A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that BMW represented certain vehicles equipped with the xDrive all-wheel-drive system as designed with front differential fluid that would last the car’s “lifetime” despite knowing that failing to change the fluid would cause the front differential to fail prematurely and require costly replacement. 

 

The 17-page lawsuit against BMW of North America states that the automaker represented until the early 2010s that its vehicles’ front differential—a critical system that manages torque between the front wheels, distributes power to the front axle and helps control steering—required lubricating fluid replacement at certain mileage intervals. By the mid-2010s, BMW began to advise that the front differentials of xDrive-equipped vehicles would no longer need fluid changes, as the lubricating fluid was intended to last for the lifetime of the car, the complaint says.