The US NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) found out that under hard braking, an M3 with DCT can prone to initiate repeated downshifts, witch can cause the car to stall. The situation is resolved simply, but at high costs for the producer, by asking all owners of 2008 or 2009 M3s equipped with the DCT to drop by the headquarters and ask for a software update, free of charge.
There are about 2,500 of these models in the US alone. This can annoy BMW clients as we are sure that each and every one wanted reliability from its car. And with this latest “bug” the BMW seems more unreliable in other people's eyes.
As we all know double clutch gearboxes change gears very smooth and very fast, and these are usually equipped on most performance cars. BMW has just finished building one of these new cog-swappers and the first problems arose.
A double clutch gearbox has two clutches. One clutch engages 1st, 3rd and 5th, and the other the gears below: 2nd, 4th, and 6th. When you change gear, from 3rd to 4th the system doesn't need to change the cogs like the old ones did. It just changes clutches. Its simple.
The BMW M3 is the most sold sportscar of them all and it is a benchmark for performance and power in its class. The newest model is equipped with a 420hp V8 and some say that this engine is the most advanced in the world.
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