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Engine & cooling

1998 BMW 323I Engine problems

Owners have filed 3 complaints about the 1998 BMW 323I's engine & cooling with NHTSA - 19% of all its complaints, most recently on November 10, 2017. They describe 1 crash, 0 fires and 1 injury. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Complaints
3
Recalls
0
Crashes
1
Fires
0
Injuries
1
Deaths
0

Engine complaints

AirbagsEngine & coolingCrash1 injury

A driver, on a 5 lane st, in a center turn lane, driving the same direction as myself struck my car on it's left-side, causing my car to spin. Attempting to avoid further injury in early am traffic, I was able to slowly veer to the far right at a reduced speed of 3 mph, and could not stop enough to prevent collision with a stationary brick wall. I remember making impact and the airbag popping out of the steering column like a small pillow, then suddenly erupting with painful magnificent force throwing by head and...

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chest back, then my falling to the right-side arm-rest. I managed to unbuckle my seatbelt, and murmur as best I could to my two young daughters in the car with me, to get my cell phone, get out of the car, and call their father. Fortunately, a witness called 911 and police and a life-flight helicopter arrived to extract me from the totaled car and fly me unconscious to a local trauma hospital. I was assessed and it was found every bone in my face was broken, the fumes of the airbag caused my lung to collapse, me to 'code', requiring shock epinephrine and electrical shocking to revive my breathing. I required total facial reconstructive surgery with titanium plates placed over broken bones in my face, and dental pins in 4 places of my broken upper and lower jawbones. My teeth were chipped/broken and later needed extensive veneers and dental repairs. I suffered memory loss which has ceased m6 career as a registered nurse. We took bmw, the driver, and taka to court 6 years later, but takata denied any responsibility for my $2.7 Million in expenses. The driver was solely found at fault. I just rec'd a card about takata's guilt. My attorney has now retired. I am attempting to find related documents and records for my substantial costly injuries many years since this occurred. This airbag's mal-deployment has immensely altered my life beyond words here. ...Updated 11/17/17 *bf *tr *dt*jb

Filed Incident Air bags · EngineNHTSA 11045158
AirbagsEngine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 1998 bmw 323i. The contact stated that the air bag and the engine warning indicators were illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.

Filed Incident Air bags · EngineNHTSA 10611076
Engine & cooling

While driving at approximately 70mph engine blew out. Had no warning. Coasted vehicle to side of road. Had vehicle towed to dealer. Was informed by mechanic that engine could be repaired. Was not informed what caused the engine to blow out. *Ak

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 840528

BMW 323I engine complaints by year

323I engine problems, every year

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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