# 2018 BMW 540I — LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:HOOD:LATCH
> NHTSA complaint `2043794` · 2024-11-27 · BMW of North America, LLC
## Severity
- **Deaths:** 0
- **Injured:** 0
- **Fire:** No
- **Crash:** Yes
- **Police report:** No
- **Medical attention:** No
- **Vehicle towed:** No
## Vehicle
- **Make:** BMW
- **Model:** 540I
- **Year:** 2018
- **Manufacturer:** BMW of North America, LLC
- **Component:** LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:HOOD:LATCH
- **Speed:** 50 mph
## Narrative
The car's hood sensor did not alert us to the fact that the hood was not properly closed. This resulted in the car's hood opening while being driven, causing the driver to lose sight of the road and crashed into a guardrail in a canyon road (see photo).   The car is currently being evaluated by the insurance company for a total loss, and the car may be available for inspection currently, although it may also be taken apart by the auto collision company for their estimate evaluation.  The failure of the hood latch mechanism to properly and conspicuously notify us prior to driving the car put us at severe risk of being in a life threatening accident as well as potentially imperiling the lives of other drivers or pedestrians.  The vehicle was inspected by BMW after I reported the incident to them, and I have a written report from them. BMW concluded they are "technically confident that no manufacturing defects, faults or malfunctions were present in the vehicle that could have contributed to this incident."   There were no warning messages of the problem prior to the hood opening. We also provided BMW with a video taken after the crash whereby the hood latch on the right side of the car was intentionally left open, and the hood latch on the left side of the car was closed, and demonstrated in this situation that there was no indication on the BMW i drive screen of any notifications to alert the driver of the hood not being completely closed. Despite asking numerous times for BMW
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*Source: [NHTSA ODI](https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/downloads/) · AI Analytics · CC0 1.0*