I own a brand new 525i. I am slightly insecure about parking the car in public places since I am unsure whether the alarm/immobilizer that comes with the car is really working well. The BMW salesman told me it is very secure and there is no need to install locks and steering bars on the car but he is unable to explain to me how advance the alarm is. Can anyone here tell me:
a) what are the advance features installed in the E60 525i alarm system ?
b) is it true that if the car is stolen, BMW will give me a brand new car ?
c) is there the need to put on a steering wheel lock/bar ? would that damage the electric steering wheel since it is very heavy ?

 

I don't know about your car, but I have read that my 545 has the following features:


Electronic coded protection - the keys have electronic codes which must be present for the engine to start. Only the provided keys from BMW are supposed to work.


Vehicle tracking - I have the Nav and BMW assist, so I was told that as long as I keep BMW assist active, I will have vehicle GPS tracking.


Motion sensor - An interior motion sensor detects movement inside the vehicle.


There are other features, but those are what I remember.


Bottom line..... if someone wants in your car, they can simply break a window. It's not hard. Stealing the entire car might be more difficult.

I don't think BMW is going to do anything for you if your car is stolen. Your insurance company is responsible there.

 

I am not sure if the vehicle has some sort of tracking with it. As far as I know, BMW does not do this even with BMW Assist because of privacy reasons.

To the OP, overall I think the BMW alarm system is pretty good. As subterFUSE said, the car has a motion detector on the outside and the inside as well. And if you want some sort of tracking on your car, get LoJack or something of that sort.

 

There is no tracking system in BMW Assist. If you initiate a call to BMW Assist, there is a track from that transmission to your present location. When my computer went down and I needed help, BMW Assist sent the help 200 miles away which is where I was when the computer went belly up.

 

A couple of comments:

- the coded comm. between the key and the car is rolling...the codes change every time the car is started.

- there is a glass breakage detector in addition to the interior motion sensor

- I don't think I would mess with a seperate steering wheel lock due to all the levers and buttons on the sides and front of the wheel.

Sam

 

For 2005 at least - BMW assist does track the car if stolen. I have a certificate that came with the car to give to my insurance company certifying this. In NC, they don't give a discount so it doesn't matter - the downside of living in a low crime area....

 

The alarm goes off if the doors, trunk or hood are opened, has an interior motion sensor, and a tilt sensor (if somebody tries to tow it, or jack up the car to steal the wheels). The key is also electronically coded.

I don't believe there is a glass break sensor, but the motion sensor would react once an arm or body got inside. The benefit of a glass break sensor is if they don't break the glass on the first try, the alarm will sense the sound from the impact and set the alarm off.

 

BMW Assist is now able to track stolen cars (in the US). That has changed...

 

I never got that notice. My insurance company will not give me a break because this feature was lacking. If fixed and I could get a reasonable offset to the $240 cost, I might reconsider. Based on the fact that I could not get an insurance discount, I notified BMW Assist that I would not renew.

 

If keys are electronically coded, how does the plastic valet key work?