"In January 2022, BMW released a statement acknowledging the presence of a technical issue with the N57 engine which may have contributed to instances of police vehicles in the United Kingdom catching fire, including one case in January 2020 which resulted in the death of a British police officer.[4] This issue led to police forces across the United Kingdom withdrawing, retiring or limiting the speed of vehicles powered by the N57 engine, preventing their use in pursuits.[5] In the press release, BMW stated “This issue is associated with the particular way in which the police operate these high-performance vehicles […] there is no need for action on civilian vehicles”.[4]

Safety concerns about this engine in 2016, and the 2022 inquest into the death of PC Nicholas Dumphreys on 26 January 2020, had the consequence that in January 2023, BMW stopped supplying cars to UK police altogether and closed down their International and Specialist Sales Division at their dealership in Park Lane, Mayfair. Police forces are instead moving to other brands models, such as the Volvo XC90 and Volkswagen Touareg.[6][7]"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64283859

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N57

Im curious to learn in what way the Police drove these cars which caused them to burst into flames that was so different from normal driving as to render the car perfectly safe for Joe Bloggs , according to BMW.
I had a remapped N57 330D and drove on track days and the at Nurburging - luckily I didnt crash and burn. Jules

There's some conjecture that repeated prolonged idling, followed by short bursts of high speed, resulted in a DPF cycle that greatly increased oil dilution. If that resulted in a bearing shell spinning, you're going to see a pretty rapid and catastrophic failure of the engine, with parts bursting through sumps etc.

In the tragic case mentioned, it's been established that the catastrophic nature of the engine seizing resulted in hot oil being sprayed on the tyres and the engine bay igniting as diesel and oil were sprayed over red hot components.

The lengthy idle then 3-figure speeds is not something you are likely to see every day in civilian use. Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

That would explain it. Usually letting a turbo cool down with the engine idling after getting very hot is a good way to treat the turbo bearings but clearly not if significant oil dilution is induced through DPF cycling - damn emissions.

You'd think BMW could have adjusted the DPF software.
Are BMWs not used as Police cars in other countries eg German autobahns? Jules

The problem might be more to do with always having the cars idling when on jobs but not actually chasing someone. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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jules wrote:

You'd think BMW could have adjusted the DPF software.

I think a couple of other German auto manufacturers have tried that previously and got into a spot of bother over it

jules wrote:

Are BMWs not used as Police cars in other countries eg German autobahns?

Some reports I've seen reference the use of "run lock" where cars will be at the scene of an incident, sometimes for hours, with engines running to keep lights etc. active. There's a reasonable chance that other countries have a different approach.

Certainly when I and a couple of friends had cause to close an autobahn near Augsburg due to a serious accident that happened directly in front of us, the Polizei that turned up placed a bunch of cones behind our cars and then turned all their lights etc off. Once they'd taken our statements and the air ambulance was clear they waved us through and left the cones in place while they took measurements, pics etc. then re-opened about 15 mins later. Whole lot from "woah.... Stop! Stop! Stop!", calling it in and getting on the radio to the other rally crews to us departing the scene after the casualty was evacuated was around 25 minutes. Total scene closure circa 40 minutes, and this was a really nasty one, with 2 vehicles at autobahn speeds hitting a lady who had exited her broken down car in the outside lane.

In the UK that section of motorway would have been closed for upwards of 4 hours and every police vehicle from a 10 mile radius would be there with every single light on for the duration of the incident.

I guess their reasoning was "the traffic back there is stationary for 3 km, so nobody is going to blast up to these cones at 150kmh because I don't have my blue lights all over the place. They seem to use blue lights to get to a scene, rather than to secure it.


 Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

Of course you also have to look at why BMW would pull out of their entire ‘ Authority ‘ sales which covered more than just the police . The suspect engines in the police vehicles are no more , they were replaced several years ago . Consider that the vehicles were supplied at huge discounts , as would be spares . BMW would not benefit from service work generally as the police vehicles would be serviced in house . All the expensive conversion work was carried out by 3rd parties , not BMW . Fine when that business was incremental above normal operating profits .

At this time and for the foreseeable future , BMW et al , can sell every vehicle they can make without discounting . They want to sell high spec high margin vehicles , that’s the U.K. for you , stick a few letters on the back a couple of extra grand on cost and it’s £10k on the selling price . Lead times are extended still , discount schemes or offers have been slashed ( I’ve been monitoring NFU , BASC , and Civil Service schemes to which I have access they are woefully short of pre covid offers . The Authority supply discounts would have been massive .

In the current market , selling cars to authorities might be part of the business you are looking to divest . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I had seen similar 'BMW stopping UK Government Supply' inspired stories around for a couple of weeks, but not giving the above DPF reasons, and including link to Jaguar giving way to Audi as Official Government Cars.

Shortage of supplies were implied, BMW with chip shortages and the need to prioritise 'Profit' cars, and Jaguar on the abandonment of 'Electric' XJ.

Whatever the real reason, I think that MartynB's note on makers preferring to supply 'High Margin' cars will have helped them make their decision. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

Indeed as MartynB says, high margin cars is where the profit is. Jules