2006 BMW 330I problems
Owners have filed 303 complaints with NHTSA about the 2006 BMW 330I. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 47% of complaints. Next are electrical system (11%) and engine (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 303 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 47% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 6 and 14
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 87,000 miles 242 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 | 8 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 9 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 36 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 50 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 52 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 37 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 25 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 13 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 6 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 242 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 87,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 86,000 miles (109 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 6 complaints mention a crash; 14 complaints mention a fire; 1 injury reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2006 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the BMW 330I with enough data (66 complaints in that window). 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.
Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2006 BMW 330I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 16v071000 (air bags); however, the parts to do the repair were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer (BMW of springfield, 391 us-22, springfield township, nj 07081) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedy. The manufacturer stated that the VIN was included in the recall.
Front passenger seat caught fire and burnt a hole from bottom up, took to the mechanic and he said it was from the airbag sensor that caught it fire, I was getting hair done at6 pm in evening, came out I hour later and smelt fire, looked and there was hole in seat, turned on air and rolled down windows, waived a magazine over it and made sure it was out. Drove home about 10 minutes away and air bag light came on.
Passenger air bag warning will illuminate intermittently while driving, with or without the passenger seat being occupied. Both the seat belt and air bag warning indicator will illuminate. The air bag indicator will go away and may or may not illuminate again. When this started happening in october of 2012, the indicator would appear and go away and would not come back for maybe two or three month of driving.
Error message "fault in passenger-restraint system affecting airbag, belt tensioner or belt-force limiter. There was a recall on this for models up to 2005, and selectively for 2006, per BMW.