2017 BMW I3

I had just turned on the car a few minutes prior to the incident and I was approaching an intersection to turn left onto a 2-lane highway. As I made the left turn, the steering felt wrong like the car was over then under steering. I was able to straighten out, and I felt like the power steering had failed. A quarter mile down the road, I turned left into a gas station, and I could feel the heaviness of the steering. It felt exactly like if the power steering was deactivated. I came to a stop, turn off fans, rolled the window down, and turned the steering wheel to see if there were any odd noises. There weren't. There were no error lamps or messages displayed. I turned off the car for a minute then back on again. The steering felt fine from then on. It felt unsafe because of the sudden loss of expected steering control. I have not yet taken the car to the dealer for this issue, but it was at the dealership two weeks ago for an oil change and inspection.

ROADS WERE CLEAR BUT EDGES SLUSHY. TEMP WAS 27 DEGREES.DROVE 2 MILES AT 40ISH MPH TO STARBUCKS, GOT COFFEE. NORMAL REAR WHEEL DRIVE TRACTION ISSUES WHEN CHANGING LANES, ETC. I WAS DRIVING CAREFULLY AND ABOUT 5 MPH UNDER WHAT EVERYONE ELSE WAS DOING. ABOUT A MILE AWAY FROM THE COFFEE DRIVE THROUGH, I CHANGED LANES (RIGHT TO LEFT) OVER A PILE OF SLUSH...NORMAL MILD TRACTION ISSUES. WAS IN THE LEFT LANE AND HAD "RECOVERED" WHEN SUDDENLY MORE YELLOW TRACTION WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON (ONE ON DRIVERS CONTROL PANEL, ONE ON THE INFO PANEL)...READING IT LATER, IT SAID TO DRIVE GENTLY, THE TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM WAS RECALIBRATING. I AM A VERY GOOD DRIVER...I LOST COMPLETE CONTROL. I WAS STEERING INTO THE SKID, BUT IT DIDN'T FEEL LIKE A NORMAL SKID. IT DIDN'T SLOW (I KNOW NOT TO BRAKE - AND THERE WASN'T ANY TRAFFIC TO WORRY ABOUT). COMPLETELY INTO THE RIGHT BREAKDOWN LANE, RECOVERED SOMEWHAT, INTO THE LEFT LANE UNTIL I FINALLY GENTLY HIT THE CURB AT ABOUT 10 MPH. I WAS GOING ABOUT 35 MPH WHEN THE NIGHTMARE STARTED. EVEN AFTER GAINING SOME MODICUM OF CONTROL, I COULDN'T GO MORE THAN ABOUT 20 MPH WITHOUT COMPLETELY LOSING ANY KIND OF TRACTION CONTROL. PULLED OVER, TURNED THE CAR OFF/ON...NO CHANGE. PULLED OVER, RESET THE CAR BY WALKING 15 YDS AWAY WITH THE KEYS FOR 15 MINUTES, I COULD PULL OUT AND DRIVE NORMALLY FOR 100 YDS, THEN THE "RECALIBRATING" NOTIFICATION WOULD COME ON AND I WOULD LOSE CONTROL. I WAS ON 4 LANE HIGHWAY WITH MEDIAN. EVEN AFTER WAITING 2 HOURS FOR A TOW, THE PAVEMENT WAS DRY AND I HAD NO CONTROL.

WHILEEXITING A PARKING PLACE ALONG A CURB - SLIGHT VEER OUT,ON DRY PAVEMENT, NIGHTIME, ON AN AVERAGECITY STREET. STEERING SUDDENLY BECAME BULLISH. WITHIN 100 FEET AND IN THE PROCESSOF THE 1ST UPCOMING90-DEGREE RIGHT-HANDTURN ALL MANNER OF WARNINGS WENT OFF, "PEDESTRIAN WARNING FAULTY,INCREASED STEER EFFORT (DUH!) CHASSIS STABILIZATION. I ALSO FELTIMMEDIATEPAININ MY RIGHT FOREARM AND SO THE ORDER OF WARNINGS MAY BE A BIT OFF. I HAVE BEEN WEARING A BRACE ON MY ARM SINCE THAT EVE FOR PAIN RELIEFFROM HAVING TO TORQUE ON THE WHEEL TO THE RIGHT SO HARD TO AVOID CROSSING OVER INTO THE ADJACENTLANE.STEERING IS LIKE DRIVING WITH BOTH FRONT WHEELS NEARLY FLAT. ONBOARD TIRE PRESSURE SHOWS ALL WERE AND ARE OF PROPER INFLATION. AFTER ONE ON-OFF CYCLE OF OVERNIGHT DURATION, ISSUES RESOLVED THEMSELVES THEN REPEATED IN ABOUT 24 HOURS. FOR A FEW DAYS NOW TRYING TO LET IT RESOLVE ITSELF WITH OFF/ON CYCLES THE STEERING HAS HAD THE SAME SLUGGISHNESS AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY POWER ASSIST. WARNINGS ARE STILL PREVALENT.

