2005 BMW 545I — Complaint #1004476
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EQUIPMENT:MECHANICAL:INTEGRATED JACK/LEVELER/STABILIZER filed August 23, 2013
NHTSA complaint #1004476 (ODI reference 10537024) concerns a 2005 BMW 545I and was filed on August 23, 2013. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 3, 2012. The vehicle had 54,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to North Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as equipment:mechanical:integrated jack/leveler/stabilizer, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same BMW 545I cohort independently describe similar equipment:mechanical:integrated jack/leveler/stabilizer failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2005 BMW 545I shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I WAS JACKING UP MY BMW IN MY GARAGE USING A PROPER FLOOR JACK ON THE RIGHT SIDE REAR JACKPOINT STAND BUILT TO JACK THE CAR UP FROM THE RIGHT REAR. THE JACKPOINT FAILED AFTER IT WAS APPROXIMATELY 6 INCHES OFF GROUND, AND THE VEHICLE DROPPED BACK TO THE FLOOR WHERE THE ENTIRE JACKPOINT WAS NOW COLLAPSED INSIDE OF THE FRAME. I CONTACTED BMW DEALER IN CHAPEL HILL,NC, AND ALSO BMWNA WHO OPENED A CASE UNDER MY VIN NUMBER, AND HAD ME BRING THE VEHICLE INTO THE DEALER FOR AN INSPECTION, AND THAT THEY WOULD LOOK THINGS OVER, AND CORRECT THE SITUATION. THE DEALER TOOK 4 WEEKS TO GET BACK, AND TOLD ME THEY NEEDED TO SEE THE CAR AGAIN TO TAKE PHOTOS, AND LOOK IT OVER AGAIN SO I TOOK IT BACK TO THE SAME DEALER IN CHAPEL HILL, NC (PERFORMANCEBMW). THEY TOOK ANOTHER 4 WEEKS, AND ASKED IF I COULD BRING IT BACK AGAIN AS THEY NEEDED A SPECIALIST WHO TRAVELS TO THE DEALERSHIP TO LOOK OVER THE VEHICLE, AND SO I TOOK IT IN AGAIN A 3RD TIME. I THOUGHT FINALLY THEY WOULD RESOLVE THIS ISSUE, BUT AFTE
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1004476 |
| ODI Number | 10537024 |
| Date Filed | August 23, 2013 |
| Failure Date | December 3, 2012 |
| VIN | WBANB33515C |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.