Steering Problems of BMW Z4 - part 2

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.

See all problems of the 2005 BMW Z4 🔎.

During very warm days in the summer the steering wheel tends to stick during turns. It requires extra force to continue to turn the wheel which becomes problematic during a tight turn or on highway on-ramps.

See all problems of the 2003 BMW Z4 🔎.

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.

Vehicle has less than 50,000 miles and already having steering malfunction alerts. Steering randomly stops working and unable to turn vehicle.

See all problems of the 2011 BMW Z4 🔎.

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.

See all problems of the 2004 BMW Z4 🔎.

On hot days the steering becomes sticky like there is a catch. It will also pull to one side or the other making it very dangerous to drive especially on the interstate.

During warm weather the steering will momentary stick while driving which requires additional force to overcome. This happens at all speeds but is more noticeable at highway speeds while trying to maintain vehicle in driving lane. There are numerous complaints of this on the NHTSA site. I have written to BMW north America about this safety problem and mentioned the multitude of similar complaints but they refuse to address the problem and suggest I purchase a new steering column at $2500+!.

See all problems of the 2006 BMW Z4 🔎.

I just purchased Z4. Did not notice any problem during test ride. On my way home during purchase steering became an issue. The car would be driving fine then what I would a dead spot would appear. The steering wheel will suddenly shift left or right what seems a few inches. This causes driver (me) to compensate to avoid going in ditch or crossing a lane or getting into an accident. This happened many times on my 70-mile trip home.

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.

Don't know what is causing it. There is major squeaking/whining/grinding noise if even a tiny bit of water gets in there and last couple days after that. And when you turn the steering wheel to the left the squeaking/whining gets louder. And when does do this the suspension if you hit even a small bump will bottom out and make grinding noises. BMW has looked at the car couple times first time they said there was rust. Second time they couldn't find anything wrong with it.

See all problems of the 2020 BMW Z4 🔎.

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.

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.

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.

Vehicle steering becomes "sticky" after vehicle has been exposed to warm temperatures. This causes the steering to center and require greater than usual force to off center the wheel, causing the car to be difficult to control especially at highway speeds.

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.

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.

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.

Electronic power steering has intermittent faults/errors due to a manufacturing defect, resulting in complete loss of power steering. BMW acknowledged this issue and did a recall in 2012 for 2012 model year Z4's - NHTSA campaign id number: 12v302000. The scope of the problem is well beyond the 162 vehicles that were addressed with the recall in 2012.

BMW's lane departure system actually pulls the car's steering left or right, and could cause the car to collide with another vehicle or run off the road. I experienced this while driving on the freeway in southern California. The lane departure system almost pulled my vehicle into the adjacent lane.

When the car warms up or has been in the warm sun the steering sticks. This creates a dangerous issue where the steering wheel will pop over rather than smoothly turning. The problem creates and oversteering that is very dangerous at highway spreed and in traversing corners.

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.

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.

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.

Very sticky steering, dangerous in hot weather, this happens at all speeds. It sometimes requires significant effort to correct it. This is a serious safety issue.

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!.

Rigid steering with over correction, usually during warm weather. If going at highway/freeway speed, easy to loose control and may cause major injury. Experienced this today driving speed limit of 70 mph and decided to sound off. I hope BMW is not waiting to address this problem until something like this happens. Many other owners of same model car, and possibly all, are having the same problem but not complaining. It took today's experience for me to write.

I just purchased this 2003 Z4 from a dealer about a month ago. When I test drove it, it drove fine and the steering was smooth as you'd expect. It was a little chilly as it was still in the morning. By afternoon, during my 6hr drive home from the dealer, it got hot outside, as it is summer and all, and the steering started to become very jerky, causing me to swerve back and forth in the lanes. It has now become a dangerous car. The initial dealer from whom I purchased from played dumb and said they were unaware of any problems. Before buying this car, which has 57k mi on it, I did my research. Seemed like no major problems with it. Not until after I purchased it, and specifically searched �steering problems� did I discover this had been a BMW design flaw from the beginning and countless people have been dealing with this almost from the get go. No recall had been made, and now I'm stuck with a dangerous car. Going forward, I have notified friends and family, that should I get killed because of this defect, start litigation against BMW, as this is now documented by myself, as well as countless others.

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.

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.