ABC News investigation on parked BMWs catching fire. BMW NA responds

[rouxeny]

Who will start the thread titled, "M2 just arrived!!! I don't smell any smoke. Should I park it in the garage or outside on the driveway??!??!"

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by rouxeny

Who will start the thread titled, "M2 just arrived!!! I don't smell any smoke. Should I park it in the garage or outside on the driveway??!??!"

Well it is a debatable point, and I'm not there yet. To be fair the numbers are very small, but what kind of electrical failure happens when the car is off that could cause this? If other manufactures were having the same problem then a conclusion of outside influence like nesting animals would make sense. Just saying.

[c63er]

Everyone of you Internet cynics would likely be the first the cry and whine when it's your turn for a major mechanical issue, out of proportion to expected use (like lets say a car going on fire or catastrophic engine failure from a timing chain, rear subframes that break, etc). You will tell us how since its "you" it's different.

Read the story again and tell me if that owner/enthusiast was treated well ? A little goodwill (gasp) would go a long way here.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Zippster

I do that, but damn all they had to do is shut the water off, the main is always outside the house. One call to the Water Co especially by the police would get them out there.

P.S Id rather deal with water damage than the whole house burning down from my BMW catching fire. The keys would be useless in this case, it only takes a few minutes for a burning car to really light up a house.

Winter everything was frozen solid outside I believe.

Yeah fire worse for sure but enough water same result just takes longer.

[MTHRAR]

Fake News from ABC, lol?

http://jalopnik.com/abc-news-big-inv...a-b-1795121798

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by MTHRAR

Fake News from ABC, lol?

http://jalopnik.com/abc-news-big-inv...a-b-1795121798

Interesting.

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by c63er

Everyone of you Internet cynics would likely be the first the cry and whine when it's your turn for a major mechanical issue, out of proportion to expected use (like lets say a car going on fire or catastrophic engine failure from a timing chain, rear subframes that break, etc). You will tell us how since its "you" it's different.

Read the story again and tell me if that owner/enthusiast was treated well ? A little goodwill (gasp) would go a long way here.

I agree regarding the treatment, but that's not how ABC News is framing the story. They're framing it as if BMW has a fire issue, which is disingenuous at best, and an egregious falsehood at worst.

While i feel for the guy, and I agree that BMW should have treated him better, this story is going to hurt every BMW owner, because the resale value of our cars will be driven down by the perception that BMWs are likely to burn up in a fire.

[IB M]

Perhaps they installed an igniter for the video as 60 minutes did with the GM trucks with side mount gas tanks back in the day.

[c63er]

Originally Posted by bradleyland

I agree regarding the treatment, but that's not how ABC News is framing the story. They're framing it as if BMW has a fire issue, which is disingenuous at best, and an egregious falsehood at worst.

While i feel for the guy, and I agree that BMW should have treated him better, this story is going to hurt every BMW owner, because the resale value of our cars will be driven down by the perception that BMWs are likely to burn up in a fire.

I have to agree but also disagree. It is simply the nature of journalism. It's never clean and perfect, especially muckraker journalism which is many times a broad stroke. But the benefits of this type of journalism outweigh the negatives.

Otherwise we'd still be eating canned soup with body parts in it, even though that was only a vast vast minority of soup cans. I prefer the 0 tolerance for human parts in my food standard we have now, which was borne out of journalists finding these issues and publicizing them.

Before anyone else feels to the need to reply with their "opinion" please look up "muckraker". I don't feel like holding anyone's hand today to walk them through the basics of life.

[Spa2k]

Many years ago, I bought a '78 Opel Isuzu for $1K to use as a winter driver. Right before I bought it, the previous owner put a new battery in it. Unfortunately, he bought one that was too tall, and the terminals just barely touched the inside of the hood. After 2 weeks of driving it, the paint wore through to bare metal and the battery shorted out and exploded - while it was sitting in a parking lot, not running.

So, here's the question: Should I call BMW or ABC News first?

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by Em-Two

Everyone knows ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN are all fake news anyway.

You should run for president.

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by Spa2k

Many years ago, I bought a '78 Opel Isuzu for $1K to use as a winter driver. Right before I bought it, the previous owner put a new battery in it. Unfortunately, he bought one that was too tall, and the terminals just barely touched the inside of the hood. After 2 weeks of driving it, the paint wore through to bare metal and the battery shorted out and exploded - while it was sitting in a parking lot, not running.

So, here's the question: Should I call BMW or ABC News first?

maybe the fire department considering what is going on.

[PandaM3]

Originally Posted by bradleyland

Not scary enough. Failed rod bearings won't burn your house down with "OMG THINK OF THE CHILDREN" inside.

