(Sorry in advance for the long post)
Ok, the title maybe be exaggerating but personally knowing people going through similar incidents and seeing the outcome, I could have been severely hurt and my baby totaled.
Here’s how it started. I took the delivery of 335i Coupe on Wed. Nov. 8th, 2006, in the afternoon. Since the delivery day, my car only witnessed the rainy weather of Mass., and I did not have the opportunity to take photos of it due to the weather as well as my work schedule. Two weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to wash my car which took me 3 hours, and later in the day I took my car to take some photos.
Here are some photos of my 335i Coupe:
http://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/My335iCoupe_front.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/My335iCoupe_rear.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/My335iCoupe_side.jpgOn Friday night, I was driving on I95 going from Mass, to Providence, RI. On my way I got this error on my iDrive screen which said “DSC malfunction” (see picture below).
As a result, I started to drive more cautiously. ~1.5-2 hours later, I took the exit which was 2 miles away from my destination. As I entered the ramp, my car acted strangely and it started to under-steer and the car started to move forward towards the guardrail. At that moment I almost lost the control of the car and without any efforts I was able to predict the outcome of this mishap (that the car was going to have head-on and side collision with the guardrail,) but without giving up I kept hassling with the steering wheel to recover from the under-steering and to prevent any collisions as much as possible. As I was able to successfully move the front of my car away from the guardrail, within seconds my car hit its side to the guardrail, and started to over-steer and spin counterclockwise and skid towards the right side of the road.
As my car came to a complete stop, I got out and was horrified, after pausing for few seconds and pulling myself together, I checked to see if I had any flat tires, which luckily I did not. Then I checked for damages, and thank God I was able to successfully prevent a major accident. The overall body was no damaged, except he wheels, the rear bumper, the side-skirts, the under carriage, alignment, and I think the suspensions. Luckily none of the airbags were deployed.
I prepared this animation to illustrate to you what exactly happened, but of course it’s not 100% accurate. Click here to view the Adobe Flash animation:
http://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/incident.htmlHere are some photos of the car after the incident:
http://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_00.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_01.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_02.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_03.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_04.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_05.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_06.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_07.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_08.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_09.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_10.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_11.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_12.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_13.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_14.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_15.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_16.jpghttp://www.websiteplace.net/bmw/acc_17.jpgAfter checking the damages, I got in the car to move it and started driving, but the car was stuck and the wheels started to spin. After few tries later, flooring and a 7,000 RPM I was able to get the car out and get back on the road. As I stared driving the car started to pull to the left. I thought I had a flat tire, so I pulled over and checked the tires once again and did not find any flats, and got back in the car. It turned out that the steering wheel / alignment was off. So I called the SOS and asked them if they can contact the nearest BMW on my behalf and to ask them if they can check my car and/or provide me a loaner. After putting me on hold briefly, the BMW Assist lady told me that the manager is waiting for me, and offered me a turn-by-turn guidance. Given the circumstances, since the car’s handling was unreliable, and was shaky when traveled above 50 mph, I had to drive very slowly. As I arrived to the dealership, I went inside to see the manager and then together we went upfront to check the car. I told him that the car had mechanical damages and I didn’t feel safe to drive it back to Massachusetts, and politely asked him if it was possible to have one of his technicians check the car to see if it was safe for me to drive it. He replied saying that if I go back to the dealership the next morning he’ll be able to do that. After that response I lost all my hope in that dealership. But I asked him if I can at least get a loaner for the night. And his response was the same. So I thanked him and left his property. Then I called the BMW Assist and told them about my luck with the dealership, and asked them to connect me to Roadside Assistance. Once they connected me, I asked them if they can tow my car to my dealer and take me home. They said they could only tow it to that same RI BMW dealership and they will not be able to take me home. With all these negative experiences, I decided to continue my trip to my meeting and then to take a risk and drive back home to Massachusetts after the meeting.
As I got home after midnight, I went to bed and the next day I called the tow truck and had the car towed to my dealership. And the dealership refused to give me a loaner until they diagnose the car on Tuesday.
Now that you know the story, I would greatly appreciate any help/feedback as what I should do. Obviously my car seems to be defected and there’s no way I will accept getting points on my insurance policy – and needless to say, I haven’t had a single car accident and this is my 3rd 3 series Coupe.
Thank you all in advance.
