2000 BMW 540ia Recalls
No NHTSA recalls on record for the 2000 BMW 540ia. That means NHTSA has no open safety campaign for this vehicle — it does not guarantee the absence of problems. Owners have filed 8 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the engine and engine cooling. Last updated July 5, 2026.
Complaints by component
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal information removed.
“After a couple times using my cup holders in my 2000 bmw 540 I they broke. They are made of cheap plastic and are very poorly designed. I have checked out other models up to the 2007 year and bmw has failed to come out with a quality cup holder. Even a better replacement would be helpful! It now…”
“Reverse gear stopped working completely and with no symptoms. *tr”
“While driving in massachusetts on 495n at about 5:30pm I smelled something burning. Checked my gauges and all seemed well, thought it may be a wood burning stove in the area I just kept driving. I turned off rt495 and onto rt 119. About a mile down rt119 I noticed a lot of smoke building up inside…”
“After approximately 75,000 miles on my bmw 540i, the transmission will not go into reverse. The dealer says it has internal slippage/damage and will have to be replaced with a remanufacuted one. I found out that this is a common problem with bmw - see…”
“Failure: engine cooling fan clutch seized and the fan turned at water pump rpm. The fan flew apart, flinging all blades off the fan hub. This occurred while my wife was driving the car home on a 25 mph street in the evening with our two small children in the back seat. Consequences of failure:…”
“Radiator failure in 2000 bmw 540i at 57,000 miles.*ak”
“At 71888 miles the radiator of my bmw 540i broke because of a crack in the plastic housing around the outlet.I had read about this problem on the roadfly message board. I read that the raditors broke around the hose and they only lasted about 50,000 miles. When I read it, I wondered if I was due,…”
“Common radiator failures. All at usually below 50k miles.”
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL, FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2000 BMW 540ia as of July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.