NHTSA Complaint #11594331 — 2014 BMW I3

POWER TRAIN issue reported to NHTSA

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Complaint Details

ODI Number 11594331
Vehicle 2014 BMW I3
Component POWER TRAIN
Date of Incident
Date Filed
Mileage N/A miles
Crash No
Fire No
Injuries 0
Deaths 0
Vehicle Towed No
State WI

Consumer Description

When the vehicle depletes it's battery and switches over to the range extender or the gas engine, the car will suddenly shut off and a drivetrain error appears. This seems to only happen when the car is traveling over 55 mph. This has happened on repeated occasions. If you then leave the car sit for several minutes and then turn it back on, it is driveable as long as it is driven under 55 mph. Since this only happens at higher speeds, it's been extremely dangerous because other cars are also traveling at high speeds and this has happened once on a freeway where the speed limit was 70 mph. If there's no shoulder to guide the car onto when this happens, the car would be disabled on the road because it will not drive again right away. I've taken it in to fix and the mechanic said it was a software update that was needed. However, the problem happened again a few months later. There was no warning before this happened both times it occurred.

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