2004 525i

I bought it used weeks ago and just found out that the eyebrows don't turn on. Car is out of warranty March 08.

Any prior experience whether dealer will be able to load the new software to eliminate this problem without me having to pay for it?

Since this is a software bug, I am surprised some dealers seem to ask being paid by us instead of BMW to fix its own problem.

Thanks.

 

This is a known software bug that was fixed some time ago. I've always felt that if you had an out of warranty car with this issue, you could convince BMW to do a warranty upgrade since, in essence, the software bug is making the car illegal in most states (and possibly countries.)

Clearly, those lights are there for a reason (to meet some transportation law or standard) and it's not your fault that BMW released a software version that affected the car's compliance with those laws.

The dealer may or may not go to bat for you with BMW but if not, you could always try to call BMW yourself and see if they'll help. Again, I can't see how they wouldn't do what they could to make the car legal again...

 

Rudy,

Was this problem treated as a TSB or recall? I think the latter would have to be addressed no matter what the warranty status especially as it involves a "safety system" in most localities.

 

I don't think it ever made it to TSB or recall status but I always thought it should have been. Something tells me this was just one of those things that they gradually fixed as people complained (if they even noticed)...

If I were BMW and a customer called me and mentioned that the car is illegal due to a software issue, I'd certainly agree that the customer would be entitled to a fix at no charge. How could they not agree?

In Pennsylvania, the car wouldn't even pass an annual safety inspection!

 

The problem is that workshops routinely charge owners for repairs to bring the car into compliance.

Once the car is out of warranty, I don't see much chance at getting this done unless the owner has an exceptional relationship with the workshop.

 

Why not? The big difference is that this is a software bug, not some "normal wear and tear" issue. Your logic applies to the past, when cars didn't rely on the manufacturer for proprietary software code. This software bug was accidentally introduced into a version of Progman and quickly fixed in a subsequent release. Just because the OP's car (unluckily) still has this version of software doesn't mean he should be responsible for something that he had no control over. The bulbs didn't burn out, they were taken out by a mistake made by BMW engineers. The car is now illegal in most (if not all) states. BMW has a simple fix available and should have issued a recall or TSB on any car that has that version of software installed. The fact that they didn't does not diminish their responsibility to make things right and bring the car into compliance with the various transportation standards...

 

That's not to say I disagree with your point - I just didn't think it looked promising.

 

But my point is that BMW should agree to reimburse the dealer for this repair. From your post, it sounded like you were talking about the workshop charging for this repair. I don't disagree that many workshops/dealers may want to charge for an out of warranty repair and may not be willing to spend the time arguing the case with BMW on behalf of the customer (although I'm sure my dealer would) but if the customer gets BMW involved on his own, they may end up agreeing to allow the repair to be done without charge to the customer.

I know sometimes BMW can be difficult when it comes to service issues out of warranty but in this case, it makes no business sense for them to refuse to remedy their errors...