general problems of the 2005 BMW Z4 - part 1

While moving, especially in warm weather, the steering will stick. This requires excessive force to move the steering wheel which results in a "jump" when the steering moves (breaks loose). This sudden "jump" results in vehicle moving excessively, especially scary in traffic! I have not had the vehicle inspected by a mechanic but reading various forums this appears to be a common problem with BMW Z4s.

Generally described as sticky steering. Steering wheel binds up and needs pressure to overcome, then released and the car overcorrects so steering is erratic. This is particularly dangerous when cornering. Issue seems temperature related and is worse in high temperatures. This is a well known problem in 2003-2005 BMW Z4. The car has been sittting in my garage for a year as it is unsafe to drive. When is the recall?.

This 2005 BMW z3 was bought from a dealer who sold the car to the original owner and maintained it. The car has 45,000 miles on it, and I am the second owner. I have only owned the car for one month. Yesterday was the first day of 80 degree weather, and the steering is now "sticking". It will not track in a straight line and needs constant corrections from side to side to compensate for the problem. If you do not pay close attention and correct the steering input, you will go off the road. I have now read about others with the same problem, and that BMW is aware of its design flaw. There should be a recall issued for them to correct the problem. My understanding is that it is a costly repair, and it will most likely reoccur after the fix. Needless to say, I am very disappointed with the dealer as I feel they knowingly sold me this car with the steering problem. We are in the south, so warm weather for nine months out of the year is common.

Owned the vehicle since purchased new in July 2005. Warranty expired ~2010. Approximately 2014, symptoms started. In the heat -- 80f - 90f degree sunny day -- response of the steering wheel became notchy, as though requiring a push to get the wheel past a notch. After some time the symptom disappeared, until the (black color) car was again heated in hot sun of a 90f day. It seemed incidental. I was no longer commuting and drove the car less in 2015-2019 period, so noticed it less often. 2020 was covid-19 so car was barely driven until spring 2021. Now in hot summer 2021, the symptom is back and much stronger. Again, only after the car has been baked in hot sunlight for some period. Both directions (l and r) moving the wheel off centerline, requires pushing past a "notch" type feeling. . . It is not a smooth turn of the steering wheel. As the car is turning, re-centering the steering wheel also is notchy with the wheel moving in jumpy increments.

While driving the vehicle will loose all power steering, and becomes very difficult to steer, warning lamp comes on with a steering wheel and a exclamation point. Has been diagnosed as needing a steering wheel column assembly.

The steering sticks while driving you have to force it to turn causing you to travel back and forth across the lane. This only happens at hwy speeds on very warm days and at slower speeds works normal.

My car was parked while I was on the beach for 2 hours when I started my car the power steering was gone I couldn't move the car out of the parking spot.

Tl- the contact owns a 2005 BMW Z4. The contact stated that while driving and wanted to change lane, the steering wheel seized without warning. The contact stated the only warning light illuminated was the air bag. The contact called gault auto sport BMW dealer,, (2311 north st, endicott, NY 13760) and was informed to schedule an appointment. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not part of a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 60,300. Aw.

Steering wheel gets stacked while driving. Have to be extremely cautious, and even then at times steering can respond in a very unorthodox way. Definitely dangerous, as se too many times car started to shift to either left or right ignoring my intend. If I crash, let this post be evidence that authorities were notified. I understand that this is an issue going way back and makes were never forced to correct this problem. Thank you.

Steering wheel feels jerky when turned left or right and reaches a point where added force is needed to turn the wheel resulting in sudden moves of the car to the left or right respectively. Ambient temperature appears to affect when this happens, it was 94f today and car was parked in the sun for about five hours. Condition is life threatening and will change how often I will drive this vehicle. This problem is well documented in online forums but I have ot found a recall notice for it yet. My vehicle shows no outstanding recalls but I cannot verify if a recall has been issued for this particular problem and if my vehicle was taken in to address it.

When driving, the car steering sticks causing me to cross into oncoming traffic. One day this will cause an accident.

My 2005 BMW Z4 steering seems to drift from side to side of the road and is very difficult to keep in the lane. When you adjust for this ( which is constant) the steer wheel fights you and it seems to be stuck, then breaks lose. Then you go to the other side of the lane. It's worse at higher speeds and I believe this is dangerous due to constant attention required to keep the car tracking down road. In turns, the steering wheel does not return to a center position and it is difficult to get it to return to center position. This is constant on city streets and highways. I have have the car align by BMW and the tire rotated with no change. I believe there is something seriously wrong with the steering system.

This BMW Z4 has 26,000 miles and has faulty steering. The steering wheel will bind up. This leads to forcing the wheel to overcome the resistance. The result is an over correction causing erratic steering. This condition is temperature related and is made worse when hot. It is present at all times. . . While turning or driving or straight ahead. Any loss of steering is a safety issue of importance. This is known issue with 2003 - 2005 BMW Z4's.

I bought my 2005 BMW Z4 in �08. It barely has 35,000 miles on it. The steering started to stick two years ago. It seems to be at its worst on really hot days. I can pull it out of the garage and it's fine, but once I get to where I'm going and it sits in the sun for a few hours, then it's really difficult to drive. It used to just stick while on turns, but now it is starting to stick while driving straight. I have to turn the wheel back & forth to stay straight and in the lines. I'm afraid one of these days it's going to stick and take me right off the road. I do not understand why there is not a recall on these with so many complaints.

Stiff steering when the temperature rises. There is resistance turning left or right off center. Off ramps seem to be the most dangerous because once I turn right off center the vehicle wants to continue turning right. This has happened every time I've driven this vehicle when the temperature is above 85 degrees.

