PUMA cases?

[HeadOn]

Hi all,

As some of you may have seen from some of my other posts, I took delivery of an awesome Spark Graph. Metallic 6MT M3 Coupe on June 2nd. It arrived at the dealership with an EDC malfunction, but they thought they could easily fix and let me take the car home for the week so I could let them fix it the next week when I went out of town.

Unfortunately less than 24 hours later the audio system malfunctioned (no audio at all, voice recognition wouldn't work, iDrive sluggish) and then after turning the car off a few minutes later it emitted an ear piercing tone at max volume for about 3-4 mins.)

So needless to say it went back to the dealership first thing the next morning.

They had the car for 2 weeks, finally fixed the EDC issue, but said they could never reproduce the audio issue.

Got the car back on 6/17 and last night (6/20) the car did the audio thing again.

So it is back in the shop. BMW dealership (esp. my CA are being great) but they said they are now starting a PUMA case with BMW.

I have searched a little but I was curious exactly what a PUMA case is. Also, does anyone have any experience with what BMWNA typically does in cases like mine where the majority of my ownership of my car has been spent in loaners?

Any insight into what I might expect depending on how soon, or if they are able to fix my car.

Thanks in advance.

[BCMPOWER]

I also had an EDC failure the 1st week of owning my car and mine was in the shop for 1 week. My dealer had to send information to BMW in germany and wait for their response, then perform the repairs as BMW advises and retest. It took forever the end result being they had to take apart the EDC shock and rebuild them. They did not call this a PUMA case though? They are probally doing the same with BMW AG for your car. It may be a long process for you also, but unless it is a total failure your dealer will just replace what is broken and not give you any more compensation. I took my case up with the service manager also and did not get much further then I am sorry and here are some goodies, I got a plate frame and key chain.

[HeadOn]

LOL - I did. It is some sort of priority case with BMW that puts things on BMW's radar and if the dealership can't resolve it, theoretically someone from Germany comes to have a look.

Let me rephrase the question

Does anyone have any experience with PUMA cases and the kind of timelines involved with the process (real world experiences is what I am asking about)?

The second question is really geared towards people who might know what, if anything happens if your car doesn't get fixed and/or has to be in the shop for a long time when the car is brand new? Again, looking to see if anyone has had any first hand experience in this regard.

It is looking like my first month of ownership is going to equate to only 4 days of actually having my car. And right now, there isn't really an end in sight yet.

Again, mostly curious if anyone has had any experiences around these kind of scenarios, or for some of the people on the board who seem knowledgeable about BMW and their policies and procedures, what they might be able to help me anticipate as things move forward.

Thank you all in advance.

[J08M3]

Originally Posted by HeadOn

LOL - I did. It is some sort of priority case with BMW that puts things on BMW's radar and if the dealership can't resolve it, theoretically someone from Germany comes to have a look.

Let me rephrase the question

Does anyone have any experience with PUMA cases and the kind of timelines involved with the process (real world experiences is what I am asking about)?

The second question is really geared towards people who might know what, if anything happens if your car doesn't get fixed and/or has to be in the shop for a long time when the car is brand new? Again, looking to see if anyone has had any first hand experience in this regard.

It is looking like my first month of ownership is going to equate to only 4 days of actually having my car. And right now, there isn't really an end in sight yet.

Again, mostly curious if anyone has had any experiences around these kind of scenarios, or for some of the people on the board who seem knowledgeable about BMW and their policies and procedures, what they might be able to help me anticipate as things move forward.

Thank you all in advance.

They opened a PUMA case on my car when I brought it in with the steering problem. It took a week to get an answer back from Germany about what might be wrong with my car and I only heard once I made a phone call to BMW customer relations complaining that it was taking to long to hear back. Service dept. in the dealership was very nice but they were stuck until they had an answer from Germany. I called up and told customer relations I was extremely disappointed I was making payments on a $70k car and no ones taking the time to get back to the dealership about what's wrong with it. When they did get back with an answer it turned out to be the wrong solution so now I'm waiting again but at least my car is safe to drive so I've been driving it this whole time.

