general problems of the 2004 BMW Z4 - part 1

Twice this month, while operating the vehicle, the power steering completely stopped functioning, causing the vehicle to be almost uncontrollable. No prior warning light. When I purchased the vehicle in 2018, the same problem occurred and the dealer replaced the steering column under warranty. In researching online I find that this is a common problem with this model. I am surprised to find that there is no recall notice for what is a major safety concern.

Power steering wheel went out of power during a trip at about 70mph. Yellow light at the dashboard went on then so, car became imposible to drive or so.

Power steering stopped working.

The electric steering gets sticky when very often. It feels locked in its position and requires extra force to unstick, once its past the sticking point it over corrects and causes the vehicle to swerve. This failure seems to be quite common and is well known. It seems to be a manufacturing defect inside the electric steering column. I believe it should be investigated by NHTSA. The last time it happened my car went off onto the soft shoulder. The manufacturer should repair the steering. It’s a widely known issue.

When driving the steering is loose or sticky. The problem gets worse when the weather is warm. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the car driving in a straight path. This is scary and dangerous. His occurs whenever the car is driven. Other Z4 drivers are having the same problem.

The steering is sticky, like the steering system is locking up. It isn't smooth but instead very jerky, and requires serious effort to manage. It is becoming dangerous and is very unsafe. I have seen a lot of complaints on the internet and can not believe this isn't a recall item!.

Component or system failed: steering column. It is available for inspection. Safety or the safety of others put at risk: when driving the steering column will lock or stick into place until it is forced back into a normal driving position. This consistently occurs when driving on a corner or making slight steering adjustments on a straight road. Has the problem been reproduced by a dealer: unknown has the vehicle or component been inspected: unknown were there any warning lamps: none.

Steering is "sticky" with a feel of detents in the steering instead of expected smooth engagement. At highway speeds this is concerning and feels unsafe. Difficult or impossible to steer smoothly.

The electric steering gets sticky when hot. It feels locked in its position and requires extra force to unstick, once its past the sticking point it over corrects and causes the vehicle to swerve. This failure seems to be quite common and is well known. It seems to be a manufacturing defect inside the electric steering column. I believe it has already been investigated by NHTSA but a recall has not yet been called to protect the consumer. This failure only happens when it is hot or the heater is on in the car, there is no warning before it occurs. Thank you for your attention in this matter. Please help by re-investigating this common failure.

The the vehicle sits out in the sunlight or its warm outside (usually over 80f) the steering wheel will get very notchy and “stick” towards the center position at highway speeds. This makes minor steering corrections at highway speeds very difficult to make without unintentionally leaving your own lane possibly into another car. This is very much a safety issue! this has happened on multiple occasions since the week after I got it in may 2022. Tonight its only 65 degrees and it was acting up (this is 2 hours after sunset).

The steering wheel is "sticky" and has play in it when you are driving it. It appears to have steering drift. I feel this car is not safe to drive and is hard to control. No warning messages have come on. When I searched online, it appears that many others are having trouble with their 2004 Z4 steering.

I own a 2004 BMW Z4 2. 5i I bought it used in 2010 with 22,000 miles. It was on a cool December day when I test drove the car and I loved it. No sign of any steering problems. On a warmer day after driving for a while I suddenly experienced a unexpected binding of the steering and almost binding ended up steering into oncoming traffic. This really scared me and I started investigating. Yes, this is a known safety defect, but BMW doesn’t do anything about it. Nhtsa, which supposed to protect us from unsafe vehicles, did not do their job either. I am a retired automotive engineer with fiat-iveco and NHTSA made my company recall vehicles for much less. The defect gets worse in hot weather and I don’t let my son, friends or anybody else drive the vehicle, as I am afraid that they could get hurt, aside from a liability issue on my side. I can’t really sell the vehicle with a known safety defect from a moral standpoint and I definitely would be liable should the car get involved in an accident caused by a known defect. . Read more...

Whenever the temperature is above 80 degrees the steering becomes very stiff with no power assist due to a design defeat within the steering column. The vehicle because very dangerous to drive due to the lack of steering control. This problem effects all BMW Z4s from 2003 to 2006. BMW wants the owners to have the dealer replace the steering column for $6,000. Please assist us in having BMW issue a recall for a very dangerous situation they created with a defectively designed steering column.

