DBRMan
Guest
I have been asked to provide an update on my brake failure experiences since I last posted back in November - the saga has really taken this long to reach a conclusion:
OK - an update. The dealer in Malaga Spain had the bike for six months total. At an early stage in this saga they said that they had discovered that the ABS sensor had 'moved' and this caused the lockup. They went on to say that they could not prove if this happened before or after the bike threw me off when the front wheel locked up for 15 minutes! In other words it was my fault.
After I finally received a letter from BMW in Spain over Christmas last (2 months after the problem occured) saying that they would not accept responsibility and that it was not a factory fault, I then consulted a lawyer in Madrid.
The result was that I had made a mistake giving the bike back to the dealer without getting it checked by an independent expert. Since they had 'fixed' the fault I could not prove anything. BMW and the dealership were totally unhelpful and would not contribute to fixing the damage.
When I first called the dealer in Malaga to collect the bike they had 'lost' it! It took them nearly two weeks to accept that they still had it. I arranged to collect it on a specific day and asked them to fit it with the engine protection bars and rear pannier boxes I had ordered and paid for 9 months before and which had not been delivered when I first collected the bike.
When I arrived the bike was not at the dealership and they had to send someone to collect it. They handed it over with a flat battery (not charged for six months ) and a dented new pannier box. I had to return with the dented box that day and they swapped it although they tried to blame the dent on me first! I pointed out I had never seen the box before to the manager and he immediately replaced it. I spent over three hours at the dealer that day waiting to get someone's attention and some basic service and over an hour with the engine running because I could not switch it off and restart it!
The service from BMW is appalling. This is clearly another assembly fault that showed up as a hard fault when I first took the bike off-road (I live off-road in Spain). The dealership in Spain would not survive 6 weeks as a dealer in Northern Europe based on the way they treat customers.
I am left with damaged cylinder head and a damaged drive shaft casing and no recompense.
What this did for me was ensure that I never buy any other BMW product (I had intended to replace a BMW car with another but that is off the agenda forever). I would not buy a BMW branded wrist watch from them.
Hope this helps guys - it seems that there are two types of fault. The electronics failure in the ABS that means that the bike resorts to the 'residual braking' system and my fault which is just bad assembly at the factory and possibly bad design engineering in the ABS sensor mounting.
I had heard that a German safety organisation and a US safety organisation are investigating the failures on this bike.
The moral of the story is - dont take the bike back to the dealer without getting it independently checked.
OK - an update. The dealer in Malaga Spain had the bike for six months total. At an early stage in this saga they said that they had discovered that the ABS sensor had 'moved' and this caused the lockup. They went on to say that they could not prove if this happened before or after the bike threw me off when the front wheel locked up for 15 minutes! In other words it was my fault.
After I finally received a letter from BMW in Spain over Christmas last (2 months after the problem occured) saying that they would not accept responsibility and that it was not a factory fault, I then consulted a lawyer in Madrid.
The result was that I had made a mistake giving the bike back to the dealer without getting it checked by an independent expert. Since they had 'fixed' the fault I could not prove anything. BMW and the dealership were totally unhelpful and would not contribute to fixing the damage.
When I first called the dealer in Malaga to collect the bike they had 'lost' it! It took them nearly two weeks to accept that they still had it. I arranged to collect it on a specific day and asked them to fit it with the engine protection bars and rear pannier boxes I had ordered and paid for 9 months before and which had not been delivered when I first collected the bike.
When I arrived the bike was not at the dealership and they had to send someone to collect it. They handed it over with a flat battery (not charged for six months ) and a dented new pannier box. I had to return with the dented box that day and they swapped it although they tried to blame the dent on me first! I pointed out I had never seen the box before to the manager and he immediately replaced it. I spent over three hours at the dealer that day waiting to get someone's attention and some basic service and over an hour with the engine running because I could not switch it off and restart it!
The service from BMW is appalling. This is clearly another assembly fault that showed up as a hard fault when I first took the bike off-road (I live off-road in Spain). The dealership in Spain would not survive 6 weeks as a dealer in Northern Europe based on the way they treat customers.
I am left with damaged cylinder head and a damaged drive shaft casing and no recompense.
What this did for me was ensure that I never buy any other BMW product (I had intended to replace a BMW car with another but that is off the agenda forever). I would not buy a BMW branded wrist watch from them.
Hope this helps guys - it seems that there are two types of fault. The electronics failure in the ABS that means that the bike resorts to the 'residual braking' system and my fault which is just bad assembly at the factory and possibly bad design engineering in the ABS sensor mounting.
I had heard that a German safety organisation and a US safety organisation are investigating the failures on this bike.
The moral of the story is - dont take the bike back to the dealer without getting it independently checked.
