My BMW has an open safety recall involving the starter, and the required repair is currently unavailable. I am serving overseas on U.S. Air Force military orders and need to ship my personally owned vehicle to my overseas duty location. Because the recall has not been repaired, I cannot reasonably use the normal military Vehicle Processing Center (VPC) shipment process. I was advised that the VPC would disconnect the vehicle’s battery because of the unresolved recall. I would then be responsible for costs associated with reprogramming or restoring the vehicle after shipment. Because of this, I am now having to arrange and pay out of pocket for commercial overseas shipment instead of using the government-provided vehicle shipment benefit available to me. I also attempted to resolve the issue before shipment by going to a BMW dealership and offering to pay out of pocket for the starter replacement and related service. I was told that the starter/replacement part is unavailable and that I must wait for the recall remedy to become available. Therefore, even though I am willing to pay for the repair myself, I currently have no way to have the safety issue corrected. This unresolved recall is causing significant financial expense, lost time, and logistical hardship while I am already stationed overseas on military orders. I am requesting that NHTSA document and review the continued unavailability of the recall remedy and the resulting impact on affected vehicle owners, particularly military members who must ship their vehicles overseas. I have made reasonable efforts to obtain the repair, but no remedy is currently available to me.
- NHTSA ID
- 11768799
- Incident
- Aug 31, 2026