2017 BMW I3

The roof of my car is delaminating. It's discoloring and developing bubbles. I looked online and found this is a common issue with the vehicle. I believe this may be a structural concern considering the cars body is composite and the roof contributes to the structural integrity of the vehicle. Not to mention the danger to others on the freeway from large chunks of roof blowing off and hitting vehicles. (not from my vehicle but from other complaints I've read)

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? There seems to be a series of faulty electrical/wiring issues happening with our 2017 BMW i3, most notably including the passenger seat/airbag registering system and control panel/console lighting. Yes, it is available for inspection upon request. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? We are unsure how this issue impacts the passenger airbag system. BMW was also not able to tell us whether the passenger airbag is impacted by the electrical issue. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? A local BMW dealership inspected the issue. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? The failure lights and error message were the first indication of a problem. This first happened in March 2021 when we starting receiving an error for the passenger seat sensor: “Passenger Restraint System: Malfunction. Continue wearing safety belt. Consult the nearest service center.” We took it to the dealership asking for coverage on the item and they said it would be $2,000-$3,000 out of pocket to fix. I filed a complaint with vsh@dot.gov and BMW and have not heard back from either. Over the past 6 months, the console lighting has now started malfunctioning as well. Lights will flicker in and out while they are active. For example, the heated seat may be on level 3, but only the two end lights are illuminated. Sometimes the heated seat will be active with no lights illuminated at all. Sometimes the heated seats will turn on with no way to shut it off. The evolving electrical issues concern me considering this is an electric vehicle.

While driving on the freeway, the vehicle's electric motor suddenly died. Because this is an electric vehicle, the car came to a sudden and abrupt stop, with all the wheels locking up. The car would not shift into drive or neutral or reverse. It effectively died, with the only power coming from the 12-volt battery to power the dashboard and interior lights. It was effectively inoperable. The vehicle displayed the following error message: "DRIVETRAIN: only electric drive possible, limited driving range, continued driving possible, consult nearest service center." We brought the car to our local BMW service center, and they ran a diagnostic (attached as PDF file). The issue is a faulty EME, which could be as much as an $11K repair. Several model years prior to 2017 i3 have been recalled by BMW for this exact issue. We cannot afford an $11K repair, so hoping BMW will recall 2017 and beyond, as this is a major safety hazard. Thankfully we were stuck in gridlock traffic and were not moving very fast (under 5 miles per hour) when the car stopped. But at a high rate of speed, this could have cause a catastrophic accident. We have two small children and will not be driving with them in this car until the issue is resolved.

The UTQG ratings on these tires are fraudulent. The ratings give an A grade for temperature over 115 but these tires wear out rapidly in Arizona. They also rate the tire wear at 400 which is also fraudulent. On my own vehicle I get less than 11,000 miles on each set and I’ve seen online complaints as low as 6,000 miles to failure. This is consumer fraud and tires that wear down this rapidly are a safety hazard.

In emergency situations when activating the horn, there is an unacceptable delay between when the horn is pressed and when there is actually sound produced. I have taken this up with the dealer and have been informed "that's just how it is." In looking across the internet, I see this is affecting all BMW i3 and some other BMW vehicles. The delay is approximately 1/2 second, which actually makes the horn virtually useless in emergency situations. The horn switch fully activates... It is like there is some kind of processor involved that cannot process the signal fast enough to engage the horn. This is really getting dangerous and I am frustrated that BMW is saying "by design."

The car turned off while driving and presented a "drivetrain" error message. The car lost power but I was able to safely steer to the side of the road. Car was taken to BMW dealer and a diagnostic test was performed. Was informed that the EME (Electric Motor Electronics) Module was bad and would need to be replaced. The car is 5 years old and has 31,700 miles and has never been in an accident. The estimate to replace the EME was $7,000

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.