Owners have filed 87 complaints on the BMW 740i, covering 1993–2016. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (15 reports). Worst years by volume: 2001, 2016, 1993; cleanest: 2013, 2014, 2015. 6 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire. On average the car was 6.8 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on BMW 740i
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 87 740i complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 15 Read
Smoke from engine and burning wires and electrical connectors at the plug to the engine cooling thermostat small fire extinguished with a small amount of water
Gaskets in engine, oil pan, and intake manifold have failed approximately 3 times after originals had to be replaced. Engine smoked and leaked oil onto manifold. Mr
Consumer experienced problems with the electronic operators seat, it would completely recline to a horizontal position, on one occasion while driving, the seat reclined, causing loss of control, the vehicle struck a curb, damaging the transmission cooler lines and later resulting in complete failure of the…
Electrical System 10 Read
On saturday, june 4, my daughter was driving my 2000 bmw 740i. She had been driving for about 4 blocks and the passenger seat broke out in flames. It began when the car filled with smoke. She did not know what was going on so she pulled over and got out of the car and when she stepped back from the car, she saw flames…
Vehicle caugt fire and burned completely up with in minutes after leaving bmw dealership
Audio control system freezes on the bmw 740i. It happens that audio is gone completely, system does not respond to any of the following to raise volume: 1. Gesture commands to raise volume (the system does not even show gesture is involved on the dash display) 2. From the power button by manually adjusting higher,…
Fuel System 8 Read
The evaporative canister purge line is blocked and is causing the fuel tank to collapse
My car was leaking gas from the tank on the way home and when I got home I noticed that the gas tank was wet with gas and it leaked on the floor my whole garage is filled with gas vapor
While driving at any speed and without any warning vehicle stalled. Consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealership, and mechanic determined that fuel pump failed. *ak
Engine 7 Read
Active Air Flap fault, Upper and Lower Actuator is not working and that is why engine is overheating. BMW has extended this warranty to 10 years/120K miles for 750 and 550 series manufactured up to Aug 2019. But they have not done that on 740 series. My vehicle has the same problem and should be covered under the same…
I got engine malfunction light on two separate occasions on my bmw; on each occasion the car was sent to dealership for repair to find that the upper and lower radiator blinds are at fault and this required replacement. The 2016 bmw 740i is equipped with a front grille where the vents are covered by blinds that open…
Due to rain in san diego, the bmw 740i intake at the bottom of the front bumper injested water in a normal driving situation and the motor exploded
Air Bags 6 Read
I was traveling east bound on a 3 lane road, when a moving truck pulled out of a shopping center in a non signaled drive attempting to cross road to head west bound, what seemed to be last moment as I was continuing east bound the truck suddenly pulled out a cross road, leaving me minimal time to avoid collision, I…
Vehicle was hit broadside by another vehicle right in center of driver's door. Upon impact, airbags failed to deploy. Consumer has contacted dealer. Please provide any further information
Airbags did not deploy despite direct hit to drivers side door at significant speed when they should have deployed. We want to obtain an independent appraisal of this since the manufacturer claims (and we dispute) that they should not have deployed
Power Train 6 Read
The contact owns a 2011 bmw 740i. The contact stated that the electronic floor shifter independently moved from parking to neutral and the transmission malfunction warning message appeared. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician diagnosed that the…
2001 bmw 740i - the transmission without any warning just stopped going in reverse. After research I find out this is an issue rampant among bmw's and owners with this transmission. Please help - it seems as if bmw is aware but refuses to address this issue. They have even developed a ring fix to replace production…
About november of 2007 I began to experience a delay in engaging reverse. I went to have the car serviced for this and the problem was diagnosed as a possible valve body issue with replacement of the transmission being the best solution because they were not sure and it was the only way to be safe. March of 2008 the…
Steering 4 Read
A chevy pickup pulled into the one way road leading to a hotel and immediately went around an ellipse and hit me as I was exiting my hotel and got hit in the drivers front quarter panel while he was pulling around in the elliptical one way drive. The engine was checked and it needs $5500 worth of mechanical work in…
Dt: the contact stated there was a problem with the front suspension. A loud rattling noise was coming from the suspension area. A mechanic replaced the front control arms and sway bar links. A month later a similar noise was coming from the suspension. The mechanic determined the center tie rod assembly, tie rod…
When putting vehicle in neutral, it rolls back like vechicle is still in reverse. Dealer contacted.*jb replaced bushings and idler arm and wheel alignment. Left valve cover gasket replaced. Replaced power steering return clamp. Replaced front converter to weld. Transmission needs to be rebuilt
Vehicle Speed Control 4 Read
The problem is centered around adaptive cruise control system of bmw 740i 2016. Bmw 740i can't detect vehicles from the right corner or left corner when two lanes merge into one and the bmw is approaching the other vehicle where the other vehicle is either at front right or left right. There are multiple symptoms of…
Vehicle is equipped with adaptive cruise control and pedestrian detection feature. The adaptive cruise control misses to adapt speed or stop or detect a vehicle in front requiring driver intervention to avoid a collision. I have seen multiple symptoms of this problem occurring. Symptom 1: vehicle bmw with adaptive…
Upon starting vehicle and shifting into reverse gear, engine revved high/vehicle moved backwards, brakes were applied to stop vehicle, when put into neutral engine revved to 6000-7000 rpms. Vehicle was shut off/restarted, problem was gone
740i years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2015 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2014 | Unknown Or Other | 1 | — | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2012 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2011 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2000 | Electrical System,seats | — | 1 | |
| 1999 | Engine | — | — | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 1997 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1995 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 1994 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1993 | Air Bags | 1 | 2 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 61 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.4 |
| Worst single series | 7 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.8 years |
A model average of 1.4 hides a worst series at 7. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the 740i?
By complaint volume, 2001, 2016, 1993 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which 740i years are the cleanest?
2013, 2014, 2015 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the BMW 740i have?
87 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1993–2016. Of those, 6 describe a crash and 4 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.