NHTSA Complaint #11529748 — 2023 BMW I4

This is a fully electric vehicle and upon arriving at a charger, the charging port door on the car would not open. It is a manual door - normally just push on the outside of the door and it pops opens. In this instance, pushing on the door did nothing, the door was stuck and would not open, putting my safety at risk as I could not charge the vehicle and had only limited range left to drive. No lights or warning messages appeared in the car. I contacted BMW roadside assistance who had me try multiple things, none of which worked. I was then advised there was no way to open the charging door without bringing it to the dealer. This left me, a single female on a road trip with my child 4 hours from home, stuck in a parking lot as darkness was approaching unable to charge my perfectly functioning vehicle. A quick google search revealed this is a known issue to BMW and many have been replaced under warranty, although no recall has been issued. We are expected to just drive with faulty charge door mechanisms until they fail, and just hope and pray you're in a safe place when it happens or have enough charge to get to a BMW dealer. The vehicle has not yet been repaired, waiting on a service appointment.