German Car Zone

so my dad was driving his 05 bmw 7er (which he owned for a number of years) on the highway, right after he exited the highway the entire car just kind of go crazy.

1st, all sorts of warning lights turn on, and the screen on the odometer states that it's no longer safe to drive the car,

2nd, the in-car phone stopped working (as he was on the phone w/ my mom), then power window, power steering and A/C are all gong

3rd, after he finally got to the repair shop and stopped the car, he tried to turn on the ignition again but that seem to be broke as well.

he is now EXTREMELY PISSED and is thinking about never buying another bmw.
i reckon it's mainly problem with the computer program, we dont know yet, since it's weekend here no one is at BMW to give an explanation.

is this a common problem with E65 7er? have you ever heard of this sort of problem in other forums?

on a side note, he was actually considering buying the s-class tomorrow, but i told him to wait for the facelift, when is it expect to arrive?

ehrm,there is already a new model, F01, ever looked at this forum?

buy it, it's the best in the world, period.

Disconnect battery, reconnect - should all be good. A man I work with once had the same problem, did this and has never had a problem again.

rick: the problem is, he lost faith in bmw (he is the stubborn kind), that's why he wants a car from a different maker now. but we will see how bmw will handle this on monday.

potential: what might be the cause of disconnected battery? the car failed on him at about the last 1/3 of the trip, it was acting normal. does the battery have the tendancy of suddenly being disconnected for no apparent reason?

he didn't say that was the cause, he said it was a potential solution.

LoL car companies wouldn't survive long if owners decide not to buy the brand again if something goes wrong with their current car

I can't answer your question but 7er is a hightech car with lots of electronics so something will go wrong sooner or later. Isn't it better to talk directly to BMW about the problem, they sure must have the answers and a solution for the problem.

It's not a battery problem, but a crash in the computer-system of the car. Hence, all the electronics go crazy.

If you disconnect the battery, wait a minute and then reconnect it, it will act like a reset-button: every system in the car will be completely shutdown, what never happens normally, and then start again "from zero".

It's like any other electronic device: if your phone/computer/calculator is freezed, what do you do? You hit the reset-button or remove the battery/alim cable. And then everything's fine again and this problem may never happens again. It's only if it reappears that you have a "real" problem in the electrics.

It's not 100% sure it'll do, but it usually works.

The FL of the S-Class won't come before mid-2009 I believe. Maybe your dad could have a good price on a non-FL one?

I wouldn't buy a F01 right now. Always wait one year, so that the bugs are ironed-out...Before, you're a beta-tester.
Therefore, with a non-FL S-Class your Dad can't go wrong: everything in the car is extremely reliable, the car is proven to be extraordinarily trouble-free.

thanks for the help, i will update when bmw technicians get back to my dad.

one more question tho, from your experience on the web, is this problem common in the E65 7er?

Common maybe not, but it's certainly not unheard of...

My brother in law has a 08 740li for several months now and he is very happy with it not a single problem so i guess due to short ownership time nothing is wrong yet and he is selling it to get the new one.