But theoretically at speed it can lock up the engine causing loss of control and a fatal crash.

Or you can loose power to brakes and steering again leading to loss of control and a fatal crash.

Don't think that could happen? In 2015 Hyundai issued a recall on 470,000 sonatas for possible rod bearing failure on grounds that the engine could stall and cause a crash. After Hyundai said it was not an issue... the NHTSA said the became concerned with the possible high speed stalling and made Hyundai recall.

[cipher5]

Fake News!

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by c63er

I have to agree but also disagree. It is simply the nature of journalism. It's never clean and perfect, especially muckraker journalism which is many times a broad stroke. But the benefits of this type of journalism outweigh the negatives.

Otherwise we'd still be eating canned soup with body parts in it, even though that was only a vast vast minority of soup cans. I prefer the 0 tolerance for human parts in my food standard we have now, which was borne out of journalists finding these issues and publicizing them.

Before anyone else feels to the need to reply with their "opinion" please look up "muckraker". I don't feel like holding anyone's hand today to walk them through the basics of life.

Muckraker journalism is one thing, but this is another. IMO, it's a question of motive and ethics. The muckraker movement was born out of a desire to see improvement in the world. It was a willingness to publish taboo topics in an effort to expose political scandal. This modern brand of fear-based journalism is born out of the desire to draw eyeballs. It's more similar to gawker journalism (reporting on accidents and calamities) than it is muckraker.

The most dangerous aspect of this type of journalism is that it teaches a flawed way of thinking: some BMWs have caught fire, therefore all BMWs must have fire issues. That's a classic non sequitur. If the point were that BMW treats customers like shit, then why not address that topic honestly? Muckrakers were many things, but misdirection and dishonesty were not their primary tool chest.

When you get down to the bottom of it, you're using the "ends justify the means" argument, but I'm a little more principled than that.

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by PandaM3

But theoretically at speed it can lock up the engine causing loss of control and a fatal crash.

Or you can loose power to brakes and steering again leading to loss of control and a fatal crash.

Don't think that could happen? In 2015 Hyundai issued a recall on 470,000 sonatas for possible rod bearing failure on grounds that the engine could stall and cause a crash. After Hyundai said it was not an issue... the NHTSA said the became concerned with the possible high speed stalling and made Hyundai recall.

I wouldn't say it can't cause a crash, but do you have any news reel footage or photographs of horrific car crashes caused by rod bearing failures?

That kind of underscores my point. There are many arguments here, some of which focus on motivation. The fact that they're focused on fire is, IMO, no coincidence. There are many BMW customer service issues ABC News could have zeroed in on, but they don't have the fear-factor that a burning car does.

[ekwc]

If I remember correctly, the newer BMW cars would move the windshield wipers and run their fuel pump momentarily even after the car was off/locked. The owners can also program some timers to circulate the cabin air. Or, even switch it on remotely thru the BMW App on a smart phone.

So, we all know that the cars were not completely turned off, no matter how long ones parked their car for. If there's an electrical failure or short, any cars may catch on fire. And, it should not be a BMW vehicles problem only.

[gunnerxq]

Originally Posted by KSERGEI-BY

The well known problem: oxidation/rust of the +/ground battery wire in the trunk. e60 era cars has this problem due to the bad and cheap design of this wires. There is a recall active.

Shit mine is really badly oxidized. I guess I'll have to change it asap.

[greekcs]

Another news source showed an E36 M3 that caught fire on the side of the road. BMW stated cars as old as 15 years but this one was clearly 20+ years old. The media will run with anything these days.

[Carnook]

EPISODE 08
BLAME GAME
http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/08-blame-game

In the summer and fall of 2009, hundreds of Toyota owners came forward with an alarming allegation: Their cars were suddenly and uncontrollably accelerating. Toyota was forced to recall 10 million vehicles, pay a fine of more than $1 billion, and settle countless lawsuits. The consensus was that there was something badly wrong with the world’s most popular cars. Except that there wasn’t.

“Blame Game” looks under the hood at one of the strangest public hysterias in recent memory. What really happened in all those Camrys and Lexuses? And how did so many drivers come to misunderstand so profoundly what was happening to them behind the wheel? The answer touches on our increasingly fraught relationship to technology and the dishonesty and naiveté of many in the media.

[Zippster]

Bring back the Corvair, they never caught fire!

[gulshan]

Fire mystery has been solved. If you guys remember, in 1995 a modded Z3 that could launch Stinger missiles was used by James Bond in the movie Golden Eye. There was a small software bug in the self destruct feature that BMW forgot to turn off. They will be issuing a recall soon i guess..