The contact owns a 2004 BMW Z4. The contact stated while driving at various speeds in warm weather, the steering wheel was difficult to turn. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to park on the side of the road. The contact continued driving with caution to his destination. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 125,000.

The steering sticks, in warmer weather, at freeway speeds. Continuously trying to unstick the steering wheel, with the possibility of overcorrecting, at freeway speeds, could present a safety hazard. Yes, the alignment company recognized the problem during their post-alignment test drive. The vehicle has not been inspected by "manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives. " no warning lamps/lights/messages on dash. However, if you google 2004 BMW with sticky steering, you will find numerous accounts of this happening to other owners of similar vehicles (specifically 2003-2005 Z4).

Unfortunately, I have a lot of problems with the steering wheel of my 2005 BMW Z4. It is completely unstable. For instance: 1)it keeps pulling to the left, or to the right. It requires constant adjustments so that I could keep the car aligned, or centered. 2)I experience sudden jerks to the left, or to the right when the road surface is slightingly uneven. I can never predict which way the car pulls me. I struggle a lot to keep the steering centered when stopping at any red lights. 3) sometimes, the steering feels like it is stuck.

When the temperature reaches approximately 80 degrees the steering starts to stick and becomes jerky in order to stay in the driving lane. It gets increasingly worse as the temperature rises to the point that the car becomes difficult to handle. Over a period of time, while in route to my destination, it becomes exhausting to drive. It is very dangerous to be on the road in the summer, which is the best time for driving a roadster with the convertible top down.

Steering gets sticky intermittently, more common when vehicle is hot. Seems like a loss of power steering. Vehicle only has 42k miles. Difficult to maintain lane especially on curves and in city traffic. Very dangerous and unexpected.

The car experiences sticky steering almost all the time now. It is most pronounced when temperatures are higher. There is difficulty keeping the car in it's own lane. It has not resulted in an accident, but requires an inordinate amount the focus and control to keep the car moving in the correct direction. There is only 47,000 miles on this car and I do not think something like this should be left unrepaired by BMW. It has been getting worse as time goes on.

The tracking of the steering sticks car was service last fall full inspection. Bushings were replaced. Shop foreman could not find anything wrong. The car was stored all winter climate-controlled garage. I took the car out yesterday and the sticky-ness and control of the car are difficult. I decided to some research and found 355 complaints about the same issue. Saw on some threads that BMW is aware of the problem. But never has been addressed. As a consumer taxpayer and doctor I am amazed that the NHTSA has not investigated or issued a recall. This is a serious problem. This car hs less than 41,000 miles on it. This causes the driver to correct steering constantly the car wants to pull in different directions and very difficult to correct. This event occurs while driving on a straight path. I have owned at least 15 different automobiles driven countless others and this is not how a car should respond. I was astounded to see all the previous complaints. What is going to be done? I plan on contacting the BMW service department this week. In the meantime I hope you take this seriously before someone gets injured. My guess is someone already has. Whoever is reading this please take it seriously. Below I marked the date of yesterday. Please be reminded this has happened on multiple occasions last fall. As well as to 355 other drivers. Thank you, dr. Louis kaufman.

Steering locks while driving.

This is a reoccurring problem which I have attempted to address through both local mechanics and BMW with no results. Essentially, while moving at slow speeds or stop and go traffic, the electrical system "shudders", all instrument lights illuminate, the transmission shifts to neutral, and the engine shuts down then restarts. The failure occurs on an irregular basis, affecting primarily the eps light, but may also affect all lights in the instrument cluster. Likewise, it may or may not move my transmission to neutral and if that happens, may or may not allow my to place it back in drive without shutting the vehicle down for several minutes. To date, both the alternator and the ignition switch have been replaced, no results. A brief search of popular BMW forums finds similar descriptions from other owners.

