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ProblemsByVin Index / 2011-BMW-740LI / COMPLAINTS
Full complaint record · NHTSA

2011 BMW 740Li owner complaints

11 complaints filed with NHTSA on this vehicle , including 2 reporting a crash, fire, injury, or fatality. Showing the 300 most recent — grouped by category for scanning.

electrical 3 complaints shown

4 total in this category · severe · avg repair $850 · see electrical cluster analysis →
01/05/2022 ODI #11446272.0

Vehicle is equipped with soft closing doors. Passenger door actuator malfunctioned which prevented the passenger door from locking. That malfunction short circuited the entire vehicle locking system. It created a unsafe driving condition which locked the driver side door from the inside and outside of the vehicle. Basically locking the driver inside the car. The only way for the driver to exit the vehicle was to climb to another door. If the driver was in a accident and needed to exit the car immediately, he wouldn't be able to do it.

01/04/2022 ODI #11446184.0

Electric water pump failed. While driving, engine overheated and warning light illuminated. I immediately pulled over and my car was towed in for repairs. Why wasn't the N54 engine not included in the recall campaign#11V-521? Also, my fuel line was found to be leaking when this car was towed in for the electric water pump repairs. I did smell fuel on days prior to this incident, but I mistakenly ignored the smells. This whole incident had the potential to be catastrophic.

01/02/2020 41,287 mi Crash ODI #11296750.0

Walking out of the grocery store I noticed my car had moved, hit the curb and damaged my bottom front bumper. I started and turned on my car and then noticed the shifter was on neutral and not parked. Shifter would only shift to any gear except for the parking gear. I drove my car home and tried parking my car in the garage, but had to use the emergency parking so it wouldn't roll again. Shifter won't go back to parking gear ever since that day.

other 2 complaints shown

09/28/2020 110,000 mi ODI #11361440.0

The car misfire due faulty injector they didn't replace the faulty injector with the new one

07/07/2018 50,000 mi ODI #11110001.0

Headliner sagging and looks to have been poorly installed.

powertrain 2 complaints shown

08/26/2020 135,522 mi ODI #11351446.0

The gear shifter blinks in neutral when the car is in park. A notification on the display says "secure vehicle with parking break when stationary.

02/29/2024 57,000 mi ODI #11574769.0

The contact owns a 2011 BMW 740LI. The contact stated that the transmission failed to shift into park (P) and inadvertently shifted into neutral (N). The contact applied the parking brake while the transmission was shifted to neutral (N) to turn off the vehicle. The Transmission Malfunction message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the TCM needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000.

engine 2 complaints shown

05/02/2017 84,000 mi ODI #10983034.0

Purchased the car in january 2012 from BMW concord as a leased vehicle. Mileage was 12,000 when purchased. In april 2017, transmission failure notice came on and car would not shift into reverse. We took the car to the BMW dealership in concord. Service center said transmission had completely failed and needed to be replaced. Service center said high pressure fuel pump had also failed and needed to be replaced. Service analyst said it was unusual for a car with this mileage to see this kind of failure but he had seen it before.

03/22/2018 110,000 mi Fire ODI #11080960.0

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 BMW 740li. While the vehicle was stationary, the water pump failed. The contact stated that the wire of the auxiliary that connected to the water pump melted. The contact purchased a new auxiliary wire for the water pump, but complained of a burning odor inside the cabin of the vehicle even after the parts were replaced by chapman BMW in phoenix, arizona. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000.

Showing 300 of 11 total complaints. The full federal record is available at nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2011/BMW/740Li#complaints.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) owner complaint database. Last synced 2026-07-26. Complaints are owner-submitted and unverified — the existence of a complaint is not proof of a defect, but a pattern of complaints around the same component is a signal worth weighing. Verify any specific filing at nhtsa.gov.
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