ELECTRIC STEERING BECAME UNRESPONSIVE AFTER DRIVING A SHORT DISTANCE. STEERING FELT SLUGGISH AND DID NOT APPEAR TO HAVE ANY POWER ASSISTANCE. THE FEELING OF THE STEERING NO LONGER HAVING A POWER ASSIST LED ME TO RESEARCH THE VEHICLE INFO TO DETERMINE IF THE CAR WAS EXPERIENCING A FLAT TIRE(S). THE FEELING WAS THAT BOTH FRONT WHEELS WERE FLAT. ON BOARD TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM INDICATED THAT ALL TIRES WERE OF PROPER INFLATION. THE CAR DID NOT PULL TO EITHER LEFT OR RIGHT. IT DID TAKE MORE STRENGTH TO TURN THE STEERING WHEEL THAN NORMALLY EXPERIENCED.

THERE IS RAPID ACCELERATION WHILE TAKING FOOT OFF ACCELERATOR WHEN THE CAR IS IN MOTION GOING UP HILL. ANTILOCK BRAKES SLOW TO ENGAGE ON STEEP DECLINES AND APPROACHING A STOP SIGN. THERE IS TOO MUCH POWER TO THE REAR WHEEL, THE CAR SKIDS ON PAINTED SURFACES SUCH AS CROSS WALKS AND PAINTED YIELD SIGNS ON ROAD SURFACES WHEN ACCELERATING FROM A FULL STOP. THE WHEELS SPIN ON CROSSWALK PAINT. THE CAR HAS A BUILT IN GYROSCOPE AND PULLS TO THE LEFT WHEN STARTING FROM A PARKED POSITION AFTER PARKED FOR SEVERAL DAYS ON A HILL. THE PULLING CONTINUES FOR SEVERAL BLOCKS. THE CAR NEEDS A NEW SET OF TIRES AND ONLY HAS 10,000 MILES. THE CAR HAS BEEN INSPECTED TWICE BY BMW TECHNICIANS AT PETER PAN BMW IN BURLINGAME. WE WERE TOLD THE SURFACES SIMILAR TO THOSE FOUND IN SAN FRANCISCO WERE REPLICATED IN BURLINGAME AND THERE WAS NO PROBLEM WITH THE CAR. THE PROBLEMS STILL PERSISTS.

DROVE CAR 8 MILES AS NORMAL. GOT BACK IN CAR AND STEERING WAS ABNORMAL. FELT AS IF HAD A FLAT (WHICH DID NOT). IN STEERING, THE CAR PULLED TO THE RIGHT, AND NEEDED COUNTER STEERING. THE CENTER FEEL OF THE STEERING WAS DIFFERENT, AND EASY TO TURN TO THE LEFT. PARKED THE CAR, WAITED 5 MINUTES, AND THE PROBLEM WAS GONE. FOUND MULTIPLE SIMILAR EXPERIENCES ONLINE WITH THIS MODEL.

STEERING INTERMITTENTLY BECOMES HEAVY, MAKING VEHICLE HARDER TO CONTROL. TURNING THE CAR OFF AND BACK ON AGAIN CLEARS THE PROBLEM. IT'S HARD TO DESCRIBE THE FEELING OF THE STEERING: YOU ARE ABLE TO TURN BUT IT FEELS LIKE THE CAR IS TRYING TO PREVENT YOU FROM TURNING THE WHEEL. THE PROBLEM SEEMS SOFTWARE-RELATED RATHER THAN A PHYSICAL FAILURE SINCE NOT ONLY IS IT INTERMITTENT, BUT IT IS INCONSISTENT. AT ONE INTERSECTION THE STEERING MAY BE NORMAL TURNING LEFT BUT HEAVY TURNING RIGHT AND THE SITUATION MAY BE REVERSED A MILE DOWN THE ROAD AT THE NEXT TURNING. I HAVE 28000 MILES/ 2.5YEARS ON THE CAR AND THE PROBLEM HAS ONLY STARTED OCCURRING WITHIN THE PAST MONTH. AT THE MOMENT THE PROBLEM OCCURS TOO RARELY TO TAKE THE CAR TO THE DEALER.