Wednesday September 18, 2013 14-year-old girl Graciela Martinez was found dead in the backseat inside her brother's BMW. Investigators found locks and horn did not work from the inside. She evidently fell asleep in the car early that morning when she stayed for a later class when her brother drove her to school and then became trapped inside. She was found the end of the school day by her brother drenched dead from heat exhaustion. Internet forums mention locking problems. The car was purchased from a private party 6 months before.
Foul play? TwilightsRott...
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Are you trying to tell us that a 14 year old girl drove her brother to school in a BMW but she didn't have a cell phone?, that not one person walked near, past the car and saw her?, that when the door locked, the windows also wouldn't open?? Hummmmm, very suspicious! Very suspect.
.lock problems
Got locked in my X5
One trapped event, I called BMW roadside assistance. ... I spent lots of time trying to move the passenger door lock up mechanicaly using my keys to no avail.Got locked in my X5
A couple of weeks ago my AC/ventilation system started to act funny. Sometimes it came on, sometimes it didn't. A day later my GPS went bezerk. The car on the screen started to move erraticaly and the lady kept telling me to make U turns. The next day the driver side door handle somehow got loose and could not open the door without pressing the unlock button first and lower the window to open the door from the outside. Finally last Sunday I get a "Transmission Failure.. going to Safe Mode" message. I was able to drive it back home but only in first gear. Drove at 15mph. The next day I decide to take it to the dealer. Obviously there was an electrical problem of some sort. The automatic unlock did not work so opened the door manually with the key. Closed the door and turned the ignition on. Nothing. All dead except for the alarm that went off. No interior lights anywhere with the ignition on. No unlock button and no power windows. Passenger or back doors will not open. For some weird reason the handles did not unlock them. The driver side door was unlocked but my door handle was broken and was not able to lower the window to open from the outside. Got locked in my X5 for half an hour. Luckily had my cellular phone with me and was able to call for help. The apartment manager picked up the spare key from my home and open the door from the outside. Had to toll the car to the dealer after spending some time to figure out how to put the car into neutral. At the beginning I thought it was funny what happened to me, but then I realized that it could have been a potentially deadly situation if this have ocurred after an accident, for example. This succession of events could have been deadly if other nasty thing was the last link of this unfortunate chain of events. Hope BMW takes note about this. How in earth is possible to not have a mechanical open door device in this car! Or is there one and I missed it?
- 06-27-2001 09:02 PM#2DigiGuest
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I got trapped inside my X5 15 times last winter
Couldn't open the front doors from the inside or outside when temp was under 20 degrees, although the door locks appeared to unlock the doors. Doors would not open from inside or from outside with or without key. Windows and all rear doors worked fine. I have had it in more than 3 times, and BMW was working on it, saying it wasn't an isolated case. I reported an incident to NHTSA, which you should do also. BMWNA technicians (with my dealer) replaced all mechanical / electrical components on both front doors, but the weather never turned cold again for me to test. Also, contact BMWNA about this problem. It was not only emvbarrasing to crawl out of the back of my new X5, but it is a big safety problem. I am hopeful that mine is fixed, becasue the lemon law will be up in August for me, but I won't keep it after being trapped once more. My life is not worth it. I know that BMWNA and my dealer want to get this fixed as bad as I do, and I hope they succeed.
spinnaker7
03-04-2010, 07:19 PM
This past weekend I had a situation where all the doors on my 335i sedan, except for the drivers side door, could not be opened from the inside or the outside. Central locking switch would not unlock them nor would the key fob. Only way we could get in and out was through the drivers side door.
Is this not a serious safety issue which would require some sort of fix / recall on BMWs part??
I could not believe that there was no manual unlocking mechanism, i.e. pull the door handle twice, which would unlock the door.
I took the car in for service and they easily fixed the issue by replacing fuse 56 and 57 (per a BMW service bulletin). I've seen a few other posts here with regards to this problem but not much discussion about it being a significant safety issue.
What if I got into an accident, the fuse blew for some reason, or some other electrical problem happened due to the accident and NONE OF THE PASSENGERS COULD OPEN THEIR DOORS AND GET OUT OF THE CAR??!
Is there not some Federal Highway Safety Standard that regulates this?
My BMW Service Advisor was at a loss for words when I asked him about this. The only thing he could say was that they fixed it per the service bulletin.
P.S., all of my navigation system settings were resent and defaulted, but this seemed to be fixed once they replaced the fused.
Is this not a serious safety issue which would require some sort of fix / recall on BMWs part??
I could not believe that there was no manual unlocking mechanism, i.e. pull the door handle twice, which would unlock the door.
I took the car in for service and they easily fixed the issue by replacing fuse 56 and 57 (per a BMW service bulletin). I've seen a few other posts here with regards to this problem but not much discussion about it being a significant safety issue.
What if I got into an accident, the fuse blew for some reason, or some other electrical problem happened due to the accident and NONE OF THE PASSENGERS COULD OPEN THEIR DOORS AND GET OUT OF THE CAR??!
Is there not some Federal Highway Safety Standard that regulates this?
My BMW Service Advisor was at a loss for words when I asked him about this. The only thing he could say was that they fixed it per the service bulletin.
P.S., all of my navigation system settings were resent and defaulted, but this seemed to be fixed once they replaced the fused.
gtfish
03-04-2010, 07:37 PM
Look at the archives. my wife's car did the same thing.
Fredric
03-04-2010, 09:48 PM
This is weird. I can use the central locking button to lock all the doors, yet double-pulling any of the inside handles will unlock that door manually.
spinnaker7
03-04-2010, 09:52 PM
I have seen this issue brought up by several others in older posts on this forum.
