Three problems related to service brakes have been reported for the 1999 BMW 528. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I had been driving my 528i (BMW 1999) this past winter when I noticed the power brakes were no longer working. I had to depress the peddle with no assist, and while the car di eventually stop, it could have been unfortunate if my wife or daughter were faced with this condition suddenly. Power brake booster apparently went bad, water leaking in and freezing, fortunately no on e injured.
Common abs asc+t electronic control unit failure disabled odometer, speedometer, cruise control, automatic door locks, and alarm disabled, anti-lock brakes disabled, and stability control disabled. The car can no longer be locked to keep out intruders, the odometer is disabled and an unknown amount of mileage is being added to the vehicle(also a violation of California vehicle code cvc), the anti-lock brakes and stability control will not work and the car is out right dangerous to drive in bad weather. BMW is aware of the abs control module problems in these cars and has done nothing to rectify the situation except offer a very expensive replacement part with no upgrades to prevent future failures. My personal vehicle has had the module fail at only 94k miles. There are many others out there with the vary same complaint. If I was the original owner I would be talking with a lawyer about californian "lemon laws". The abs system, automatic locking system, and lock system are all major safety hazards. The odometer not working I believe falls under a cvc violation possibly a federal mandate violation.
Asc control unit failed. This resulted in failure of anti-lock brakes and traction control and speedometer on my 1999 BMW 528i. BMW has a service bulletin out on this issue for 5 series cars 9/98 to 9/00 (mine was built 10/98). Bulletin info: vs-23/weintuch baugruppe/group:32 32 01 00 (646) dated 11/2000. The repair instructions code is ra 24 52 515/ 34 52 516. After unit failed, I was involved in an emergency situation in which I had to brake heavily and all four wheels locked up. However I managed to stop within 2 feet of the car that pulled in front of me. . Read more...