2004 BMW 330I problems
Owners have filed 139 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 BMW 330I. Lighting is the most reported problem area, at 64% of complaints. Next are air bags (14%) and wipers, windshield & visibility (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 139 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 64% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 7 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 99,000 miles 91 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 | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 8 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 18 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 21 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 15 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 10 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 91 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 99,000 miles. For lighting specifically, the median reported mileage is about 98,000 miles (64 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 7 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2004 ranks 11th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the BMW 330I with enough data (9 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
The contact owns a 2004 BMW 330. The contact stated while driving at approximately 20 MPH, the front center of the vehicle crashed into the front center of another vehicle and the air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. A police report was filed. The contact stated that her and her husband both sustained injuries and sought medical attention; the contact stated that a piece of her nose detached, there was a gash on her knee and that she broke her hips, ribs, and one of her arms.
I side swiped a curb at a weird angle and it caused my drive side and passenger side side air bags to go off. The driver airbag exploded with such force that it broken my collar bone severely enough that I had to have surgery and metal plates put it to hold it back to together.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 BMW 330I. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the contact noticed that the visibility of the headlight reflectors was very poor. After inspecting the headlights the contact noticed that the area around the headlight reflectors was burned. The contact replaced the bulb. The failure continued after the replacement of the bulbs. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the headlight assembly would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired.
The low beams on my 2004 BMW 330I are very dim. They barely light up the road at night, if at all. My only option is to turn on my high beams, but then I risk blinding incoming traffic. I consider this a significant safety risk. Through online research I have discovered that the problem is that the bowls BMW used to reflect the light from the bulbs are made of plastic and get burnt from the heat of the bulb. Due to this fact, I believe BMW should have a recall for the headlights of e46 cars.
The interior wires of the BMW e46 headlight assemblies have insulation material that readily breaks off of the wire, causing the bear wire conductor to be visible. This results in a failure of the headlights as the wires conductors are allowed to touch. This is also a possible source of a vehicle fire.