2012 BMW 135I Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“Have taken the car five times for the same stalling,and lagging of the faulty dual clutch transmission. The car hesitates 3-5seconds no response to throttle input and then lunges violently forward. Car holds gear when pulling away from lights and then surges when parking the car almost causing me to hit cars parked next to me. Software has been updated on the car four times and the issue is still there. Was told that the mass airflow sensor was also faulty in the car and that might be causing the issue of surging and fluctuating idle. …”

“Vehicle exhibits an intermittent hesitation (like a stall) where there is an apparent total loss of power at low speeds (coasting) or from stopped. On several instances this has happened while in a left turn lane with oncoming traffic and creates a serious safety hazard. The vehicle more frequently, but not always surges in rmp without throttle input when coming to a stop. In many instances, the vehicle lurches forward and extra braking is required. This has resulted in near miss, rear end, assured clear distance issues. …”

“When driving in traffic the Bmw 135I dct transmission will stall when coming to a stop. This results in a loss of power steering. Sometimes before the car stalls, the engine will rev without driver input to 2500 RPM and drop the clutch which results in a rapid acceleration if your foot is not on the brake this can be extremely dangerous. I have almost crashed the car many times as a result of this. Bmw issued a technical service bulletin to dealers that can be found if you google the issue, but there is no known remedy. …”

“From the time of ownership (march 16, 2012) to now, the vehicle shuts off during operation while in idle RPM speed. The vehicle is equipped with a six-speed manual transmission. Whether the clutch is fully pressed in and in-gear, or the vehicle is out-of-gear, there is a possibility for the idle rpms dropping and the engine shutting off. This mostly occurs while stopping for a red light, stopping for a stop sign, or in stop-and-go traffic on the highway. For example, the vehicle is approaching a stop sign at 25mph. …”

“Vehicle equipped with 7 speed dct transmission. When car had almost come to a stop there was sudden burst of engine speed (to about 2500 RPM) causing car to shoot forward. Accident avoided by jamming on the brake. This then happened several more times. Dealer re-programmed ECM and problem has not gone away. Occurs intermittently. Most recent episode in my own garage where barely avoided driving into front wall when it surged. Dealer again re-set software. Clear from dealers reaction that this is not isolated incident and clear that they don't have a real solution. …”