[silver82]

Hello,

We bought a new x3 20i back in December with BMW Finance PCP and since week 1 I could identify a strange smell coming through the air vents to the point that sometimes I felt unwell.

It appears that the smell is obvious when I have driven the car for few miles (15 or more minutes of driving) and then I stop for example at a traffic lights and then it blows in. The harder the breaking the more obvious it is. It strange to explain the smell, is definitely chemical but it doesn't smell like oil or plastic.
The dealer tried 3-4 different things without been able to either solve or even find the source of it. Independent garage verbal confirm the issue to the dealer.


Overall, it was very uncomfortable as a smell and I am also unsure whether is safe for my family with a 2 years old in the car.

So in total until today the car had been with the dealer for almost 4 months. The dealer was always able to put us in different loan cars, we probably had been in 10 different ones.
So in the end we submitted a Rejection and it was approved by BMW. Do we know what are our rights here? The dealer couldn't found us a similar available replacement vehicle from the new vehicles stock and any new order wouldn't had a driving assistance package which is a Must for us. Is getting a refund an option and will that include both the deposit we paid and any monthly payments on the PCP minus the mileage on the car?

[jacko15]

If it were me, I'd consult an attorney. Your location says Reading. If it's PA, lemon laws would probably be in play.

[silver82]

Originally Posted by jacko15

If it were me, I'd consult an attorney. Your location says Reading. If it's PA, lemon laws would probably be in play.

I am in the UK.

[Markee]

Just bear in mind that if you successfully claim a refund, you won’t get back every penny you’ve paid, there will be a deduction for “beneficial use” ie the mileage you’ve put on the car under your own use.

Some advice here:

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-...new-car-rights

Also try Which and Autocar as I’m sure I remember both doing articles on rejecting new cars and your rights.

[Markee]

Originally Posted by Markee

Just bear in mind that if you successfully claim a refund, you won’t get back every penny you’ve paid, there will be a deduction for “beneficial use” ie the mileage you’ve put on the car under your own use.

Some advice here:

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-...new-car-rights

Also try Which and Autocar as I’m sure I remember both doing articles on rejecting new cars and your rights.

Also, try the F Pace owners forum here, as a number of members on there have, er, rejected their cars due to faults:

https://www.fpaceforums.co.uk/index.php

(I nearly bought an F Pace, but the reports on this forum of people rejecting their cars, and my own shoddy treatment by my local Jaguar dealer, I decided to go BMW).

[FMIB]

Originally Posted by silver82

Hello,

We bought a new x3 20i back in December with BMW Finance PCP and since week 1 I could identify a strange smell coming through the air vents to the point that sometimes I felt unwell.

It appears that the smell is obvious when I have driven the car for few miles (15 or more minutes of driving) and then I stop for example at a traffic lights and then it blows in. The harder the breaking the more obvious it is. It strange to explain the smell, is definitely chemical but it doesn't smell like oil or plastic.
The dealer tried 3-4 different things without been able to either solve or even find the source of it. Independent garage verbal confirm the issue to the dealer.


Overall, it was very uncomfortable as a smell and I am also unsure whether is safe for my family with a 2 years old in the car.

So in total until today the car had been with the dealer for almost 4 months. The dealer was always able to put us in different loan cars, we probably had been in 10 different ones.
So in the end we submitted a Rejection and it was approved by BMW. Do we know what are our rights here? The dealer couldn't found us a similar available replacement vehicle from the new vehicles stock and any new order wouldn't had a driving assistance package which is a Must for us. Is getting a refund an option and will that include both the deposit we paid and any monthly payments on the PCP minus the mileage on the car?

I posted before about a similar, or what could be an identical issue that I have in my car. I have a M40i and when the engine is warm or driven for a few miles and i stop at traffic lights a strange smell comes through the vents. It quickly makes me feel sick as well. Can't put my finger on exactly what the smell is, but if I press the recirculation button, the smell immediately stops.
I have not got around(lazy) to booking it into a dealer to investigate, but going by what you say, it may not be a quick fix.
Interested to hear how you progress on this.

[neilr_]

Originally Posted by FMIB

I have not got around(lazy) to booking it into a dealer to investigate,

Probably a good idea to call someone (BMW corporate or the dealer?) to get your complaint noted on your file. At least then you'll have a record of the problem existing at a particular point in time.

[MediaMan]

Originally Posted by Markee

Also, try the F Pace owners forum here, as a number of members on there have, er, rejected their cars due to faults:

https://www.fpaceforums.co.uk/index.php

(I nearly bought an F Pace, but the reports on this forum of people rejecting their cars, and my own shoddy treatment by my local Jaguar dealer, I decided to go BMW).

Hmm. How curious. I wanted a F Pace (under 12 months old), couldnt find the right spec (Caesium Blue, black seats, pan roof, 20in rims, 3.0d), plus reliability issues/dealer quirks,put me off. Spotted a 3.0D X3 in blue on Autotrader, bought and dont regret it one bit. Still brings a smile on my face to drive. F Pace shape looks dated now too.

