[clt_bmwguy]

I bought my 2024 X7 new from a dealer back in August of 2023. It had numerous issues with it crashing the nav unit, it would literally turn off and turn back on multiple times. My phone would never connect. After 5 trips to the dealer they replaced the brain of the nav unit. The system worked OK for a bit after that. It was no longer crashing repeatedly and telling me that safety functionality was disabled and I was able to sync my phone.

Fast forward about a month or so and my phone isnt syncing again and I have to reset the unit by holding down the power button and repairing my phone.

My phone syncs back but its just a headache as it happens again the following day stating that the bluetooth version was not supported. I reset it again and my phone synced. However now when I try to use "Hey Siri" apple carplay will just completely quit out and then reboot.

The dealer says it will be a month before I can get back in to get a loaner. Lovely.

Fast forward to this weekend. I parked the car and ran an errand with my toddler and came back out (maybe 10 minutes) and got in the car and it wouldnt start. It kept stating to place my digital key in the tray and attempt to start the car that way. What's weird is I had my physical key on me as well as my digital keys. The car wouldnt recognize any. When I got out of the car I tried to lock it with my key fob but nothing happened. however it let me lock the car with my apple watch.

I attempted to press the SOS button to get a hold of road side and nothing happened... hmm that seemed dead.

I then called bmw roadside and they attempted to help me trouble shoot. No luck there. They attempted to remotely connect in, they were unable to communicate with the car. Hmm...

While all of this is happening I'm trying to keep my 2.5 year old cool on a hot spring day in a car that wont start.

They eventually get me a lyft home and then I have to head back to meet the tow truck driver later on. When I got back to the car about an hour and a half later the car started but presented some errors relating to front collision safety sensors disabled and something else. (This same message presented itself earlier as well before they replaced the "brain" of the nav system.)

Absolute nightmare with this car. I am hoping BMW buys it back as its just not safe at this point. Does anyone have any advice on how to get them to take this car back?

Sorry for venting but this is just a nightmware. We have a one month old and a 2.5 year old. I can't trust this car to get us from A to B anymore and it has less than 5k miles on it.

[rjabend]

Scary and sorry to hear of your plight! I would look to Lemon Law for support in returning your vehicle.

[Orient330iNYC]

how many days out of service has it been?
if you have five documented visits for the same issue or 20 business days out of service, i would approach the service manager and and open discussions on a trade assist, do not mention lemon law or lawyer yet. you should also call bmw customer relations and have the same calm discussion with them about your concerns and the number of times its been in for repairs for the same thing.

if they refuse then consult with a lemon law attorney.

[rjabend]

Originally Posted by Orient330iNYC

how many days out of service has it been?
if you have five documented visits for the same issue or 20 business days out of service, i would approach the service manager and and open discussions on a trade assist, do not mention lemon law or lawyer yet. you should also call bmw customer relations and have the same calm discussion with them about your concerns and the number of times its been in for repairs for the same thing.

if they refuse then consult with a lemon law attorney.

I like Orients' advice better than mine,

[Young04]

That sucks. Sorry that happened to you. Was it a 6 or 8 cyl? Not sure that matters, just curious. I'm seeing so many stories of bricked new cars these days (way more than pre-COVID). Much worse with the domestic brands. The entire industry needs to get their act together.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by Orient330iNYC

how many days out of service has it been?
if you have five documented visits for the same issue or 20 business days out of service

Four or more times qualifies as a reasonable number of attempts in NC.

[Orient330iNYC]

Originally Posted by clt_bmwguy

I bought my 2024 X7 new from a dealer back in August of 2023. It had numerous issues with it crashing the nav unit, it would literally turn off and turn back on multiple times. My phone would never connect. After 5 trips to the dealer they replaced the brain of the nav unit.

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Four or more times qualifies as a reasonable number of attempts in NC.

yep, 4 attempts or 20 days out of service in nc. i was asking him if his five trips to the dealer were documented service visits vs in and out . if not a documented service visit, no paper trail and its harder to count towards the threshold.

[dcoopdeville]

I have experience in this.. Call a lemon law attorney now.

[clt_bmwguy]

I finally heard back from bmw customer relations. They said I would hear back by next Thursday about a possible buyback. I told my service advisor I didn’t want the car back as it’s not reliable or safe and he said they were looking into trade assistance.

They said there was over 60 faults related to low voltage. They said it had something to do with the “parking lights being left on”. I think they ar trying to reference a fault stored a long time ago to pin it on the current issue. as the car took me on several trips that morning perfectly fine and then left me stranded on the final stop. No warning of a low battery or anything like that. Plus the physical key was basically useless as I couldn’t even click lock or unlock on it. the digital key could just lock/unlock.


I’m hoping to get out of an x7 entirely and go with a different brand, if not I will just get another x7. However the buggy software and nav infotainment screen fumbles are really annoying.

Thank you all for your feedback. It’s a 40i. The engine and transmission are smooth, same with ride quality. It’s the electronics and software that are just abysmal.

[MystroX5]

I understand this could be very frustrating and I would be livid if this happened with my little kids in the car. I took a huge hit leaving Range Rover from 7 months of chronic reliability issues. I really didn’t care what it cost as we are talking about high end vehicles with owners demanding a competent vehicle.
Reliability is paramount as there is no amount of great ride or luxury features that can compensate leaving you stranded.
When the customer starts to expect less from a car company, that is what a car company will evolve to. Covid manufacturing principles is a prime example.

