BMW X5 E70 - DRIVE SHAFT FAILURE

[A]

I have a 2010 E70 X5 4.0d SE that suffered a catastrophic failure [Front propshaft broke away smashing a large whole in the engine].  The car has 52000 miles and serviced in line with the BMW service guidelines by a BMW main dealer. 

I am aware an August Technical Bulletin [SI B26 01 14] published by BMW North America that identifies problems with the Front Drive Shaft of X5 E70 including 2010 models.  This bulletin states it supersedes an earlier June 2014 bulletin.

BMW UK state these bulletins  do not relate to  UK models although say BMW UK issued a “Quality Enhancement” notice dated February 2014 and updated March 2014 that was relevant to my car and the necessary checks were carried out in June 2014 and as no problems were found no remedial work was required. 

BMW state these QE's are for internal use only and therefore won’t let me see these documents. 

Has anyone else had a similar experience ?

Does anyone know what is covered in these QE's?

If the car was travelling as 70mph in the outside lane of a busy motorway when the sudden failure occurred this could easily have resulted in multiple fatalities.  I therefore struggle to see how any right minded person could see how this could be a “Quality Enhancement “ issue. 



A

[warsi]

Very sorry to hear such a catastrophic event, hope all the occupants stayed safe. I personally never heard of such a failure but I'm sure more experienced board members will share their knowledge.

On the topic of "Quality Enhancement" issue, this is nothing new, may be the same across all manufacturers but have seen BMW issuing only QE for potentially serious design faults. With only issuing a QE they can keep the cost down by not recalling all relevant vehicles and leaving it to owners to bring the car to a dealership before checking if any QEs are applicable or not - another incentive to keep coming back to the dealership!

Another similar example is timing chain issue on N47 (2.0D 2007 - ~2011) engines, about a year ago (early 2015) after many pre-mature timing chain failures as a result of design fault, BMW reluctantly issued a QE for it. The same scenario of driving on a motorway when chain fails resulting in total loss of power potentially causing multiple fatalities, applies here too but still considered as "Quality Enhancement".

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[A]

many thanks for your reply. 

I also contacted honestjohn.co.uk (the Telegraph newspaper motoring commentator) who provided the following advice.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answe ... t-failure-

Will it actually take a death for this so called QE issue to become a recall ?

If anyone has knowledge of the QE it would be much appreciated

[X5Sport]

I had my (2011) X6 recalled under it and the front shaft was replaced due to excess backlash in the joint nearest the front diff.  I don't know what actual checks were done but mine was faulty though it was not apparent from anything I observed when driving.

Unfortunately the VSA standards for when a QE becomes a full recall are woolly at best - and unless a safety to life exists every manufacturer tries every trick to avoid any problem becoming a full recall due to 'reputational damage'.

Even the airbag recall on our then 10-year old E46 was a QE despite their being literally millions of affected cars around the world.

[A]

i guess you didn't see or have access to the QE documents?

When were you notified of the issue and when was the work carried out?

does anyone else have access to the UK QE documents ?

Thanks in advance

[Horizon]

http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,8990.0.html

[Woodenman]

Although ive replied to A directly.

I did not have a recall documents sent to me.

After purchasing the X5 i went to the main dealer in Hereford and booked it in for all security updates and after reading US forums asked for them to check the drive shaft as they couldnt tell me whether it had been done, they found some play and replaced FOC.

[A]

I replied privately to Woodenman

I still struggle to believe that BMW, in full knowledge of such a serious problem, deal with it by way of a QE

I think X5 owners / potential buyers have a right to know of this problem and I am considering contacting the media about this.

In the meantime if anyone knows where I can get hold of these QE's and / or know of other people that have been effected please let me know.

[jagr]

This is the HK recall:

http://www.td.gov.hk/filemanager/en/con ... 0413_e.pdf

[X5Sport]

Manufacturers will only issue a full recall if the VSA (for the UK) tell them to after consultations take place.  There has to be if there is a serious risk of death or injury (such as from fuel pumps or oil leaks causing a fire.  If the 'problem' doesn't exceed the agreed risk cost benefit analysis then it's a QE and that is all that is needed.

If your failure had resulted in a crash then the QE would go to a recall pretty quick.  I suspect BMW get away with it because of the underbody shields.  If they weren't there then there might be a risk of a broken shaft striking and digging into the road and throwing the vehicle out of control.  That would almost certainly mean a full recall.

But I'm only speculating on what might be what was needed.

[Deano]

This happened to us at the weekend - description sounds exactly the same except we were travelling at motorway speed when it happened. 2011 X5 30d 56k miles.
Coasted to a stop in a layby to find a hole in the bottom of the car and a shield ripped apart with metal parts poking out the bottom and fluid pouring out.
Recovered back home - rear axle had locked so fun time trying to get the car on the back of the recovery truck. Recovered this morning back to dealership so waiting to hear what they've got to say.
I've been doing my research and this sounds like a well known issue. Car has been serviced on time every time at main dealer and was last with them less than a month ago so plenty of opportunities for checks and replacements.
So far no offer of an alternative vehicle from the dealer leaving my wife without a car.

Any update from the OP on the status of your vehicle? Will update here when I find out more.

[Cher]

Hi all, just had the same failing of prop shaft and it punched a hole in the oil tank and is causing major expensive issues. I have found out some interesting info about this being a wider problem. Please join my Facebook page to share your story so we can raise awareness for other drivers

Search for
"BMW failed prop shaft"

[X5Sport]

Flag it back to someone like Auto Express too.  As VW Owners are now finding, EU (and hence UK too) regs are frankly not worth the paper they are written on.  In the US you get the car fixed, bought back, and even compensation is on offer.  Same thing happened when BMW lost a class action over their auto boxes.  In Europe nada.

The collective EU motor industry has everything just the way they want it thank you very much, with only their shareholders interests being of concern.  The Consumer is very poorly supported and it will be years before anything changes - if ever!

[libra007]

Thats pretty scary, well below quality and poor customer care by BMW. Has anyone written to VSA about it, so atleast they can raise this with BMW if they receive enough complaints.

[Lorenzo]

That happened to me as well but i had my engine oil bay broken with a hole big enough too stick you're hand in....and i had the famous TIMING CHAIN issue which i was lucky that it started making a ratling noise and it didn't brake all of a sudden and i managed to sort it out.....but there is clearly quality issues and BMW did not want to do anything on my car which was 5 year and 1 month old when all this happened on a 2010 E70 3.0d LCI.