Garage Cabinets, Garage Storage, and Garage Organization

I have a BMW 530i with about 13,000 KM on it.  Its been a wonderful car and a great car to drive. But my wife just uses it around the neighborhood on short trips to the mall, chapel etc.
Just the other day, it went all crazy with the wiper continuously running, the doors refused to open normally, and the onboard computer stating that the airbags are not functioning and to stop the car and call the BMW dealership ASAP.
We brought it to the dealership and they tell us that the "SAFETY GATEWAY MODULE with part number  65776975682 is defective and needs to be replaced.

Can anyone please help me understand what this part is and what role it plays?  The dealership says the part costs US$1212 plus labor etc.

Can anyone also point me to where we can get this part for a better price?  Or maybe how we could double check that it really is the module and not some short circuit elsewhere that is causing this?

Pardon the skepticism, but just the other day, the shop that was trying to fix a seatbelt problem for my 89 MB 230CE, insisted that the "Module" was defective.  When we swapped left side with right side modules, true enough the defective module didn't make the other side work, but lo and behold when we reswapped them, both worked, but after a day both conked out.  By deduction, I figured out it was some dfect in the contacts somewhere and true enough, the defect was in the door switches that triggered the series of events to push the belts forward.

Anyway, to anyone with any experience with this "SAFETY GATEWAY MODULE # 65776975682", PLEASE HELP!!!!

If there have been previous posts regarding similar problems, please point them my way as I'm new in this forum.

Thanks and best regards to all,

Jeb


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JEB BMW530i

Hi,

I received a letter from your customer relations groups' Christiane
Weber and Michael Marx rejecting my appeal for a warranty coverage for
the Safety Gateway Module of my BMW530i.  They argue that irregardless
of the very low mileage, the fact that the car is now more than 4
years old BMW cannot accept that you have responsibility for the
repair.

Ironically, they also wished me and my wife trouble free and enjoyable
motoring with my 530i.

The Safety Gateway Module is a part that is not readily accessible to
the user.  There is nothing we could have done which would warrant
damage to an item such as this.  Especially since the car has such low
mileage.  I just want to express disappointment over the attitude
taken over this disappointing malady of such an expensive vehicle. We
get better responses and service from Toyota on vehicles that cost
much less, and may i say are decidedly trouble free compared to this
expensive BMW.

Your customer service did not even offer a solution to the problem,
and had the absolute lack of tact wishing me a trouble free experience
with a car that is stuck in a shop and cannot be used.  How can it be
enjoyable and trouble free? ITS NOT USABLE AND ITS A LOT OF TROUBLE
NOW!

I am not asking for you to accept responsibility, but we do expect
that a company like yours should facilitate repairing the vehicle at
the least possible cost and inconvenience to your customers.

Disappointedly yours,

Jebe Gayanelo



On 11/14/07, BMW Customer Service <Customer.Service@bmw.com> wrote:
>
>  Dear Mr Gayanelo,
>
>  Thank you for your e-mail.
>
>  We have forwarded your details to the relevant department for
 assessment.
>
>  Kind Regards,
>  BMW Customer Service Team
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
>  Board of Management: Norbert Reithofer, Chairman,
>  Frank-Peter Arndt, Ernst Baumann, Herbert Diess,
>  Klaus Draeger, Friedrich Eichiner, Michael Ganal,
>  Stefan Krause
>  Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Joachim Milberg
>  Registered in: Munich HRB 42243
> -------------------------------------------------------------------


--


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JEB BMW530i

wow..... That is totally not like any BMW dealership that i have dealt with. Im not a 5 series guy myself so all i can say is i wish you the best.


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86 BMW 325E - Daily Driver
01 Audi A4 - Show/Date car
90 Mazda RX-7 - ???? Project car, i guess

thanks!


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JEB BMW530i