2008 BMW M3 — Complaint #1193563
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES:ROD:RELAY:CONNECTING filed June 25, 2015
NHTSA complaint #1193563 (ODI reference 10730302) concerns a 2008 BMW M3 and was filed on June 25, 2015. The owner reports the failure occurred on May 5, 2015. The report was geocoded to Kentucky based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:linkages:rod:relay:connecting, 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. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
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 M3 cohort independently describe similar steering:linkages:rod:relay:connecting 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 2008 BMW M3 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2008 BMW M3. WHILE DRIVING AT 60 MPH, THE CONTACT HEARD A SUDDEN KNOCKING SOUND AND THE VEHICLE STALLED. THE VEHICLE RESTARTED, BUT THE NOISE RECURRED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED WITH ROD BEARING FAILURE AND THE ENGINE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE ISSUE. THE VIN AND FAILURE MILEAGE WERE UNAVAILABLE.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1193563 |
| ODI Number | 10730302 |
| Date Filed | June 25, 2015 |
| Failure Date | May 5, 2015 |
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.