Tail Light LED issues

[Philipangoo]

Everyone who has experienced issues with this should really file a complaint with the NHTSA. This just happened to my wife's 2011 128i (was built in 2010). Her car had 30,000 miles on it when this happened, which is really early for LED lights to be going out. It seems like Pre LCI cars with build dates prior to 12/2010 are mostly affected by this.

Go here:

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/Vehicl...nt/index.xhtml

you will need your vehicle VIN number. Then enter the issue as Brakes => Electrical => Lighting.

It is very easy and takes a few seconds. If you have already had your tail lights replaced during warranty I ask that you also make a report. The more frequencies that the NHTSA knows about, the higher likelihood they will investigate the matter, and then they will require BMW to show their records which it sounds like they have tons of tail light replacements. On one thread I saw a guy had both sides replaced in a matter of months.

I owned a C63 AMG and the w204 were notorious for the tail light ground not being sufficient for the lights, and would end up melting the board and eventually the housing. We rallied up alot of owners on mbworld.org and started making reports and it resulted in a investigation then a full recall.

[Philipangoo]

Here are the LED "running lights" that go out. They are the 3 bar style tubes that go across.

[mr.fabulous]

Did the car alert your wife this had failed, or was this simply something you noticed

[Philipangoo]

I noticed it when I drove her car today because it displayed a warning. Not sure if it stopped working before or not so I can't say.

[MuNkY6913]

Mine were replaced under warranty. One of them went out and I had started my car and was smoking out side of my car and noticed one was out. Went to the dealer And there was a service bulliten about them and they replaced both at the same time since they were a known issue already. My sa said might as well replace the other one so I wouldn't have to come back when the other one went. My car didn't warn me about it. It didn't say anything about a light being out.

[Philipangoo]

Munky post a complaint if you can. Chances are once you are out of warranty the same issue will happen again.

[MuNkY6913]

Originally Posted by Philipangoo

Munky post a complaint if you can. Chances are once you are out of warranty the same issue will happen again.

They told me the problem was fixed with the new tail lights. Just the ones that came from the factory had the problem. I'll take a look and post if I can. Went with lci tails anyways.