Headlights Problems of BMW 330 - part 1

The contact owns a 2001 BMW 330ci. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 mph at night, the front headlights were flickering on and off. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.

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Going through my newly purchased, used 2006 330xi, I found several warnings for front headlight malfunctions. Further investigation showed adaptive functions were disabled and the left low beam was stuck pointing left. While the bulbs themselves were still functioning, the light was pointed directly at oncoming traffic and did not illuminate the road in front of me. Opening the access panel at the rear of the headlight assembly showed multiple bare wires inside of the sealed housing, the insulation had simply started to flake off of the wires rendering all centering and leveling functions of the light inoperable. . Read more...

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Right front low beam headlamp cuts out intermittently and eventually stops working due to cracked wiring inside the adjustable headlamp unit. For awhile, my headlight would stop working while making a right turn but then turn back on when straightened out. After two right turns, the headlight would cease to turn back on. Now (after several weeks of this happening) the headlight does not function at all, and I can see broken wiring if I look inside the headlight unit causing the issue.

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The interior wires of the BMW e46 headlight assemblies have insulation material that readily breaks off of the wire, causing the bear wire conductor to be visible. This results in a failure of the headlights as the wires conductors are allowed to touch. This is also a possible source of a vehicle fire.

Cheap plastic used in headlight projectors melt due to heat from oem xenon bulbs. This poses a fire safety hazard as well as low and eventually no light onto the road.

Passenger side headlight assembly wires break and cause the headlight to stop emitting light or otherwise working. Repeated attempts to repair the wiring harness eventually fail. This occurs with mere normal use of the car and passage of time. The headlight assembly and bulb are still intact, but simply receive no power due to the broken wires. The assembly can fail at any time, whether stationary, in motion, or on back roads or highways. When this issue is googled on this particular car, a 2004�2006 BMW 3 series e46 coupe with bi-xenon adaptive headlights, many many users report the same issue. No matter the condition, location, and service history of the car, the headlight assembly on the passenger side will always stop working simply because of the wiring. See: https://forum. E46fanatics. Com/showthread. Php?t=1073501 if repaired enough times, the assembly becomes unrepairable, at which point the user is stuck driving without a headlight, a dangerous situation to be in. Ordering an incredibly costly $1500 part to replace it is not only costly, but will eventually result in the same critical issue re-appearing because the design is inherently defective. This is a serious safety issue. Other costs include mechanics who insist to customers that the issue is both wiring and the bulb too, causing unsuspecting users to be charged extra for replacement bulbs and the associated labor as well. First occurrence on my car was April 2019, second was October 2019, and third was February 2020 at which point the part was deemed unrepairable. 2004�2006 BMW 325ci and BMW 330ci with adaptive bi-xenon hid headlights.

Headlight assembly wiring insulation disintegrated.

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330i sedan - zkw hid headlights with burnt xenon bulb reflectors rendering the headlights ineffective and the car unsafe to drive at night.

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The stock zkw projectors have burnt out and significantly reduce the quality of light emanating from the headlights. In order to have any true visibility, I have to hold the "flash-to-pass" lights on while I'm driving (a manual transmission). This is obviously a dangerous situation. The replacement assemblies are over $3,000 for the pair. That cost cannot be justified. I purchased the car a couple of months ago, but I, of course, did not test drive it at night (since it was summer). So I had no way of knowing about the deteriorated condition of the headlights. I cannot say for certain when this happened, but, based on internet searches, it appears to be a known issue that dates back to at least 2011.

Fire hazard: adaptive headlight controller car in motion, heavy rain, 'road following headlight' stopped working (I. E. , headlight still illuminating, but would not swivel to follow direction of turns anymore). Dashboard code cc-id 295. Upon later inspection, obd reported ista codes 0932c: frm acl faulty; 009cbd; frm communication with step motor left disrupted; 009cbe: frm communication with step motor rigth disrupted during replacement of faulty module (p/n 63127189312), evidence of past electrical fire found: strong burnt electrical insulator smell, wire harness in the headlight housing molten, extensive fire damage to both the module pcb and the electrical connector between the module and the headlight housing.