However what I have not seen is a discussion on how dangerous it is that the doors will not open if the fuse is blown. i.e. there is no mechanical backup when the door actuators fail or there is no electrical current present.
For those that have not had this problem, be aware. It is a common issue which has occurred to many as I soon discovered after a google search.
However what I have not seen is a discussion on how dangerous it is that the doors will not open if the fuse is blown. i.e. there is no mechanical backup when the door actuators fail or there is no electrical current present.
For those that have not had this problem, be aware. It is a common issue which has occurred to many as I soon discovered after a google search.
Fredric
03-04-2010, 10:15 PM
Hmmmm. And all this time I thought that pulling the handle twice WAS a mechanical backup.:dunno:
neapolitan
03-04-2010, 10:59 PM
Hmmmm. And all this time I thought that pulling the handle twice WAS a mechanical backup.:dunno:
Scary. So did I.
However in a crash, having the doors remain *shut* is generally more critical and desirable to prevent partial ejection from the vehicle. If I were uninjured I'd imagine I could get out of the car pretty quickly in the event of an emergency.
If the crash is major, doors are often stuck shut anyway as the metal bends. I'd imagine, while scary, this electrical only connection is not that big of a deal.
Scary. So did I.
However in a crash, having the doors remain *shut* is generally more critical and desirable to prevent partial ejection from the vehicle. If I were uninjured I'd imagine I could get out of the car pretty quickly in the event of an emergency.
If the crash is major, doors are often stuck shut anyway as the metal bends. I'd imagine, while scary, this electrical only connection is not that big of a deal.
Ilovemycar
03-04-2010, 11:24 PM
Thank you all for this thread. I would never know to "search" for this.
However in a crash, having the doors remain *shut* is generally more critical and desirable to prevent partial ejection from the vehicle. If I were uninjured I'd imagine I could get out of the car pretty quickly in the event of an emergency.
If the crash is major, doors are often stuck shut anyway as the metal bends. I'd imagine, while scary, this electrical only connection is not that big of a deal.
Very interesting, thank you. I suppose the glass may already be broken in a terrible accident, and if not, a nice elbow or fist with a ton of adrenaline might do the job? I don't want to speculate, but can't help to think out loud.
However in a crash, having the doors remain *shut* is generally more critical and desirable to prevent partial ejection from the vehicle. If I were uninjured I'd imagine I could get out of the car pretty quickly in the event of an emergency.
If the crash is major, doors are often stuck shut anyway as the metal bends. I'd imagine, while scary, this electrical only connection is not that big of a deal.
Very interesting, thank you. I suppose the glass may already be broken in a terrible accident, and if not, a nice elbow or fist with a ton of adrenaline might do the job? I don't want to speculate, but can't help to think out loud.
330ximd
03-04-2010, 11:47 PM
Scary. So did I.
However in a crash, having the doors remain *shut* is generally more critical and desirable to prevent partial ejection from the vehicle. If I were uninjured I'd imagine I could get out of the car pretty quickly in the event of an emergency.
If the crash is major, doors are often stuck shut anyway as the metal bends. I'd imagine, while scary, this electrical only connection is not that big of a deal.
+1, Even if the car is submerged in water, the electrical system will have shorted out anyways. Did the op try to open the door the old fashioned double pull way, as suggested by Frederic?
However in a crash, having the doors remain *shut* is generally more critical and desirable to prevent partial ejection from the vehicle. If I were uninjured I'd imagine I could get out of the car pretty quickly in the event of an emergency.
If the crash is major, doors are often stuck shut anyway as the metal bends. I'd imagine, while scary, this electrical only connection is not that big of a deal.
+1, Even if the car is submerged in water, the electrical system will have shorted out anyways. Did the op try to open the door the old fashioned double pull way, as suggested by Frederic?
anE934fun
03-04-2010, 11:59 PM
+1, Even if the car is submerged in water, the electrical system will have shorted out anyways. Did the op try to open the door the old fashioned double pull way, as suggested by Frederic?
My 2010 335d does not have the double pull to open function (a single pull is all that is needed to open the doors). Has the double pull been discontinued? :dunno:
My 2010 335d does not have the double pull to open function (a single pull is all that is needed to open the doors). Has the double pull been discontinued? :dunno:
cwinter
03-05-2010, 05:15 AM
My 2010 335d does not have the double pull to open function (a single pull is all that is needed to open the doors). Has the double pull been discontinued? :dunno:
Double pull is only necessary if the doors are locked. If you keep your doors unlocked while driving, just one pull opens it.
On the double pull, the first pull unlocks the door while the second one opens it.
Double pull is only necessary if the doors are locked. If you keep your doors unlocked while driving, just one pull opens it.
On the double pull, the first pull unlocks the door while the second one opens it.
Madera student found dead in car may have suffered heatstroke
Los Angeles Times · 1 day agoGraciela Gallardo Fernandez
legacy.com · 2 days ago
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Sep 18, 2013 · Home » Society » Teenager Graciela Martinez Dies In Family Vehicle And Door Locks May Have Played Role In Her Death
Teen dies after being trapped in hot car - FOX19.com …
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Graciela Martinez, 14, died after she was locked into the car and was unable to escape. (Source: KPGE/CNN)
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Graciela Martinez (gracieee_) on Twitter
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- 148 tweets ·
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Graciela Martinez: Teenager dies of heat stroke after …
Graciela Martinez died from “environmental hyperthermia” after being unable to get out of the BMW as temperatures inside reached 55c.
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