NHTSA Complaint #11118210 — 2015 BMW I3

I AM REPORTING A RECURRING ISSUE WITH THE STEERING WHEEL. THE VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION, ON A CITY STREET, GOING STRAIGHT. WHEN THE ISSUE HAPPENED, THE STEERING WHEEL TURNED TO THE LEFT NOTICEABLY BY ITSELF AND IT TOOK FORCE BY HAND TO CORRECT IT SO THE CAR COULD GO STRAIGHT. THIS CREATED A SAFETY RISK CONCERN TO THE DRIVER. I FEEL THE AFFECTED COMPONENTS LIKELY ARE THE STEERING WHEEL AND ELECTRONICS SYSTEM. BELOW IS A MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION: IN MARCH, THE STEERING WHEEL TURNED LEFT SLIGHTLY BY ITSELF AFTER THE CAR WAS STARTED. THIS POSITION OF THE WHEEL WAS ENOUGH TO MAKE THE CAR TURN LEFT GRADUALLY. IT TOOK SOME FORCE BY HAND TO STEER AND KEEP THE WHEEL BACK TO THE REGULAR NEUTRAL POSITION. WHEN THE WHEEL WAS KEPT AT THE REGULAR NEUTRAL POSITION, THE CAR WAS ABLE TO GO STRAIGHT. HOWEVER, THE STEERING WHEEL TURNED TO THE LEFT AGAIN AFTER HANDS WERE REMOVED FROM THE WHEEL. AFTER THE CAR WAS TURNED OFF AND BACK ON AGAIN, THE STEERING WHEEL BEHAVED NORMALLY AGAIN, MEANING IT STAYED IN THE REGULAR NEUTRAL POSITION WHEN HANDS FREE, AND THE CAR WENT STRAIGHT. THE SAME ISSUE OCCURRED TWICE WITHIN THE SAME WEEK. THE NEXT WEEK THE OWNER SENT THE CAR TO THE DEALER TO TAKE A LOOK. THE DEALER KEPT THE CAR FOR ALMOST TWO WEEKS, DID A LOT OF RESEARCH INCLUDING STEERING/SUSPENSION AND ALSO EXTENSIVE TESTING, BUT WAS NOT ABLE TO DUPLICATE THE ISSUE. IN LESS THAN A MONTH AFTER THE OWNER TOOK THE CAR BACK, THE ISSUE OCCURRED AGAIN. THE INTERESTING THING IS: THE OWNER GOT A 2018 I3 94AH REX LOANER CAR AND THE SIMILAR STEERING WHEEL ISSUE SHOWED UP WITH THE LOANER CAR AS WELL! TIMELINE: MARCH 2018: HAPPENED TWICE IN A WEEK 3/22: SERVICE #1 4/25: HAPPENED ONCE 4/28: SERVICE #2 5/8: SIMILAR ISSUE HAPPENED WITH THE LOANER CAR 2018 I3 94AH REX 6/10: HAPPENED ONCE 6/12: HAPPENED ONCE 7/18: SERVICE #3 8/2: HAPPENED ONCE MANY VIDEO CLIPS WERE TAKEN AT TIMES.