Headlights failing while driving. BMW used poor insulation inside headlight assemblies that degrade overtime and fail causing significant safety hazard.

The contact owns a 2005 BMW 330ci. While the vehicle was parked, the contact noticed that the plastic that covered the front driver's side headlight wiring started to peel. The contact was concerned that the wires could become exposed. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 157,124.

The oem xenon zkw brand lights had completely burnt reflector bulbs that caused low light to be emitted. This defect is due to plastic bowls being used instead of metal or another material. The damage could have caused a fire hazard or worse. I was forced to replace the lights at my own expense. I have attached photos of the damage and light output to this complaint. This occurred simply by having the headlights on.

Cheap wiring was used in the headlight units for specific cars with adaptive bi-xenon headlights. The wiring for these cars now has fallen apart, and disconnects. BMW's only way of fixing it is to replace the entire headlight unit, which costs around $2000 to replace a few wires that should cost less than $10. There are many cars on the road that this affects, which is a serious safety concern. Car owners are soldering wires by hand in an attempt to fix it but there is no long term solution.

Headlight wiring on my 2004 BMW 330ci degraded prematurely accelerated by heat and high voltage until it caused my headlight to fail while driving on the interstate in the early evening. The symptom was caused by the supply wires to the igniter losing there insulation at stressed harness attachment point, arced over, and caused the copper conductors to become brittle. This symptom was seen on the projector assembly wiring as well as the daylight running light which did not exhibit the copper breakdown. Insulation of both assemblies crumbled to flakes when touched and rendered the headlight assembly unusable. This fault could just as easily cause a fire in the headlight assembly during which the specified headlight fuses may not provide protection to the associated vehicle systems. The only provided solution from the manufacturer is to buy a new assembly for a component which should only require periodic replacement of the lamps when they burn out. Fortunately my car also flood lights which helped to light the way when the headlamp failed.

Zkw brand xenon headlamps have defective reflector bowls. The lights burn off all of the reflective surface causing the low/high beams to be so dim that driving at night is impossible. The part (reflector bowl) is not available as a replacement part, it can only be purchased as a whole headlight assembly for $1300 each light. This is a major safety issue, that I have just found out about. As we have been getting into winter and the daylight saving change cause earlier sunset times, I noticed my headlights were not very bright on the road. It hasn't been an issue that I noticed in past years due to my <1 mile commute, but this year I purchased a house 25mi from work and the amount of night driving has increased dramatically. I first adjusted the alignment of the lights to try to correct what I thought the issue was, and also have replaced one of the head light bulbs with no change. I found out about this issue on BMW forums all over the internet, and it seems to be extremely common. There needs to be a recall, or at least an oem replacement part available.

My headlights are very dim due to a a plastic reflector in the headlight housing manufactured by zkw that burns out prematurely. This causes a very serious road hazard as visibility is greatly diminished. I have nearly struck sever pedestrians, other vehicles and dark objects at night on the highway such as large tire debris.

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 330i. The contact noticed that the head lamp bulbs were burned out and a burning odor was detected. The contact replaced the head lamps independently. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or dealer to be diagnosed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 99,000.

Vehicle has very poor headlight visibility at night due to burnt out plastic reflector bowls from BMW's sub-supplier zkw. Replacement bowls are not available for purchase from BMW. Only fix from them is replacing the entire headlight assembly which costs thousands of dollars.

The adaptive bixenon headlights use biodegradable wiring. This wiring cannot withstand the headlights adaptive headlight movement. These wires can tear or worse the insulation can crumble off. This leads to a huge fire risk. Furthermore, BMW does not have any form of fixing the problem. They only sell new headlight units that have the same issue. To be clear, no incident occurred to cause this issue other than standard use of the car. It is a ticking time bomb on all cars using this wiring, which also includes the e60 m5 platform. The result is headlights that can turn off at any time or worse they can short and cause a fire.

Headlights no longer illuminate due to deteriorating headlight material considered a defect due to inferior plastic used when originally manufactured. Low illumination level creates a serious safety hazard to driver and public causing severe injuries and damage. The high cost of replacing these headlight assemblies cannot be burdened by the vehicle owners. Based on my research this vehicle condition has been reported asking the governing entities to take action by recalling the vehicle and having the manufacturer correct the defect.