[JJacksonIII]

Originally Posted by clt_bmwguy

I finally heard back from bmw customer relations. They said I would hear back by next Thursday about a possible buyback. I told my service advisor I didn’t want the car back as it’s not reliable or safe and he said they were looking into trade assistance.

They said there was over 60 faults related to low voltage. They said it had something to do with the “parking lights being left on”. I think they ar trying to reference a fault stored a long time ago to pin it on the current issue. as the car took me on several trips that morning perfectly fine and then left me stranded on the final stop. No warning of a low battery or anything like that. Plus the physical key was basically useless as I couldn’t even click lock or unlock on it. the digital key could just lock/unlock.


I’m hoping to get out of an x7 entirely and go with a different brand, if not I will just get another x7. However the buggy software and nav infotainment screen fumbles are really annoying.

Thank you all for your feedback. It’s a 40i. The engine and transmission are smooth, same with ride quality. It’s the electronics and software that are just abysmal.

Sounds like you'll get a new X7 through trade assist. I think you'll be fine then, but totally understand if you don't trust it and want to trade it in for another brand. Unfortunately, I think all brands deal with this BS on some level. BMW is actually ranked higher in reliability than most other brands, luxory and standard. I say get the new X7 and see if anything bad happens. If it does, get it fixed under warranty and then drive it straight to a non BMW dealer and trade it in.

[JJacksonIII]

Remember when we used to just have to change a fuse when something goofy was happening with the electronics in the car? I love the tech, but it can lead to some seriously shitty situations. Can't wait til AI takes over our vehicles... that should lead to some interesting issues.

[rjabend]

Originally Posted by JJacksonIII

Remember when we used to just have to change a fuse when something goofy was happening with the electronics in the car? I love the tech, but it can lead to some seriously shitty situations. Can't wait til AI takes over our vehicles... that should lead to some interesting issues.

I guess you can blame it on tech, but many of the problems are in the BLUNDER category without even basic debugging. By the way "BMW is actually ranked higher in reliability than most other brands" may not be accurate since JDPower seems to rate the brand average. While not statistical, my experience rates them average optimistically as well.

[mattsrs]

Originally Posted by rjabend

I guess you can blame it on tech, but many of the problems are in the BLUNDER category without even basic debugging. By the way "BMW is actually ranked higher in reliability than most other brands" may not be accurate since JDPower seems to rate the brand average. While not statistical, my experience rates them average optimistically as well.

I find that JD Power ranking to be more of marketing tool than true indicator of reliability. Buick is ranked practically same as Toyota (147 vs 149 problems), that tells you all you need to know about this ranking

[rjabend]

Originally Posted by mattsrs

I find that JD Power ranking to be more of marketing tool than true indicator of reliability. Buick is ranked practically same as Toyota (147 vs 149 problems), that tells you all you need to know about this ranking

https://repairpal.com/reliability/bmw

[mattsrs]

Originally Posted by rjabend

https://repairpal.com/reliability/bmw

lol I dont think it is this bad. It is unfortunate that there is not reliable/objective/non-biased data/method out there for reliability

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by rjabend

https://repairpal.com/reliability/bmw

That site is meaningless. Not only do they factor cost into the reliability rating but it is based on MY's 2010 - 2019, hardly reflective of current vehicles.

[skrontz]

Originally Posted by mattsrs

Remember when we used to just have to change a fuse when something goofy was happening with the electronics in the car? I love the tech, but it can lead to some seriously shitty situations. Can't wait til AI takes over our vehicles... that should lead to some interesting issues.

“Back in the olden days,” we also didn’t get as much visibility into these issues. There was no widespread Internet usage or nice forums like this one to amplify your situation. BMW ships well over 20k X7 units every year, but how many of these exhibit such severe issues as the one described here?

[rjabend]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

That site is meaningless. Not only do they factor cost into the reliability rating but it is based on MY's 2010 - 2019, hardly reflective of current vehicles.

Guess I lost this one Should we ask BMW? Just kidding!

[swainbmw]

Originally Posted by clt_bmwguy

I bought my 2024 X7 new from a dealer back in August of 2023. It had numerous issues with it crashing the nav unit, it would literally turn off and turn back on multiple times. My phone would never connect. After 5 trips to the dealer they replaced the brain of the nav unit. The system worked OK for a bit after that. It was no longer crashing repeatedly and telling me that safety functionality was disabled and I was able to sync my phone.

Fast forward about a month or so and my phone isnt syncing again and I have to reset the unit by holding down the power button and repairing my phone.

My phone syncs back but its just a headache as it happens again the following day stating that the bluetooth version was not supported. I reset it again and my phone synced. However now when I try to use "Hey Siri" apple carplay will just completely quit out and then reboot.

The dealer says it will be a month before I can get back in to get a loaner. Lovely.

Fast forward to this weekend. I parked the car and ran an errand with my toddler and came back out (maybe 10 minutes) and got in the car and it wouldnt start. It kept stating to place my digital key in the tray and attempt to start the car that way. What's weird is I had my physical key on me as well as my digital keys. The car wouldnt recognize any. When I got out of the car I tried to lock it with my key fob but nothing happened. however it let me lock the car with my apple watch.

I attempted to press the SOS button to get a hold of road side and nothing happened... hmm that seemed dead.

I then called bmw [...]

Curious, what stopping you from trading it it ?

[rjabend]

Originally Posted by swainbmw

Curious, what stopping you from trading it it ?

Isn't he lucky that he doesn't have one of those unreliable vehicles?

[swainbmw]

Originally Posted by rjabend

Isn't he lucky that he doesn't have one of those unreliable vehicles?

I have traded before because of Unreliability