2020 BMW M340I — Complaint #2171708
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CRANKCASE (PCV) filed January 30, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2171708 (ODI reference 11714559) concerns a 2020 BMW M340I and was filed on January 30, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 1, 2025. The vehicle had 46,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:exhaust system:emission control:crankcase (pcv), 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 M340I cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling:exhaust system:emission control:crankcase (pcv) 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 2020 BMW M340I shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2020 BMW M340I. The contact stated that after an oil change was performed by an independent mechanic, there was a large amount of gray smoke coming from the exhaust pipe while accelerating from a complete stop. There was no warning light illuminated during the failure. The vehicle was taken to various independent mechanics, and the failure was associated with the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve cover. The contact stated that there was a recall on other model vehicles for the failure; however, neither the VIN nor the model vehicle was included in the recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 46,500.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2171708 |
| ODI Number | 11714559 |
| Date Filed | January 30, 2026 |
| Failure Date | December 1, 2025 |
| VIN | WBA5U9C00LA |
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.