Steering problem in warm weather and when car gets warm.

After the car is parked out in the sun on a hot day (80f or higher) the car is difficult to steer immediately while in forward motion. The difficulty can be described as trying to turn the steering wheel either left or right requires so much force that once it turns you over steer and need to turn the wheel the other direction to stay within the lanes on the road. Any bend in the road is difficult to keep the car centered in the lane since turning the wheel requires so much force that over steering is continually happening. This condition doesn't appear when the car is cold or parked in a garage on a hot day then driven for 30 minutes. Later though it may start to occur after 30 minutes of driving on a very hot day in the sun as the car get hot.

After parked in hot sun and driving on hot days,steering becomes erratic. Sticks and releases when turning. Slight turns at highway speed is horrible. Slow driving is also bad. This problem has gone on for years.

"takata recall" my steering sticks in a position as I drive down the road and excessive force is needed to break it from the direction it is headed. This occurs under most all driving conditions and is more noticeable on highway driving around 60 mph.

After the car is parked in the hot sun all day, the steering of the vehicle gets "stuck". It is hard to steer and stay smooth in the lane because you are struggling to get the steering unstuck at 70mph down the interstate. This is a very serious and dangerous problem that needs to be revisited. My car only has 31k miles on it.

Above 30 mph steering sticks and requires greater effort to turn. At any highway speed this requires overcorrection and is very dangerous. This requires immediate attention and removes of thought of "pleasure driving".

2005 BMW Z4 with only 54,000 miles has uncontrollable sticky steering when ambient temperatures are elevated. Steering feels like it is in a groove and it takes dramatic effort to make a steering correction to stay in a lane. Once corrected the car swerves until you correct again. The car is very unsafe to drive in this condition. Review of complaints and available information confirm that this is a BMW issue worthy of a recall. There will be injuries and deaths if this problem is not corrected. The cost of the repair prohibit most people from obtaining dealer assistance to correct the issue.

While driving the steering on the BMW 2005, Z4 became difficult to guide or turn. To maneuver the car in a road driving lane, it was often necessary to forcibly turn the steering wheel. When that was done, the car would jerk to the side where the turn was being attempted. This often cause the car to veer into other lanes. It was repaired to avoid an accident and BMW has not recognized this problem as a safety issue. BMW needs to take responsibility for this problem and issue a safety recall and either pay for the repair or reimburse any Z4 car owner who paid to fix the safety problem and avoid an accident.

Steering binds in center position when driving at speed. Small corrections are hard to make as steering resists & then over corrects. Problem is most noticeable during hot weather and has progressively become worse overtime .

My 2005 BMW Z4 with 47,000 miles the steering after driving approx 65 mph on the highway locks up while centered and you have to jerk it to steer straight which causes the power steering to over correct its very dangerous !!! so after doing some research on the internet it seems to be a very common problem so why is there no recall on this car before someone dies?.

When engine is warm the steering sticks causing the car to drift off center and over steering to correct.

Jerking stering.

Steering sticky hard to turn, sometimes pulls to left as your driving highway speeds. Front end is properly aligned. Happens more in hot weather.

I experience sticking steering that progressively gets worse as I drive my vehicle. My steering tends to stick to the right and will not self align itself until I forceable center the wheel. The same problem occurs turning left but currently it is not as severe. The problem is present on city streets, highways and while turning.

Sticky or notched steering. Feels unsafe. Less than 35000 miles. From what I read a recall should occur. Happens under normal driving conditions. Must be corrected by a BMW recall before serious accidents happen.

In hot weather, while driving at any rate of speed, my steering is "sticky" or "notchy". The steering has a sticky place both left and right of center position. I have to jerk it to unstick the steering wheel. This causes an over correction and results in a dangerous weaving motion. I purchased this car earlier in the year and was excited because the mileage is only 36,000. I now understand why it has low mileage. It is terribly hard to stay a straight line in your lane due to this steering condition. I've researched and found numerous complaints. I think BMW needs to step up and correct this dangerous safety issue before someone gets badly hurt.

I have the well know sticky steering issue, worse when it is warm outside (above 80f), where the steering sticks in a position and you have to over correct to get it to respond. Feels dangerous on the highway.

I would urge you to reopen the case that was closed back in 2010 on the steering on this vehicle. I have experienced very frightening loss of control when the steering wheel is hot and the "stickiness" is at it's worst. Maybe the fact that I live in the south and it gets hotter here is a factor, but it gets so extreme that I can barely hold it in the lane. This year I have hardly driven it because I am afraid to. I don't feel right selling it and passing it off to someone else. I absolutely love the look of the car, but I feel like I was just taken for a large amount of money when we paid for it, because of this situation. At the least, I fear getting a ticket because it looks like a drunk is driving the car when it's weaving like that. At worst, I fear an accident. If the stickiness is accompanied by a bumpy road, the loss of control is substantial. And in answer to the questions below, this is an ongoing situation and it doesn't matter what speed I'm going when it occurs.

Steering doesn't respond properly in high temperatures when in motion. Steering feels "notchy" deviating from dead-center, and difficult to properly control the vehicles direction when this occurs. Could lead to over-correction and/or loss of control.

When driving at slow speed steering does not seem to be a problem. However, as speed increases(around 45-50 mph), the steering gets heavier (and develops a "stickiness" at straight center which causes an overcorrection when turning slightly. The faster the speed, the more effort needed to overcome the detent resistance, to the point that it becomes easy to oversteer the car. This can be dangerous during any driving at higher speeds. The condition seems to more pronounced as weather temperature increases.