[Angus McNicoll]

Having had a relatively low speed accident when I missed a corner on a country road, my (late 2010) 520 series car was repaired by a "BMW-approved repairer" as arranged by my insurance company. When returned to me, there was clearly a steering fault at speeds of 50mph and above when the steering became very stiff and wouldn't self-centre. The garage had replaced some minor suspension/steering components, but had also replaced the steering rack as instructed by BMW when there has been suspension damage. I returned the vehicle to the repairers, and it took a further 10 days for them to resolve the fault. Apparently it was due to the replacement steering rack, and they had a similar problem with the next one as well!! The 3rd replacement rack seems to be ok now. The garage says that BMW reported a "faulty batch" of exchange racks. Is anyone else aware of these issues? Should the rack have been changed in the first instance if there was no apparent damage? These things are £1,500 each!!!