1)it keeps pulling to the left, or to the right. It requires constant adjustments so that I could keep the car aligned, or centered. 2)I experience sudden jerks to the left, or to the right when the road surface is slightingly uneven. I can never predict which way the car pulls me. I struggle a lot to keep the steering centered when stopping at any red lights. 3) sometimes, the steering feels like it is stuck. After review online, this seems to be a very common problem.

Power steering is intermittent. Almost never works when first started but after driving for 20-30 minutes, if I turn the car off and back on again, it works and the dash light goes out. I can even do it while driving, shifting to neutral, turn car off and then back on and the power steering comes back on. Very frustrating to drive like this . . . And dangerous too!.

Sticking steering when warm while driving.

When going straight particularly at highway speeds, but other times as well, the steering is "sticky". The wheel wants to remain in the same position and it requires some extra effort to move left or right.

The vehicle has intermittent loss of power steering which makes it very difficult to drive, steer and control when in motion. I was able to avoid serious accidents by literally crawling along the side of the road with flashers on so other drivers would stay clear. This has happened on more than one occasion.

I have 2004 BMW Z4 and have been experiencing "sticky" steering. It is especially unnerving when driving on highways. It appears to be a very common problem with this model. It is difficult to drive. I am deathly afraid the stickiness of the steering will cause to to over correct and cause an accident.

I have a BMW 2004 Z4 with only 21000 miles. I started to developer a steering problem,. While driving the steering becomes difficult and choppy. Hard to remain centered on the road and the wheel is unresponsive. I looked online and found many other owners with the same problem. I called corporate BMW . They do not acknowledge a problem exists. On line and on your site it shows hundreds with the same problem. Someone is going to get hurt or die. BMW should own up to the problem and fix it.

Steering sticks while driving. Happens at different speeds. Takes effort to "free up the steering wheel" very annoying and dangerous.

My 2004 BMW Z4 with fewer than 50,000 accummulated miles has been experiencing significant "sticking/dedent" steering problems under highway driving conditions that result in unsafe steering responsiveness. This problem appears to be common to us and european BMW Z4 model years 2003 through 2005 and has been extensively reported on the internet and to BMW itself. BMW technicians have indicated that the problem can render a vehicle "unsafe to drive" and have further indicated that the problem can only be corrected by replacing the electric power steering unit at a cost of several thousand dollars. The prevalence of this identical problem in hundreds, if not thousands of BMW Z4s clearly points to an engineering design flaw. Even so, BMW refuses to take resposibility for this problem and have rejected any assistance to BMW Z4 owners who have sought such assistance. Considering the significant negative impact that this steering control problem may have on safe vehicle operation, the manufacturer should be forced to undertake a recall of all the vehicles affected by this manufacturing defect.

I have a 2004 BMW Z4 which I purchased used in 2016 with 67000 miles on it. Over the past 2 years, the steering has become sticky and hard to keep the vehicle in my lane when travelling straight. I have to constantly correct the steering as the car tries to pull either to the left or right. Also, it is hard to correct the pull, resulting in jerky driving or overcorrection. The problem happens when driving both straight and on curves. It seems to happen more often in warmer weather, but have experienced a slight problem even in cooler weather. It has occurred at both slower speeds and highway speeds. This problem began at approximately 80000 miles. I have owned the car 5 years and have put less than 20000 miles on it in that time period, so it is not driven excessively or under harsh driving conditions.

The electric steering is notchy- it seems to fixate in the center and gets hard to steer from the center position. It happens mostly when we are on the open road going over 35 miles per hour. It seems to get stuck in the middle- and you get the feeling that it is stuck there. It is hard to move the steering wheel away from the center which results in over steer and over correction. I have taken it to the sewickley PA BMW dealer and they said there is nothing wrong but it seems to be getting worse. The car only has 60,000 miles on it. It is hard to keep the wheel straight when this happens and I have read online that others have also had this problem.

When temperatures are about 75-80 degrees, the steering will "stick" when making minor corrections while driving. Apparently this is a common issue with this BMW make and model. There are 57000 miles on vehicle. It is not noticeable in cooler ambient temperatures.

Sticking manly when hot out side but also with the heater on, at hi way speeds it takes more effort to make small corrections needed to keep the car in the lane.