[Nucking Futs!]

I'd like to know more details as well. I currently have a tranny issue & waiting on DCT oil from BMW NA to arrive even though it was suppose to be delivered to the dealership this past Tuesday. Thus I've had the car for 9-days now & outta those 9-days, it's been at the dealership for 6-days.

[valeram]

You can check the Lemon Law in your own state . A booklet about your rights (Lemon Law) is included with all the manuals. Here in OH, if the car is in the shop for a total of 30 days or it was fixed for a total of 3 times for the same problem all within the first year of ownership.

[apw2607]

I've have experence a PUMA case on my old e46 M3 with the Bluetooth/Assist system. It was resolved in a single day.

On the new car, I've got a PUMA case open right now because I can't turn the flashing headlamp acknowledgement off when I lock the car even though its selected "off" in i-Drive. Seems like its a s/w problem and something particular with my car. Hopefully BMW will fix it with the next PROGMAN iteration. The PUMA case has being open for about 2 weeks.

[icemang17]

Okay I'm guessing that "PUMA" is a lemon law issue?? Which would vary state to state....

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by HeadOn

Hi all,

Unfortunately less than 24 hours later the audio system malfunctioned (no audio at all, voice recognition wouldn't work, iDrive sluggish) and then after turning the car off a few minutes later it emitted an ear piercing tone at max volume for about 3-4 mins.)

See my post here about the screaming speaker issue (Enhanced Premium Sound?): http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141873. They replaced my tuner and it's been fine since.

[Partsdood]

Basically, PUMA is a request for technical assistance from BMW. The tech starts a PUMA case and BMW comes back with a series of tests to perform to isolate the problem leading to a final solution. BMW is trying to stop techs from throwing parts at a problem by making sure specific test procedures are followed, and by utilizing BMW's experience with problems sent in by dealers around the world.

[12:03]

geez this thread makes me want to wait 2 years to buy one

[gbelton]

The BMW Tech submits what is called a PuMA TeileClearing case, and they give BMWNA/AG as much information as possible regarding a problem and the condition of the issue (fault codes, fluid level/condition, etc...). Using that information and information sent from the GT1 diagnostic tester, PuMA tells the tech what do to.

[gbelton]

Originally Posted by 12:03

geez this thread makes me want to wait 2 years to buy one

Doesn't really matter. You never know when an issue will come up. Yeah, a brand spankin' new one might have some issues but it's under warranty; so who cares.

Just like anything in life... We have insurance to protect us from the things to come that we hope never happen to us, etc... Off my soap box now.

[RandyB]

Originally Posted by 12:03

geez this thread makes me want to wait 2 years to buy one

Me too. I may ask to wait a little longer and see if some of these issues diminish on the early '09s. It's not that I don't trust those bozos with my car for extended periods of time. Yes it is, actually.

[swamp2]

Originally Posted by RandyB

Me too. I may ask to wait a little longer and see if some of these issues diminish on the early '09s. It's not that I don't trust those bozos with my car for extended periods of time. Yes it is, actually.

It is easy to focus on the data which tells us about problems. Please don't forget the following (most of which I have posted before):

1. There are a lot of M3s on the road around the world. Many have had no problems whatsoever.
2. When you have problems you are much more likely to a. find this forum, and b. post about it. How many posts do you see like "4,000 miles and no issues yet"? I could post that myself and I just got to 5,000 mi.
3. It will be quite difficult (nearly impossible) to determine any meaningful trend that represents a decrease in the overall % of cars that experience such glitches.
4. No car models are without such glitches. It is all a matter of probabilities. The chance is much higher for electrical problems on an early 90s Jeep than a early 2000 Civic. Both still will have large numbers of problems.

If it makes you feel more comfortable waiting you should. Just make sure you weigh the benefits, epistemology and the joy of immediate satisfaction.