[CoffeeBean]

Uhh so who else is going to start parking outside until they figure this out??

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/bmw-m...ypart_vert_hed

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Preliminary reports suggest it's a built-in safety mechanism for BMW drivers who don't use their blinkers. While it might set their house on fire, they will no longer be endangering others when they leave late for work every morning.

The high incident rate of this is unsurprising.

[norsairius]

More or less a non-issue, if you ask me. The BMWs catching fire seem to be of varying of models and years.

I'd bet if the statistics of these BMWs catching fire were compared to those from other manufacturers, it would show that these fires aren't happening any more often than fires of other parked cars are.

This is an example of the typical sensationalism that you'll see in the news. You may recall not long ago that Teslas were catching on fire but it turns out the rate at those were catching fire was actually far less compared to gasoline-powered cars.

I obviously hope that my car, or anyone else's car, never catches fire. In this case though, I don't think it's worth being worried about a BMW catching fire any more than it is with any other car.

[TGTIW]

Like E90's need any more help with their residual value plummeting..

[Tacoma]

Originally Posted by norsairius

More or less a non-issue, if you ask me. The BMWs catching fire seem to be of varying of models and years.

I'd bet if the statistics of these BMWs catching fire were compared to those from other manufacturers, it would show that these fires aren't happening any more often than fires of other parked cars are.

This is an example of the typical sensationalism that you'll see in the news. You may recall not long ago that Teslas were catching on fire but it turns out the rate at those were catching fire was actually far less compared to gasoline-powered cars.

I obviously hope that my car, or anyone else's car, never catches fire. In this case though, I don't think it's worth being worried about a BMW catching fire any more than it is with any other car.

I agree we needn't worry but I don't think you can just completely write it off. Here's one from last year in Montreal where the engineer hired by their insurance company determined that the fire was started by defective electrical circuits:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...nard-1.3678376

And speaking of electrical, Mercedes just did a worldwide recall due to fire caused by electrical issues in the starting current limiter and this impacted many models covering 3 years. So these things can happen and we shouldn't just brush it off as you appear to be saying.

[PichaDis11]

Most expensive cars on the road?! Where? How?

[norsairius]

Originally Posted by Tacoma

I agree we needn't worry but I don't think you can just completely write it off. Here's one from last year in Montreal where the engineer hired by their insurance company determined that the fire was started by defective electrical circuits:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...nard-1.3678376

And speaking of electrical, Mercedes just did a worldwide recall due to fire caused by electrical issues in the starting current limiter and this impacted many models covering 3 years. So these things can happen and we shouldn't just brush it off as you appear to be saying.

I agree that you can't completely write it off as well. I just think this reporting really exaggerates the issue.

Jalopnik has a good write-up that was just posted:
https://jalopnik.com/abc-news-big-in...a-b-1795121798

[John 070]

The story reminds me of the balloon boy and his parents, or the Prius with the troopers chasing him because he couldn't stop....

[cjdzombie]

This is really scary. I park in the garage directly under my kids bedrooms. BS news or not, I'll be watching reports on this.

[John 070]

Sometimes we don't give it much thought, we think we know if we're being swindled and ******, but in life, people are clever. At an Easter dinner, a senior woman told us how a contractor swindled her out of $10k. We were like go to the BBB! They will get your money back. She said, I just want to live in peace, I don't want any trouble, the guy told me you can call anybody you want, you are not getting any money back. We were beside ourselves, but it dawned on me how gullible she was, and how she was truly scared by some middle aged guy who took her money and did no work. She's willing to part with ten grand. I don't care if she can afford it, if I were her grandson, I'm gonna get her money back....

I am very sorry to hear that peoples' BMWs spontaneously combust, just that I"m in no way worried that mine will.....

edit: I just called my dealer to see if I could get alternate transportation due to random cars spontaneously combusting, and they said yes, as soon as a 340i is returned tomorrow night! And they'd be sure to put a fire extinguisher in the trunk!

[tcphoto]

What a BS response by BMW, "could have been caused by poor vehicle maintanence". Perhaps they should have said that they're investigating and leave it at that.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledi...descent_bulbs/

Well this is certainly an interesting correlation...

[ATLIEN]

hmmm. This is not good news.

[Eddien123]

Originally Posted by cjdzombie

This is really scary. I park in the garage directly under my kids bedrooms. BS news or not, I'll be watching reports on this.

Good call. I wouldn't worry about it. And I'm not sure if smoke detectors in a garage are worth while since we start cars and lawn mowers daily but could be something to look into.

I wonder if they have smoke detectors that either A: allow a small amount before going off (garage setting) or B: only become active between a certain time (evening and night).

[Jesda]

LMAO

"After multiple calls, the company offered them a five per cent discount towards a new BMW, which Mucciacciaro said he won't be taking them up on."


The 235 vert is pretty nice But if I endured a car fire I'd probably move on to another brand.

[Efthreeoh]

So I find this except from the article interesting, and potentially misleading:

"Like many car manufacturers, BMW has issued recalls over the years for fire-related problems, but an ABC News investigation launched in collaboration with ABC-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Raleigh, found more than 40 fires occurring in parked cars across the country in the last five years involving vehicles that did not have open recalls for fire-related issues."

It doesn't say "found more than 40 fires occurring in parked BMWs across the..."

Forty (40) fires out of the hundreds of millions parked cars in the United States is statically irrelevant. That's eight (8) cars a year on average out of 200+ million automobiles. LOL.

[NotQuickEnough]

Originally Posted by TGTIW

Like E90's need any more help with their residual value plummeting..

[CTinline-six]

I've noticed that in the last 5 years I have seen a lot more car fires on the side of the highway. They weren't necessarily BMWs, but just cars, trucks, and SUVs in general.

I'm sure the huge increase in vehicle electronics contributes to this. My grandparents just drove back from Florida last week, and they saw two car fires on that trip alone. I should ask if either of them looked like a BMW..

With the amount of oil these cars can leak, I wonder if that would be a contributing factor. I have seen plenty of e90s where people just drive them with the least amount of maintenance possible. Who knows how much oil is covering the entire engine bay at that point. I'm sure rodent nests, a few oil soaked wiring harnesses, and some arcing wires is a great recipe for a car fire.

[JFolt]

This is definitely a little worrying... Yes car fires happen all the time but these are all PARKED cars with some being turned off for several hours before the fire. I definitely won't be parking inside the garage after seeing this. While the likelihood is extremely low, the consequence is severe.

[CTinline-six]

I remember reading somewhere that you have to lock these cars in order for them to go into "sleep" mode. Leaving them unlocked for long periods of time keeps certain systems running and could potentially drain the battery a bit.

I wonder how many of these cars were unlocked vs. locked, and what systems still have power afterwards.

My dad has a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Several minutes after being turned off, the Jeep will lower the air suspension a bit and go into sleep mode by itself.

[rsyed07]

This happened with E46's and it was due to a bad FSR/FSUs (final stage unit connector) or bad LCM (light control module). It was uncommon but happened. I wonder if its something similar. These cars always have things running in the background even when the car is off.

[John 070]

There are so many things to worry about nowadays. My 335i is at home in the garage. I'm really not worried about it bursting into flames and my home being destroyed. Maybe if this were Sept. '09, I'd be scared and take a couple weeks vacation and sit by the car to observe it. But then this happened and now I feel much better about things