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2004 BMW 330I Exterior Lighting Problems, Complaints and Defects

Issue ID	891722
Internal NHTSA #	10435260
Manufacurer	BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC
Brand	BMW
Model	330I
Model Year	2004
File date	08/07/11
Component	EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Product type code	VEHICLE
Description of the problem	I own a 2004 bmw 330i m-performance edition. My headlights are manufactured by a company called zkw. I am canadian and my car is a canadian car but the faulty part in question is common to both us-spec and cdn-spec bmw 3-series. My headlight output is extremely poor. In inclement weather, this issue is compounded. I now must always run with my foglights on to aid the headlights. This is not a safe solution to the problem. Foglights are designed to help the driver see your more immediate surroundings. The distance that the light is shone is much shorter than it should be. I am not able to see more that 3-5 meters in front of my vehicle. The 'incident' date noted above is when i had struck a raccoon with my vehicle that i should have seen much much sooner, giving me more time to react or make an evasive maneuver. This is significant because i was not traveling faster than 60-70 kph. The result was a $1,200 repair to my front bumper and bumper trim which sustained damage from the animal. From what i understand, all 3-series purchased in 2003 and 2004 which feature xenon-headlights made by zkw suffer from a design flaw with the reflector bowl. Over time this reflector bowl, which is made of plastic, tends to get fried and discoloured as a result of the heat emanating from the xenon bulb. This causes the reflector bowl to lose it's reflective properties and as result, light output is extremely poor. For model year 2005, bmw went with a different headlight manufacturer which offered headlights which featured and aluminum reflector bowl which is more resilient to the temperatures caused by the xenon bulb. To me, this shows bmw acknowledging the design flaw, especially since model year 2005 was the last year bmw made a 3-series sedan in this chassis.
Vehicle Mileage at Failure	120000
Number of Occurences	1
Source of the issue	NHTSA WEB SITE
City and State	OAKVILLE, CA
VIN pattern	WBAEV53474KXXXXXX
Was vehicle invloved in a crash?	Y
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	07/08/26
Was original owner?	N
Anti-lock brakes	N
Cruise control	N
Number of cylinders
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Transmission type
Vehicle speed	40
DoT tire identifier
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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
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What is Recall?
A recall is when a product is removed from the market or a correction is made to the product because it is either defective or potentially harmful.
What is Failure?
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic engineering.
What is Defect?
Non-conformance of a car component with the specified requirements, or non-fulfillment of user expectations, including the safety aspects.

Last decoded VIN:

KMHSC81BP3U583807 JE3AS59W5AZ200107 MBJTYKL1STG384531 SJNFFAP12U0146644 JMBSNCY2ABU005704 1YVHZ8CH0A5M07081 WP0ZZZ99Z1S695124 WDD2050402R220127 2T2ZK1BA8AC022392 SUF126AD037301725 WBAJC9706KWA33641 JTEHJ09J935072796

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2004 BMW 330I Exterior Lighting Problems, Complaints and Defects, Recalls and Failures

2004 BMW 330I Exterior Lighting Problems, Complaints and Defects

What is Recall?

What is Failure?

What is Defect?