No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 BMW 3 Series
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 BMW 3 Series report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 116,274 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33,026 miles | 87,509 miles | 111,173 miles | 127,250 miles | 149,300 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 3 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 65,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I brought the vehicle in to bmw and stated that the steering wheel lock lights come on and the car will not start until a few tries. Bmw could not find the problem, since then it has progressively gotten worst and reading forums, there seen to be a legitimate problem with this issue. *tr
Received yellow steering wheel and lock icon when trying to start the car. Attempted using different keys, but the car would not start and the steering wheel remained immobile. I exited the car and waited about 30 minutes to try again, but received yellow steering wheel with lock icon again when putting the key fob into the vehicle. When I called the dealership, I was quoted about $1200 as soon as I described the yellow steering wheel and lock, without them having seen the vehicle. The sa also mentioned that the newer models don't even have this feature at all. I was also advised that it is not a bmw responsibility or defect, and that I would be responsible for all shop repairs and time. Doing research about this issue, I found this is a very well documented and known issue. This seems to be due to poor design by the auto manufacturer, so much so that the "feature" isn't even included on newer models of the vehicle at all. *tr
I just came back from a long family vacations, I was driving this vehicle all over the states! I was so lucky! This happen to me when I got home , my 2006 bmw 330i which had a steering column malfunction and failure. Malfunction of integral lock sensor in steering column necessitates replacement of entire steering column, it is a safety problem and should be covered by a bmw customer satisfaction campaign. But is not!!! The warning indicator in the instrument panel showed an icon of a steering wheel and a lock and the vehicle failed to start, I had to have the car towed to the dealership. I contacted bmw customer service, explained my problem and was told they couldn't do anything to cover this very common quality problem and would not be covered under a manufacturers customer satisfaction campaign. On the NHTSA website, there are many cases reported that there is a problem! And that's why! I am reporting this incident to NHTSA in hopes that bmw will do something for other owners as the repair bill was $1000 and should have been covered by bmw. All I think about is! If this problem happened to me while I was driving with all my…
Also reported on the 2006 BMW 3 Series
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other electrical problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Airbag inflator rupture
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2006 BMW 3 Series?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 BMW 3 Series?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed