| Issue ID | 897200 |
| Internal NHTSA # | 10440077 |
| Manufacurer | BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC |
| Brand | BMW |
| Model | 3 SERIES |
| Model Year | 2004 |
| File date | 01/05/08 |
| Component | EXTERIOR LIGHTING |
| Product type code | VEHICLE |
| Description of the problem | Zkw xenon headlights equipped on the car have a plastic reflector bowl for the low beam. The oem light bulb burns hot and melted the plastic reflector bowl. This causes a severe loss of projected light to the road. Many times i have to drive with high beams on to see more than 10-15 ft in front of the car cause me to blind other drivers. Bmw nor zkw recognize this as an issue and my dealer suggested i buy a whole new headlight assembly for 1. 5k (each side) to fix the issue. This should be recalled because it is a design failure. The later versions on the zkw headlights use metal reflector bowls (not interchangeable with earlier version) so the issue is know to them. |
| Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 38520 |
| Number of Occurences | 1 |
| Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
| City and State | PITTSBURGH, PA |
| VIN pattern | WBAEV53484KXXXXXX |
| Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | N |
| Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
| Was incedent reported to police? | N |
| Was medical attention required? | |
| Was part original equipment? | |
| No. of injured persons | |
| No. of fatalities | |
| Date of purchase | 06/08/26 |
| Was original owner? | N |
| Anti-lock brakes | N |
| Cruise control | N |
| Number of cylinders | 6 |
| Drive train type | |
| Transmission type | |
| Vehicle speed | 0 |
| DoT tire identifier | |
| Tire size | |
| Location of tire code | |
| Type of tire failure code | |
| Was defective tire repaired? | |
| Date of manufacture | |
| Type of child seat code | |
| Type of restraint | |
| Dealer's name | |
| Dealer's telephone number | |
| Dealer's city | |
| Dealer's state code | |
| Dealer's ZIP code |