[FMIB]

Originally Posted by neilr_

Probably a good idea to call someone (BMW corporate or the dealer?) to get your complaint noted on your file. At least then you'll have a record of the problem existing at a particular point in time.

Finally got round to booking the car in in 3 weeks time to see if they can find where the smell is coming from and hopefully resolve it.

Not feeling very optimistic going by the original posters result.

[Rukka]

Originally Posted by silver82

Hello,

We bought a new x3 20i back in December with BMW Finance PCP and since week 1 I could identify a strange smell coming through the air vents to the point that sometimes I felt unwell.

It appears that the smell is obvious when I have driven the car for few miles (15 or more minutes of driving) and then I stop for example at a traffic lights and then it blows in. The harder the breaking the more obvious it is. It strange to explain the smell, is definitely chemical but it doesn't smell like oil or plastic.
The dealer tried 3-4 different things without been able to either solve or even find the source of it. Independent garage verbal confirm the issue to the dealer.


Overall, it was very uncomfortable as a smell and I am also unsure whether is safe for my family with a 2 years old in the car.

So in total until today the car had been with the dealer for almost 4 months. The dealer was always able to put us in different loan cars, we probably had been in 10 different ones.
So in the end we submitted a [COLOR="Red"]Rejection[/COLOR] and it was approved by BMW. Do we know what are our rights here? The dealer couldn't found us a similar available replacement vehicle from the new vehicles stock and any new order wouldn't had a driving assistance package which is a [COLOR="Red"]Must[/COLOR] for us. Is getting a refund an option and will that include both the deposit we paid and any monthly payments on the PCP minus the mileage on the car?

I've rejected 2 BMWs in the past. Both M4 CPs, so have a little experience.

I had new cars ordered to replace the rejected ones but when the 3rd one arrived, the dealer damaged it.

Long story short, I had the option to walk away with my deposit returned. What you won't get back is your monthly payments as they have put you in a car whilst your fault was investigated.

If your loaner(s) were of lesser grade or spec, you could argue that you were disadvantaged and negotiate part of the payments back.

What I will say is that although a rejection is a big deal for us, the dealers see and deal with it regularly and, from reports from other UK forum members who have been down the rejection route too, there are rarely problems.


Rukka

[Minty]

Originally Posted by FMIB

Finally got round to booking the car in in 3 weeks time to see if they can find where the smell is coming from and hopefully resolve it.

Not feeling very optimistic going by the original posters result.

Hi FMIB,
I posted exactly the same thing a few years ago (https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1650252). I have a 2019 X3 M40i and from approximately the first 1000miles I regularly smelt a chemical smell through the face vents when coming to a stop. It used to be very strong and sickly smelling but now at 13000 miles it infrequently emits a similar but much milder smell. It is hard to describe the smell; definitely not exhaust fumes or oil, more like gas from a cooker.
Please let me know how you get on.
Thanks,
Minty

[FMIB]

Originally Posted by Minty

Hi FMIB,
I posted exactly the same thing a few years ago (https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1650252). I have a 2019 X3 M40i and from approximately the first 1000miles I regularly smelt a chemical smell through the face vents when coming to a stop. It used to be very strong and sickly smelling but now at 13000 miles it infrequently emits a similar but much milder smell. It is hard to describe the smell; definitely not exhaust fumes or oil, more like gas from a cooker.
Please let me know how you get on.
Thanks,
Minty

Thanks for the link. Yes, I would say its a similar smell, makes me feel sick. I mainly get it after a 30-60 min motorway drive and only when I am stationary at a junction. Pressing the recirculation button stops it, so I assume its not the air-con system, but is something being sucked into the ventilation system when not on a closed loop. It is not from any surrounding vehicles.
I have checked several times around the engine bay and can't see any leakage and the I-drive says the oil level is ok.
I am 2000 miles and 6 months in from new and don't drive it so often as I use a smaller car for around town driving
Certainly expecting the "we can't reproduce it or find anything wrong answer"

[Minty]

Originally Posted by FMIB

Thanks for the link. Yes, I would say its a similar smell, makes me feel sick. I mainly get it after a 30-60 min motorway drive and only when I am stationary at a junction. Pressing the recirculation button stops it, so I assume its not the air-con system, but is something being sucked into the ventilation system when not on a closed loop. It is not from any surrounding vehicles.
I have checked several times around the engine bay and can't see any leakage and the I-drive says the oil level is ok.
I am 2000 miles and 6 months in from new and don't drive it so often as I use a smaller car for around town driving
Certainly expecting the "we can't reproduce it or find anything wrong answer"

Yes, that’s what my dealer told me. They did check for leaks by using ‘talc’ on various potential fume areas. Eventually they told me it was gearbox fumes . Interestingly the demo 2019 X3 M40i I had before I bought mine absolutely stank which I advised them when I returned it but they put it down to new car smells (250 miles) and sold it soon after. Whilst my car was in the garage I also had another X3 and that smelt too but not as strong as mine at the time.

