2005 BMW 5 SERIES User Comment / Complaint

On september 14, 2005 i purchased a new 2005 bmw 330i. while driving to work on december 1, 2005 i turned the heater on for the first time. the heater had only been on for a few minutes when i started to smell a burning type of odor. i was not sure if the odor was coming in from the outside or if it was inside my car. the odor became stronger and resembled that of an electrical burn. i then observed white smoke coming out from the hood of my car. within minutes the smoke became gray. at this point i was in heavy early morning traffic. i was in the middle lane which was slowing down/stopping for a traffic light. as i came to a stop the smoke was turning black and was very thick. i put the vehicle into park and turned off the engine. by this point visibility to my front was obscured by the smoke. i knew that i should exit the car. i began opening the driver's door but the cars were moving quickly and i feared being hit. i made several attempts while simultaneously hitting the bmw assist button on the rear view mirror. i told the operator that my car was on fire, and she stated that she would contact the fire department. during this i saw that there was a police car one car behind me. fortunately he maneuvered his car into the left lane to block the traffic and i was able to exit the car. the fire trucks responded quickly and put the fire out. they did have difficulty trying to open the hood. they finally had to use a crow bar to get it opened. my car was towed to the dealership where i purchased it. to date representatives from bmw have inspected my car. i have been told that they were not able to determine what the cause of the fire was. my car remains at the dealership, the front end was burned to a crisp and there was no resolution to the situation.