2000 BMW 323I Latches, locks and linkages Problems

“The door locks on my car fail in the middle of the day, now almost every day. It is impossible to open the doors, except the drivers' door, from the inside of the car. This would be very dangerous in an emergency / accident, passengers would be unable to exit the vehicle. This appears to be a common Bmw defect, I know many other owners who have suffered this problem. Why haven't these cars been recalled?”

“Lock/latch mechanism sometimes malfunctions, such that you cannot unlock passenger side door from the inside or outside. When that happens, at least I can use the manual key to open the driver's side door. But Bmw has the foresight to not include a key opening on the passenger side. So a few times, I had to ask my passenger to crawl over to her seat by climbing over the driver's side. This is more than inconvenient; it's embarrassing, especially for ladies in dresses.”

“The front passenger door on my Bmw 323 cic (model year 2000) regularly fails to unlock preventing passengers entry or exit through this door. I replaced the actuator on the passenger door and the door still fails to unlock regularly using all possible means available, I.e. Key fob, interior unlock button, or pulling repeatedly on the door handle to attempt to open the door. They all fail leaving the passenger (front & back since I own a two door) trapped in the car and forced to climb out the driver's door after all other passengers have left the car. …”

“We have a safety issue with our Bmw 323I year 2000. The electric door locks will actuate and then you cannot get out of the car through 3 or 4 doors. The electric locks will not disengage and you cannot release them with the handle from the inside of the vehicle. Passengers are basically trapped inside the car and have to climb over the front seat to exit the vehicle. Problem has been recurring frequently. After an extended period of time, we are usually able to get the locks to work. I found 10 complaints filed on this same issue with one death and 3 injuries resulting from this malfunction. …”

“The doors do not unlock if they are parked in the sun in temp. In excess of 80-85 degrees. The door central locking does not work with either the keys (twice clicks to unlock all the doors). Once the drivers side is opened it takes 1/2 hour of air conditioning blast to have the system cool down and allow the unlocking with the button or the remote.”