[lackland]

Just got the recall letter from BMW that seems to be braking (ha! yes! pun!) news. To summarize, it seems to say that the Integrated Brake module "may not function according to specifications".

Translating from the extremely careful wording with parts boldfaced, italicized, underlined, and/or boxed, if the IB system does fry, BMW is hopeful that warning icons and messages will do their best to scare you to death before you actually die. Apparently, the brakes will work about as well as a clapped-out car from the 1960s. I.e., ABS and DSC may fail, and stopping distances may be excitingly long.

Unless you know how to drive a car in which the power brake assist has failed for what are supposed to be power brakes, you may have particularly interesting experiences. "However, fully mechanical braking is not affected."

The letter is a masterpiece of specific vagueness. It's not clear that the alerts will warn you in time to avoid rear-ending a school bus, or only come on sort of simultaneously with the initial failure, helpfully informing you of *why* you just made the evening news. It would seem now more than ever there's a reason to maintain those generous, safe following distances they tried to teach us in school.

The letter ends with the recommendation "that you and your passengers wear your safety belt at all times."

At the top of the letter, in a bolded, contrasting color inside a box, sort of as an exciting teaser to the whole story, is the notice "Remedy is Unavailable." Well, hey, whatever happened to spoiler alerts?

The letter says there will be a second letter when a remedy is available. If the warnings come on in the meantime or the car seems, you know, funny about any of this, call BMW as soon as possible.

My wife has declared whenever she's riding with me, we will be in her Lexus. Or she won't actually be riding with me. Geeze! Talk about being bossy!

[Gdwheel]

I just got it today, too. We have one X5 and two X1s that are impacted. I'm not sure what we are supposed to do.

[aaaaaaaaaz]

My local dealer does not have the replacement part yet

[Gladiator1972]

Following as I am trying to purchase a used X5 from a dealer in an other state (Porsche dealer) and he says they will fix both the airbag and integrated brake recall for me.

[WhyOhWhy24!]

Huge problem for me because I was going to trade or sale my x5 mid lease and I think this has tanked the value because a dealer won’t want to buy a car they can’t sale.

[LDT]

Lawyerspeak at it's best.