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According to the statistics of the car quality Network, 10436 valid complaints from car owners were accepted in March 2022, a record high for the same period, up 19.6% from the previous month and 31.8% from the same period last year. Overall, the top 10 models on the complaint list are Geometry Kung Fu Bull, BMW 5-Series, BMW X3, Volkswagen Longyi, Toyota Liling, Chery Tiger 8, Toyota Corolla, BMW 3-Series, Chery Ant, BYD Song PLUS and Nissan Xuanyi. Among them, the more serious complaint is the BMW brand, the top 10 list of three models from BMW, complaints are related to the "burning oil" problem.

Since the end of 2021, a large number of BMW owners have begun to find their cars burning oil, mainly in models with 2.0T B48TU engines. According to a joint statement by car owners, BMW engines have seriously accumulated carbon due to oil burning, including BMW 3-Series, BMW 5-Series, BMW X3, BMW X4, BMW X5 and other popular models produced after 2019.

According to the owner of BMW, the BMW 325li sports model was purchased in April 2020. In July 2021, in the course of driving, a sudden alarm was given to the lack of lifting oil, and the owner immediately drove the vehicle to the 4S store for repair and maintenance. in the process of replacing the spark plug, the owner observed traces of oil leakage on the spark plug. and suspected of oil leakage in his engine. Subsequently, the 4S store replaced the valve cover for the vehicle, and after confirming that there was no problem, the owner of the car relieved to drive the car home. However, only half a year later, during the third maintenance in February 2022, the owner once again found that the car was burning engine oil, and the amount of engine oil left was only 1 stroke 4 of the standard value, while there were obvious oil residues and carbon deposits on the spark plug. The 4S store explained that the carbon deposition and oil residue on the spark plug was caused by the failure to clean the valve cover the last time it was replaced, and claimed that engine oil consumption was normal. Confusingly, the 4S store filled the car's engine with 5.75L oil, which was a full 0.5L higher than the second filling.

In addition to the above owners, the situation encountered by other car owners is basically similar, but the severity of the situation is slightly different. for this problem, the 4S store handles this problem by filling more oil or changing the valve cover, but the above methods do not completely solve the problem. Car owners are worried that adding too much oil will damage the three-way catalysis and other parts of the vehicle. In the face of complaints from BMW owners, BMW's official response was: "according to technical analysis, there is a crankcase ventilation device inside the engine valve chamber cover, which is closer to the first and second cylinders of the engine. If the spark plugs of the first and second cylinders are darker or wetter than the third or fourth cylinders, it is a normal physical phenomenon. If there is a large amount of oil in the spark plug of the first and second cylinder, it may be related to the cracking of the crankcase ventilator shell, which needs to be judged after further inspection by the customer to the store. In view of this failure, we have provided the distributor with detailed technical information and solutions. BMW apologizes for the bad experience and trouble caused to customers in the process of using cars. Will continue to cooperate with dealers in the principle of customer-centered communication, continue to provide consumers with high-quality products and services and make every effort. "

Judging from BMW's response, it did not admit that the engine burned oil, but a number of car owners complained that the burning of oil in BMW's engine was more or less related to product quality.

In addition to burning engine oil, BMW was also complained that it was "not in line with publicity". As a new generation of human-computer interaction system of BMW, ID7 human-computer interaction system has many selling points, such as intelligence and remote automatic vehicle upgrade. many car owners like this system, but the car they bought back for hundreds of thousands is "not intelligent". It is understood that the 2020 BMW 5-Series, 2020 630i and 2020-2021 X3 matching systems sold by BMW lack the functions of remote upgrade and voice control described in the owner's manual, and the staff deliberately conceal defects when selling vehicles.

In the interview, a number of car owners expressed their demands, asking BMW to publicly admit the fact that there were defects in the ID7 and apologize to the owners, at the same time, start the recall process for the quality defects of the car products, and adjust the hardware and software configuration of the defective version of the ID7 model to achieve all the functions that the normal version should have. If it cannot be recalled, vehicles equipped with castrated versions of the ID7 system should be recovered at the selling price. With regard to the above problems, BMW said that at present, only some ID7 models support remote software upgrade services. Some BMW digital products and services depend on the configuration of the vehicle.

However, the owner said it was unacceptable to BMW's response. Mr. Liu said that when buying cars, BMW dealers were promoting ID7 remote upgrades, voice controls and other bright features. And at that time, the 3 series and x5 were already equipped with a complete ID7 system. When buying a car, there was no introduction or explanation on the differences in versions. as a result, after buying a car, I found that my ID7 was a simple version, and afterwards stressed that only some models supported remote upgrades was misleading consumption.

It is understood that the 2020 3 series, X5 and 2019 7 series models listed in the same period have complete functions of the ID7 system. As the core software system of BMW, why is the same set of engine system "treated differently" on different models, especially on the 5 Series and X3, which are also the main selling models of the brand? Which models have this problem? How many cars are involved in this problem? On the ID7 system with intelligence as the selling point, why can't the simplified functions be completed through later upgrades? Is the lack of remote vehicle intelligent upgrade function due to "congenital defects" in the hardware of the "vehicle involved"? Why are consumers not fully briefed on the differences in ID7 functionality on the sales side?

According to the data, BMW Group delivered 846200 new cars in China in 2021, an increase of 8.9% over the same period last year. China accounted for 30% of global sales, beating other luxury brands to become the top seller in China's luxury car market again. In the first quarter of this year, BMW Group delivered 208500 new cars in China, also higher than other luxury brands. In terms of sales volume, BMW is still very popular in the Chinese market, and BMW is the first multinational car company to adjust the joint venture stock ratio after China liberalized the restrictions on foreign equity ratio in the automobile manufacturing industry.

For industrial products such as cars, which are made up of countless parts, it is normal to have problems. As long as the manufacturers handle them properly, consumers will not be unreasonable about the recalls and repairs. However, for the time being, BMW has not yet taken effective measures and attitude towards the oil burning incident, and even intends to cover up the problem in unconventional ways, which not only fails to solve the fundamental problem, but also is perhaps the most dissatisfied area among consumers. The auto industry's focus has always been that recognizing mistakes is the beginning of improvement, and denying real problems may make the results worse.

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