and I drove to a restaurant for dinner, and when my daughter went to adjust the back seat, a warning light came on the dashboard that said "Right rear seat unlocked". I did some research, and it seemed like others had the same issue. I tried some of the fixes suggested (cycling the seat through a few positions, manually folding the seat etc), but the light stayed on. I called the dealer the next morning and they asked me to bring the car in and said they'd take care of it right away. They said they re-initialized the seat, and it was good to go. All was fine for a few weeks, before the same error message reappeared. I made an appointment and took the car back to my dealer's service department to take care of it as well as a few other minor issues that were resolved by a software update. They had the car for a couple of days this time. They called me to let me know the car was fixed, I picked it up and went to pick my son and his bike up from a friend's place. I went to fold all the seats forward to put the bike in and.........nothing. The rear seats didn't work at all. I got the same error message I'd had before the repair as well as another one telling me that seat movement was restricted. I was not happy. The dealer had my car for two days, said they'd fixed this, and apparently had not even bothered to test the seat function. I made another appointment to take the car back and they said they were bringing a BMW regional tech in to look at it. They had the car for a week, and said they had finally sorted it out properly. Up until this weekend, the car has been fine since then (although I did have to take it back in because they put a small dent in my bumper while they had the car for this repair). On Saturday, I was driving with my son in the back seat. He adjusted the seat and the "Right rear set unlocked" error message came back. When we got home, I tried to cycle through the various seat folding options to see if that would help. Not only did it not work, the right rear seat and the right third row seat are now both stuck in the folded position and I'm not able to put them up even using the manual pull cord. I have an appointment to take the car back this Friday, and in the meantime, have to have my two kids in different rows whenever they're both in the car. This will be the fourth attempt at repairing this issue, and I am not at all confident that whatever they do will fix it permanently. On the one hand, I love the car, it is otherwise perfect, and it seems ridiculous that such a seemingly minor issue should trigger an owner to pursue a buyback / lemon. On the other hand, the car has spent the best part of three weeks in the shop for this in my 4.5 months of ownership, it's annoying to see the warning light whenever I look at the dashboard, it's inconvenient to lose the use of two seats yet again, and even if the seats were functioning while the error message was displayed, I have no idea if the car thinking a seat is "unlocked" turns off the airbag and seatbelt safety features for that space. I'm based in New York. The lemon law in New York says the car is a lemon if four or more attempts to repair a specific issue are made and the problem persists, or if the car is in the shop for a cumulative 30 days in the first 18,000 miles or two years. There is also a qualifier that says the problem must substantially impair the value of the car to the consumer. My instinct is to try to work with the dealer to properly and permanently repair the issue, while at the same time making them aware of my view of where things stand in relation to the consumer protection laws in NY. What are your views on the most effective way to work through this? Am I going to get the result I'm looking for (a trouble free car) through continued patience and trying to make it work with this car? Or should I be more aggressive at this point and try to leverage this into a replacement car that may not be exactly what I want given the change in options for 2021 (unless I move to an M50i)? Last edited by LowerEast; 10-12-2020 at 01:29 PM.. |
10-12-2020, 11:49 AM | #2 |
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Contact bmw corporate let them know. They would open a case for you. I am from nyc also and picking up my trade assist replacement tomorrow. Thou I had way more issues than you. The law is the law and you're on your 4th try from what you said.
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CruiseControl215.50 LowerEast110.50 |
10-12-2020, 01:08 PM | #3 |
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I would press for a buyback. You can make the claim that since the seat is not locking correctly is unusable since it would be a safety hazard to use.
At the very least they will get serious about providing the dealership with the technical assistance they need to fix the problem. |
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LowerEast110.50 |
10-16-2020, 01:36 PM | #5 |
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I called BMW Corporate earlier this week, told them the story, and they said they had added the notes to my file so that they have a record of what has happened to date and they will be able to see it has already been raised as issue if there is a recurrence.
I took the car in today and told my SA that this was going to be the last opportunity they would have to get this fixed permanently, and that if I had to bring the car in again for the same issue, they would be keeping it. We'll see how it goes. |
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10-21-2020, 06:10 AM | #7 |
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No real update yet. They called me on Friday (the day I dropped off the car) and said they had gotten the seats working again, but had ordered parts from Germany to permanently resolve the issue. Today is day 6 they’ve had the car this time. Day 24 overall in 4.5 months, but that includes 4 days to fix damage they did to my bumper when they had it for over a week.
I really do hope they can fix it because the car is otherwise perfect. I’m skeptical though. I get the sense they’re guessing at what might be causing the issue and hoping it works out. |
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