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      04-02-2009, 09:51 AM   #1
aus
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Drives: Odysse
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Seal Beach, CA

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NHTSA - Complaint on M-DCT Lag issue

Did you guys all report this issue to the NHTSA? Let the government force them to fix this.


https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Consumer.cfm

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR VIN# or it's meaninglss, per Radiation Joe. Thanks.
It only takes 5 minutes to file a complaint.


If they get a few hundred complaints, then they make take a look at this. They're the reason we go the first fix, otherwise, I'm sure BMW would have called no downshifts during braking, "a design characteristic and normal behavior for the M DCT transmission."

UPDATED:

They're sending out E-mails to get more info, so we may be making some progress on this issue. PLEASE FILE A COMPLAINT!!

Here's a letter I sent. Feel free to copy or make appropriate changes.

Quote:
Dear Emily,

I am VERY happy to see your oranization taking an interest in this issue. It is a VERY dangerous problem with this vehicle that BMWNA is WELL AWARE of, but INSISTS that it is "normal behavior" for my car/transmission. I brought the car into the dealer, and they were able to reproduce it, but they were told by BMW that this was "normal behavior."

The problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The DCT transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control.

The danger in this behavior occurs when making a turn into on-coming traffic after slowing down to around 10-15 MPH. After the turn, the car is positioned in the traffic lane, but you have NO POWER to accelerate into the flow of traffic. The oncoming cars are now closing in on your car at a fast rate, and you're basically stuck. This situation is most pronounced in the "Auto" mode of the DCT transmission, but also occurs to a lesser degree while in the manual mode when you select second gear in preparation for the turn. It is also very repeatable in both modes.

These problems started occuring after a previous recall on this transmission where the engine would stall under hard braking or not shift under hard braking. The recall fixed that problem, but introduced this problem, which occurs almost every day whereas the previous problem only occured during a specific situation.

Thank you for looking into this dangerous matter.
__________________
Let me get this straight... You are swapping out parts designed by some of the top engineers in the world because some guys sponsored by a company told you it's "better??" But when you ask the same guy about tracking, "oh no, I have a kid now" or "I just detailed my car." or "i just got new tires."

Last edited by aus; 06-25-2009 at 10:13 AM..
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