1999 BMW 323I problems
Owners have filed 175 complaints with NHTSA about the 1999 BMW 323I. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 30% of complaints. Next are transmission (17%) and body & structure (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 175 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 30% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 15 and 5
- Typical mileage
- 104,000 miles 95 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 5 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 6 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 16 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 14 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 9 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Of the 95 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 104,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 110,000 miles (20 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 15 injuries reported; 5 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 85% of model years in our database.
It is also covered by 7 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Auto accident results in death of a passenger due to the inability to unlock car doors in an attempt to exit auto which caught fire short after an intersection accident, the passengers were unable to open door latch, unable to pull on door lock knobs that are flush to door panels and unable to press on main door lock switch which would otherwise have allowed them to exit vehicle quickly and safely. Three passengers exited through a broken window but unfortunately one was not so lucky.
Vehicle was involved in an accident where it was struck by another vehicle, the impact resulted in vehicle being cut into two pieces, (possible structural problems), the accident resulted in 2 injuries and one death. *slc
Tl*the driver owned a 1999 BMW 323I. The contact was representing a law firm for the driver who was killed in a crash three days ago. While driving 70 MPH on the highway the vehicle started to swerve, turn counter clockwise and it crashed into a guard rail on the drivers side of the vehicle. The vehicle to split in two cutting off both of her legs. The traffic homicide investigators stated that the tire tread separated causing her to lose control of the vehicle.
My 1999 323I caught fire immediately after turning off the ignition switch once parked.there was a loud "snap", followed by large flames coming from around the hood and front wheel wells. The police and fire department arrived within 5-7 minutes (fortunately they are both located less than 1 mile away). Once the fire was put out, my car's front 1/2 was melted into my parking space.
Tl* the contact owns a 1999 BMW 323I. While driving, the drivers side (door panel and curtain) air bags deployed without any warning. The dealer was not notified and the manufacturer made the contact aware of the NHTSA campaign id number: 02v223000 (air bags:side/window) recall, but the VIN was not a part of the recall. The failure mileage was 140,970 and the current mileage was 141,000.