1998 BMW 323I
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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These records cover every 1998 BMW 323I. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Owner complaints
16 complaints7 involved a crash1 involved a fire6 injuries
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Air bags
Report#2:06/08/1999, my left front driver's door was struck by another driver,causing my car to spin. I regained my correct driving path. to avoid additional collisions, I departed the road to the right non-curbed wet grassy roadside. to avoid striking a wood telephone or electrical pole, I…
Report#2:06/08/1999, my left front driver's door was struck by another driver,causing my car to spin. I regained my correct driving path. to avoid additional collisions, I departed the road to the right non-curbed wet grassy roadside. to avoid striking a wood telephone or electrical pole, I turned sharply right. I firmly braked & my car slid on wet grass, coming to a complete stop, making frontal low impact with a brick roadside wall. My car fortunately had a automatic front seat-belting system for my closed-top convertble. my 2 daughter passengers & I were all seat-belted. my 10 yrs old, in the right front passenger's seat & my 4 yr old was in the rear left passenger seat, directly behind me. we were all startled by the event. I could see my daughter to my right side was unharmed. Knowing we would all need to soon exit the car & I would need to assist my youngest, I unbuckled my seatbelt. I next turned myself to the right, to check on my youngest daughter, behind me. I saw she was ok. I next heard a loud pop in front of me, so I turned forward to see a small rectangular plastic pillow filling with air. I realized it must be the airbag. next I felt a extreme painful, forceful blow against my face & upper chest. the airbag over-aggressively deployed late. the over-aggressive force of the airbag caused me to suffer a traumatic brain injury, with a current life-threatening brain lesion. my 2 mandibles jaws were ea.broken in 4 places, requiring 8 perm. Dental pins. every bone in my face was broken, requiring titanium plate placement over the broken bones. My skull-top had to be cut open to relieve the increased intracranial pressure. I technically died due to my lungs collapsing and eart-stopped during the life-flight helicopter transport, which the emts revived me for my nearly one month hospital recovery & rehabilitation. my airbag should have been recalled. *Dt*jb
- Air bags
TL* the contact owned a 1998 BMW 323I. While driving 35 mph, another vehicle moved into the contact's lane and crashed into the driver's door of the contact's vehicle. The contact then crashed into a brick wall at the center of the road and the vehicle came to a complete stop. The contact noticed…
TL* the contact owned a 1998 BMW 323I. While driving 35 mph, another vehicle moved into the contact's lane and crashed into the driver's door of the contact's vehicle. The contact then crashed into a brick wall at the center of the road and the vehicle came to a complete stop. The contact noticed smoke coming from the front of the vehicle. Only the driver's side air bag deployed. A police report was filed. The contact was not sure whether the vehicle was towed to the dealer. The vehicle was destroyed. The contact sustained a brain lesion, the facial bone was fractured, the right eye socket had to be rebuilt, the upper lip was numb, 21 teeth were damaged, all the wisdom teeth were extracted, the upper and lower jaw bones were fractured, the vision and hearing were affected, and there was memory loss. Medical attention was required. The manufacturer was contacted at 800-525-7417 and asked the contact to call 281-305-8901. The contact called the number and was informed that the vin was not included in a recall. A case number was not provided. It was unknown if the dealer was contacted. The failure mileage was unknown. *bf updated 9/18/18*jb
- Air bags · Engine
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…
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 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
- Air bags · Electronic stability control (esc) · Exterior lighting
Control display that the electric circuit, license plate light, brake circuit, has failed. On my dashboard the following lights are on: airbag, check engine, brake pad wear, ABS, and the asc+t lights are illuminated at all times. Nothing happened to my car, no wreck, no quick stops, I am an extremely cautious driver. All these things start to occur out of no where,
- Air bags · Engine
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.
- Exterior lighting · Service brakes · Vehicle speed control
The brake light switch fails which prevents the brake light to illuminate when the car IS brake. Subsequently, cruise control cannot be disengaged by the brake anymore because of this problem. Instead when in cruise control with the brake the depressed the car speeds up compensating for the lost speed. This greatly increases the chance for a high speed crash because of the inability to disengage cruise control. *tr
- Air bags · Air bags › Frontal · Air bags › Side/window
I have a 1998bmw 323is and I recently met with an accident on sunday 9/13/2009. My friend was driving my car and it crashed very badly. The whole front portion IS gone and car IS reusable. What surprises me IS the airbags never came out. Only the side airbag(drivers side) just cameout1/2. IS this what happens in a crash?how can I trust cars in the crash? *Tr
- Vehicle speed control › Cables
I was backing out of a driveway, and the vehicle rpm's - on their own - suddenly increased to a very high rpm. the vehicle accelerated as I was backing up, causing me to rear end a parked car across the street. *tr
- Tires
Pirelli tire failure on 1998 BMW 323ic. The tires, at least two of the four have failed.the car shakes at any speed in excess of 35 mph. I have been told that after testing on a very sophisticated machine that the tires have excessive road force problems, tire rack said pirelli will not stand…
Pirelli tire failure on 1998 BMW 323ic. The tires, at least two of the four have failed.the car shakes at any speed in excess of 35 mph. I have been told that after testing on a very sophisticated machine that the tires have excessive road force problems, tire rack said pirelli will not stand behind these very expensive tires, as they only cover problems w/n the first 2/32nds of wear. My tires have 3/32nds of wear. They cannot be used at speeds in excess of 35 mph. I have been told that I will have to buy a new set of tires, this dosnt make any sense. *nm
- Air bags
No summary listed for above vehicle. *ak
- Air bags › Frontal
Police report states that vehicle ran into an expedition. Most of the report was unclear. Driver had suffered a heart attack on the way to hospital, and could not remember any other details at this time. Vehicle was totaled. upon impact, air bags did not deploy. *Ak
- Fuel system, other · Unknown or other
Electronic system--low coolant and gas measure level.
- Fuel system, other › Storage › Tank assembly › Filling/charging · Structure › Body › Door
Electric locks short circuit. Fuel tank cap sensor short circuit.
- Structure › Body
Nothing
- Air bags › Frontal
Vehicle was t-boned by another vehicle, and side air bag didn't deploy. consumer sustained injuries. *ak
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
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
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 10249437The basic conditions for initializing the power windows are not met.
- 602917Information on new airbags.
- 601926Condition regarding long life engine oil.
- 600528Subject on sound volume adjustment on E36 convertible w/ hi-fi audo system (harman-kardon) manufactured between 03/01/97 and 10/16/97 with option 674 *db*yc
Every BMW 323I model year
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.