BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure

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Mon 15 Apr 2019 13:06
BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure - thetestingguy

I bought an approved used BMW (6 months old at the time of buying) a year ago and the car is still under manufacturer's warranty till next year. Few months ago, I noticed that the lane departure light was turning on but the sensor was not doing anything. I could not get the car checked due to work commitments and finally managed to send the car today for inspection to a different BMW dealer near by (as moved home last year). They mentioned that the front windscreen was not the original screen and may have been replaced at some point. The screen has bubbling and that's why the sensor is not working. They cannot fix under manufacturer's warranty as the screen is not an original BMW part and advised me to contact the dealer I bought the car from.

I was not aware that an after market windscreen was in place and it was not mentioned by the dealership while buying.

Has anyone experienced this before?

Does this mean the car could have been in accident (or the screen broke by any other means)?

Anything I should know before the contact the dealership I bought the car from?

How should I get this sorted?

How can I prove that I did not get screen replaced if the original dealership tries to put on me?

Thanks in advance.

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Mon 15 Apr 2019 13:13
BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure - skidpan

Does this mean the car could have been in accident (or the screen broke by any other means)?

Screens break all the time, nothing to worry about.

How can I prove that I did not get screen replaced if the original dealership tries to put on me?

Get your insurers to provide proof that you have not had a screen replaced. It does not prove you have not paid privately but who would do that when a screen does not affect your premium.

But since you have had the car a year its unlikely the seller will want to know. It may be worth considering a small claims action against him but the easiest solution is to put a hammer and punch to the screen to crack it and then get your insurers to replace it. If the lane departure still does not work the dealer cannot blame the screen then.

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Mon 15 Apr 2019 13:20
BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure - thetestingguy

Thanks a lot for replying. Your point regarding the screen replacement premium is a very valid point. It did not come to my mind so thank you. I will speak to the original dealership to see what they say. Also, I bought the car in cash (a mix of credit card payment and account transfer) so I can also get the credit card company involved?

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Tue 16 Apr 2019 10:13
BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure - gordonbennet

Aftermarket screens in themselves are not the issue, though it sounds like your particular one has a manufacture problem if it's 'bubbling'.

It's usually the case that when a new screen is fitted on a vehicle with lane departure warnings, that the system has to be recalibrated at the dealership, this possibly wasn't done by the previous owner/user and up to a point i can understand why, these system can be seriously annoying in picking up false lines, ie surfacing seams or previous white line markings.

You might be fixing something that you'll end up turning off regularly (assuming you can) due to false warnings.

Edited by gordonbennet on 16/04/2019 at 10:14

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Tue 16 Apr 2019 10:39
BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure - badbusdriver

I read an article in a motoring magazine recently about the potential problems replacing windscreens on cars which have all the fancy new gizmos like this. The car in question was a Jaguar, and it was being run as a long tem test in Car magazine. The supplying dealer did not do windscreen replacements, but the windscreen company they used re-calibrated the radar and stuff using a method which Jaguar regarded as being wrong!. This method being where the car is stationary and on a flat surface, just using a base point somewhere, probably a wall. Whereas Jaguar said the correct method was to re-calibrate it by driving the car around for a certain amount of time and at a variety of speeds. Apparently, if doing it stationary, it is critical the car is on an absolutely level surface, and things like slight differences in tyre pressures can result in the systems not working as intended.

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Tue 16 Apr 2019 12:26
BMW 3 Series - BMW lane departure - NARU
.. the easiest solution is to put a hammer and punch to the screen to crack it and then get your insurers to replace it. If the lane departure still does not work the dealer cannot blame the screen then.

That would be fraud.

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