Driveshaft recall issued for certain 2016-2017 BMW M3 and M4

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by SMGCFP

Just curious to what they did differently with 1,456 BMW M3 and 936 BMW M4 (model years 2016-2017) when they built them that they know those are the affected cars. These cars are assembled on a line. Was it a machine/computer malfunction, sleeping employee, bad batch of parts on that particular day/week? It aroused my curiosity as to how they know which exact cars on a run of many more than the 2400 or so BMW says is affected. BTW, my car does not seem to be affected based on a search using the NHTSA link in the 1st post.

Parts are managed such that the manufacturer can ID when each part from a batch went into a vehicle.

Originally Posted by X3Bob

manufacturing today can locate parts and what car they are attached to easily. driveshaft made, gets part #1234, serial #098. this goes into drive assembly #1e3, serial #2e6. this goes into car identified by VIN 12344567890. All this is in a database. So they know serial #098 was made by DT on a Monday 2016. Those are bad, so then they know exactly which cars DTs Monday work went into. This gets even more detailed down to individual components.

Exactly.. no different than say... a medicine manufacturer making sure that they know which batch of pills goes into what bottles and where they are routed to, in the event of a recall.

here is an example of a recall on a popular ice cream company in the South.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/ucm522045.htm

unfortunately, vehicle manufacturers aren't quite as forthcoming as say... food or drug manufacturers.. with respect to how the defect occurred.. More than likely the issue is with a defective series of parts more so than an installation error, although I am sure the latter is also possible

[M3GymNut]

Originally Posted by Fedace1

Road was wet. Some idiot cut me off and I had to turn real quick, must have hit oil or those white painted lines and I spun out hit that concrete column that holds up metro rail right in front of south Miami hospital. Crazy.... I drove by right where it happened and can't believe how lucky I was. Missed some trees and another column by a miracle.

Damn, glad you're alright, that area is dangerous at night and especially wet.

[georgere]

Originally Posted by Ibiza

Jason left out additional information as this also includes the 2016-2017 M4 GTS and 269 M4 convertibles.

Very easy for BMW to know that it was a bad batch of parts for vehicles manufactured between March 2 and September 30, 2016. The 2,661 vehicles are just for the US market as the parts are scanned upon entering the production line. 54% are M3's, 35% are M4's (including GTS— which value just took a hit with the recall), and 10% M4 verts.

As the M4 CS is still in production, CF drive shafts are available.

Good. Mine was built in September 2015....
Condolences to those affected. I am sure BMW will do a good job on this fix.

[F80SRT]

Originally Posted by JoeyBananas

Where do we find out Vin #s that are affected?

https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls#vin

[F80SRT]

2017 M3 ZCP w/DTC - 07.2016 build date - I'm affected.

[Brasko]

Checked my VIN and got "0 Recalls for your vehicle". Dodged that one!

[TeamErc]

Originally Posted by MonacoMurphy

2016 M3 ZCP 6MT - Took delivery in Apr '16, second delivered ZCP on the East Coast - No recall.

Wondering if its DCT or 6MT specific?

I was right after you, took delivery of my M4 ZCP DCT in MD in May16 and also not affected by recall. However, my M4 GTS is. I wonder if all GTSs. Mine has less than 500 miles on it, I can't imagine BMW would replace with a non CFRP drive shaft on a GTS. Probably won't know until next late Spring because it's stored for cold weather.

[doug_999]

Guys, a quick check if realoem shows the CF part has not been replaced/changed out with a new part number. So your CF driveshaft is replaced with a CF driveshaft.

And the M2 comment was just funny.

[Jim B]

The owners of these cars got shafted!!

[sandwi54]

I am also affected, and the only reason I found out is because my dealer automatically booked an appointment for my car to perform the recall campaign in two weeks.

[F80SRT]

My deal called after I re-ran my VIN on their website, but they said they weren't booking appointments because they didn't have the full details on the fix, nor the parts.

[tooshay]

Has anyone got it fix yet? I just wanna know what bmw is gonna do and how long it will take.

[scourgem3]

Originally Posted by tooshay

Has anyone got it fix yet? I just wanna know what bmw is gonna do and how long it will take.

The dealership took my car 2 days ago. They just contacted me today and said that BMW can't fix any of the recalled cars at this time since the parts are not available yet.

[linro]

Originally Posted by sc0urge24

The dealership took my car 2 days ago. They just contacted me today and said that BMW can't fix any of the recalled cars at this time since the parts are not available yet.

My '17 M3 ZCP DCT is among those affected and I actually had the driveshaft fail one month ago while driving up my driveway. My carbon driveshaft was replaced with a carbon driveshaft. I was surprised the dealer had the carbon driveshaft in stock (maybe already gearing up for the recall?) so it only took two days total.

[530iDriver]

Originally Posted by Fedace1

Wow this is insane. About a month and a half ago. I lost control of my m4 out of nowhere and spun out driving southbound on US1 in Miami. Ended up hitting a concrete column.... I checked my vin but nothing came up. I wonder if they would hold the recall info on it, since I was supposed to turn the car in on October 24th.... Although I don't believe the issue was the driveshaft malfunctioning..... sad times though

Damn you ended up under the Metrorail line bridge columns.

Hope you are OK.

[Fedace1]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

Damn you ended up under the Metrorail line bridge columns.

Hope you are OK.

Yep! All good here. One thing is for sure. The m4 seats kept me locked in and I barely moved when I hit the column

[jxc888]

Originally Posted by Fedace1

Yep! All good here. One thing is for sure. The m4 seats kept me locked in and I barely moved when I hit the column

Car was built 4/16 picked it up 6/16. I noticed a thud sound ever since the first 6 mos and just thought it was normal coz manual. Now at 35k miles I hear it louder. It doesn't mean that if my vin isn't listed in the safercar.gov that it's not affected right? Coz I looked it up and it's not listed but even my SA said he heard a thud in the diff when shifting. Isn't it all cats built in 3/16 9/16 all are affected? Please someone enlighten me I wanna get mine fixed coz it's annoying.

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by jxc888

Car was built 4/16 picked it up 6/16. I noticed a thud sound ever since the first 6 mos and just thought it was normal coz manual. Now at 35k miles I hear it louder. It doesn't mean that if my vin isn't listed in the safercar.gov that it's not affected right? Coz I looked it up and it's not listed but even my SA said he heard a thud in the diff when shifting. Isn't it all cats built in 3/16 9/16 all are affected? Please someone enlighten me I wanna get mine fixed coz it's annoying.

You've had your car for almost 2.5 years, you've had a "thud" for 2 years, your SA has confirmed it, but he's has done nothing to diagnosis and fix the problem?? And even though you say it's annoying, you've put up with it?? Just because your car isn't listed in the recall doesn't mean that something else isn't wrong with it. Your problem could be anywhere in the drivetrain including the clutch, the transmission, the drive shaft, or the differential.

[bmrwrld]

Trick or Treat.

[jxc888]

Ive been complaining about it. But even if I did they won't start doing it anyway my SA said. Don't get mad lol they just gave me word that they'll replace it coz I came over and had the foreman hop in and it's one of the bmw stores of the corporation I work for so lucky me I guess😂 new diff more play time

[spr]

I called my service adviser and he advised there was no open issues. I put in my vin and it doesn't show either. However, my car is a f80 2016 m3 and definitely has a vibration issues from the driveline. Dealer won't do anything. Call BMW NA? Any other ideas? I've suspected it was an imbalanced driveshaft for some time.

[nickl630]

To everyone who keeps asking/checking on a fix - it'll be available in mid December. As of now still looks like we'll get a CF driveshaft.