Good on the OP for pursuing and rejecting - it is very disappointing from BMW, they must know what is causing the smell. I love everything else about my M40i and that is the only reason I didn’t pursue it further at the time. As I have mentioned, now it is definitely not as bad or as frequent but still present.

If you don’t get anywhere we should all jointly complain!
Minty

[FMIB]

Originally Posted by Minty

Yes, that’s what my dealer told me. They did check for leaks by using ‘talc’ on various potential fume areas. Eventually they told me it was gearbox fumes . Interestingly the demo 2019 X3 M40i I had before I bought mine absolutely stank which I advised them when I returned it but they put it down to new car smells (250 miles) and sold it soon after. Whilst my car was in the garage I also had another X3 and that smelt too but not as strong as mine at the time.

Good on the OP for pursuing and rejecting - it is very disappointing from BMW, they must know what is causing the smell. I love everything else about my M40i and that is the only reason I didn’t pursue it further at the time. As I have mentioned, now it is definitely not as bad or as frequent but still present.

If you don’t get anywhere we should all jointly complain!
Minty

Similar situation, love the M40i and not sure I am prepared for the hassle to go down a road of a potential rejection should the dealer not find the issue. It is something I should have addressed immediately, but with Covid lockdowns, it just put many things way behind.
Having driven various cars for near on 30 years in the tropics with the air con re-circulation used 100% of the time, to be honest I am more likely to just drive with that mode as it seems to completely eliminate the issue.
On the M40i the re-circulation stays on continually on any journey once pressed, whereas on my G31 540i it would revert to normal vented air-con after 10 or 15 minutes, which was really annoying.

[nyquistcondition]

Try removing the exterior air filters. Perhaps they are saturated with something.

[alpinec1984]

Given the comments about gas-like smell, this could potentially be overheated PPS which is Polyphenylene Sulfide. It is an engineering plastic that is sometimes used under the hood due to its good dimensional stability, solvent resistance, and max use temperature around 220C.

As the name implies, the plastic contains sulfur which is emitted as sulfides when overheated and which stinks. Sulfides are often added to natural gas so you can smell leaks.

Common PPS parts might be electrical connectors, etc. Note the mention of braking parts here

https://www.solvay.com/en/brands/ryton-pps/applications

[silver82]

Just an update. Rejection was approved and received deposit back and half of monthly payments based on contractual usage. They did decline the smell many times but when an independent BMW specialist garage identified the smell straight away they changed their response of smelling something but not able to identify the source. Having driven more than 50 different BMWs and 5 different X3s G01 I have never smelled anything similar. I’ve ordered the iX3 instead.

[silver82]

I just saw that my old car with the fumes issues is for sale on autotrader by the dealer. I assume that that two things happened. Either they fixed the problem without telling me and put it for sale making a profit as the price they are selling it is higher than it was sold to me, or they never admitted the problem and refunded me the money just because I complained.
If the have fixed the issue I wouldn't want any other car out there.
What would you have done?

[MediaMan]

Originally Posted by silver82

I just saw that my old car with the fumes issues is for sale on autotrader by the dealer. I assume that that two things happened. Either they fixed the problem without telling me and put it for sale making a profit as the price they are selling it is higher than it was sold to me, or they never admitted the problem and refunded me the money just because I complained.
If the have fixed the issue I wouldn't want any other car out there.
What would you have done?

You could get a mate to show (fake) interest and have a test drive to see if the smell has gone.

If smell still present, perfect reason to drop 'interest'. Surely there must be a technical bulletin on the smell?

Price of used cars is higher as there's a shortage of chips for the new ones, so delivery backlog. Supply and demand. Our old Cooper S convertible is worth £2,200 more now than the We Buy Any Car Quote I got in June 2020. 🤷*♂️

(Your car is the grey one? Shame, looks nice)

[silver82]

Originally Posted by MediaMan

You could get a mate to show (fake) interest and have a test drive to see if the smell has gone.

If smell still present, perfect reason to drop 'interest'. Surely there must be a technical bulletin on the smell?

Price of used cars is higher as there's a shortage of chips for the new ones, so delivery backlog. Supply and demand. Our old Cooper S convertible is worth £2,200 more now than the We Buy Any Car Quote I got in June 2020. 🤷*♂️

(Your car is the grey one? Shame, looks nice)

Yes is the grey one. They did give me a nice discount on the iX3 which usually they say it comes with no discounts but it won't be XDrive and I will struggle charging it. Thus my X3 was ideal.

[Minty]

Originally Posted by silver82

Yes is the grey one. They did give me a nice discount on the iX3 which usually they say it comes with no discounts but it won't be XDrive and I will struggle charging it. Thus my X3 was ideal.

I bet they didn’t even investigate before putting it for sale again! It is extremely worrying that they couldn’t pinpoint where the smell originated from. I was told it was gearbox fumes that would eventually dissipate; to be fair, I am at 13500 miles and do not smell anything anymore. IX3 looks an interesting proposition, let’s us know what you think of it.