Tl-the contact owns a 2003 BMW 330i. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 mph, the passenger side headlight caught on fire. The contact extinguished the fire. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the headlight needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of failure. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000. Tw.

Purchased car used. Upon driving it at night for the first time the headlights were noticed to be very dim. Bulbs were checked to be the correct wattage and color temperature. Plastic reflector dish was seen to be burned out (not reflecting light from the portion above the bulb.

The low beams on my 2004 BMW 330i are very dim. They barely light up the road at night, if at all. My only option is to turn on my high beams, but then I risk blinding incoming traffic. I consider this a significant safety risk. Through online research I have discovered that the problem is that the bowls BMW used to reflect the light from the bulbs are made of plastic and get burnt from the heat of the bulb. Due to this fact, I believe BMW should have a recall for the headlights of e46 cars. I do not think I should have to pay to fix something that is a factory defect.

This car suffers from the known burnt xenon low beam bowls, its impossible to see anything at night and is not safe. This needs to be recalled by BMW immediately, headlights have been adjusted properly and new bulbs were put in and does not cure the problem. Its very common for these xenon headlights to have this problem in alot of 2003+ BMW 3 series.

The headlights are useless at night. The bulbs all function perfectly, but the reflector housings are "worn" according to my mechanic. I understand the need to replace bulbs over the lifetime of a vehicle, but $3,000 for a whole new headlight assembly is outrageous! this is a design defect that the NHTSA refuses to investigate. There are thousands of complaints regarding this design defect all over the internet. This is a serious safety issue!.

Xenon headlights. Dim to dark at best. Work when they want.

Bi-xenon projector headlights have very poor illumination output and are unsafe. Apparently, the unit uses a plastic reflective bowl that burns over time due to the heat of the light bulb therefore losing its reflectibility. The standard halogen fog lamps in the lower bumper must be used as headlights because of the almost non existant output of the actual heatlights. The only thing the bi-xenons are good for at this point is showing that a light is indeed on so that the police wont issue a citation. But as far as illuminating the road, they do not.

Bi-xenon headlights manufactured by zkw have a serious design defect. After only 80,000 miles, the headlights are almost completely ineffective at night time. Upon inspection, the reflective bowl in the headlight assembly was burnt, blackened and melted. Not only is this a safety issue for driving at night, but it could potentially be a fire hazard. Upon doing some research, this appears to be a serious problem, evidenced by many complaints on various BMW message forums. Something needs to be done about this before it leads to fire or accident.

The projector bowls on my 2005 e46 330i show signs of burning. This problem seems to affect all e46 models with zkw xenon headlights. The burn bowls effect the light output often resulting in a poorly lit view of the road ahead.

The bowl of the oem zkw headlight burns out. It is first and foremost a safety hazard. BMW has produced countless cars that are affected, specifically any 3 series with the upgraded xenon headlights. Not only was this an additional option but the cost to rectify light output to a safe level is high. Oem headlights cost $1200 each at the dealership. I feel as though that is the only way to approach this since headlights correlate directly with night driving and safety.

I purchased the vehicle used with 155xxx miles on it and noticed that the headlights cannot sufficiently light up the road. Upon further inspection, the xenon projector-bowl housing inside the headlights are burnt. Light output is significantly reduced. The lights are manufactured by "zkw".

The contact owns a 2005 BMW 330ci. The contact stated that while driving at 40 mph, the passenger front headlight failed to illuminate intermittently. The contact also mentioned that the failure was sudden. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the mechanic stated that igniter, controller, and bulb had to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 63,000.

On zkw-headlight equipped bi-xenon BMW 3-series, the low beam projector bowls are coated with faulty reflecting material that is burned off over time, dramatically reducing the output of the headlights.

The contact owns a 2005 BMW 330i. While driving at any speed, the headlights dimmed without warning. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed that the headlights needed to be replaced. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 11v438000 (exterior lighting), 14v428000 (air bags), and 15v318000 (air bags). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure was not remedied. The VIN was invalid. The failure mileage was 85,000.