4.1

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
28,964 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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problem #9

Jan 252021

i3

  • miles
The left bracket for the electric engine is cracked and the dealer wants substantially more for a replacement one which happens to be completely redesigned from a cheap plastic part which equips my car to a more study and improved one for the latest models of the same make. As I did some research the same issue was subjected to a formal safety recall in europe. Here my warranty expired so the dealer wants to charge me a hefty fee for what is basically a repair to a manufacturer's recognized design flaw. This issue needs to be investigated as many owners of this car will not repair this issue which can be failed to be identified or will balk at the price tag of the change. If the bracket fails the whole engine and driveshaft will drop and interfere with rear wheel alignment resulting in a possible catastrophic loss of control. The replacement bracket is aluminium vs the original one in plastic so they are trying to quickly sweep this design flaw under the rug. There might have been catastrophic crashes of this type of car in the past due to it but crossing my fingers it didn't happen. The pictures I include show where the replacement needs to happen. #3 is where the crack is and I also have a video I can submit if needed.

- Largo, FL, USA

problem #8

Aug 162020

i3

  • 50,000 miles
While driving the vehicle suddenly jerked and lost all power while in motion on a city street. I can't imagine what would have happened if I was on the freeway with traffic. The message on the screen in my car stated drivetrain malfunction stop and turn off engine do not continue to drive call roadside assistance.

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #7

May 202020

i3

  • 43,580 miles
I believe this is a safety issue and can happen at any time without warning to me or other owners of similar vehicles putting my safety and other's safety at great risk. On May 20, 2020, I was stopped on a red light at neckel rd to cross highway 86 in imperial ca. When it turned green, I released the break pedal and normally accelerated. Suddenly my vehicle stopped in the middle of highway 86 and put itself in the park position showing "drive train fault" alarm. It stopped in the middle of the car's traffic and I was not able to shift it to neutral position to move it out of the way. With vehicles traffic moving around me, I turn my car off and on three times, with about ten seconds in between off an on, before the alarm would reset. Once the alarm cleared, I aborted my short trip and was able to drive it back home safely but I am concern this may happen again at any time at higher speeds putting my safety and others' safety at risk. I would like to know if other have reported similar issues / complains with this vehicles and what is BMW doing about it. Thank you very much.

- Imperial, CA, USA

problem #6

Apr 172020

i3

  • 66,000 miles
When the drivetrain failure light comes on, the motor fails, then locks up in park. You connot then put it in neutral to get it off the road. Even the towtruck needs dollies to get rear wheels off the ground. This happened twice while stationary, and several times on the road. If I had not been able to roll to shoulder, it could have created an accident. There should be a way to get to zneutral.

- PāHoa, HI, USA

problem #5

Aug 092019

i3

  • 38,000 miles
In several occasion, a drive train malfunction while I was driving in the city. A "drive train malfunction" lights up and car stops and will not shift into gear again. I turned off the car for a minute then on again, the light disappeared. This happened twice. The third time I started up my car and the light appeared again and this time the light remained and the car is immobilized. It is very odd that a drive train is malfunctioned after only 39,000 miles. I have learned that most of the drive train on the I3 are often malfunction and is expensive to repair. I have a 2014 base model and was told that it has gone out of warranty because the 5 years came before the 50,000 miles.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #4

Jun 152018

i3

  • 36,000 miles
When the vehicle enters a 'fault' mode, such as drive motor malfunction, the cars discontinues power to the drive motor, allows the vehicle to roll to a stop, then electronically puts the transmission in park. As long as the fault code exists the vehicle cannot be pushed or towed out of harms way. I was about to turn on to a very busy 3-lane [no shoulder] highway when it shut down. Not even the police could assist me in pushing it out of the intersection. Has I turned and started down that road and the vehicle then gone into fault mode, I would have been hit with a matter of minutes.no other vehicle I know of does not let the owner put it in neutral and push it off to the side our out of harms way. This is an all electric car so the dealer should be able to make a simple programming change. I have called the dealer, he referred me to BMW North America. I talked to them at length on the phone and they have no way of passing on my concerns to the manufacturer (BMW germany).

- Jacksonville, FL, USA

problem #3

Jun 012016

i3

  • 15,600 miles
While driving the car and at a stop light the car made some jerky noise and got the "drivetrain malfunction - stop and turn off engine. Do not continue driving. Call roadside assistance" message. This has happened about 6 months ago and had the car towed to the service and they never found any problem. Now in the span of a day it has happened 3 times. When I turn off engine, wait a minute or so and start again, I was able to drive the car again. I am not sure why this is happening and I have looked through all BMW forums and facebook pages and nobody seems to have an answer. I am worried about driving the car and having it completely halt in the middle of driving on the freeway. This needs to be addressed by BMW and I have yet to get an answer.

- Oakland, CA, USA

problem #2

Jan 012016

i3

  • 6,500 miles
Charged my car overnight in my climate controlled garage and went out the next morning to run errands. Turned it on, put it in drive, heard a pop or clunk from the rear and then got a drive train not available - do not move vehicle error. Couldn't even put the car in neutral for towing - BMW roadside had to send a tow truck with skates to prop up the back end and push it out of my garage. It's been at the dealer almost 2 weeks now - the local mechanics have had calls with BMW back in germany and they can't seem to figure out what the problem is.

- Charlottesville, VA, USA

problem #1

Aug 242015

i3

  • 5,000 miles
The BMW I3 electric vehicle that comes with a range extender has a critical hazardous design flaw. It cannot consistently power the vehicle to maintain a safe speed when driving on a moderate incline for a reasonable period. In other words, you may be driving on a California freeway and run out of electric charge and the range extender will kick in. Everything is fine until you approach a hilly area. As the car ascends the incline it starts to reduce speed. So before you were going the same safe speed as the surrounding traffic now you start to slow down. 70, 65, 60, things start getting scary as cars start passing you on both sides, 55, 50 45, now it's really scary and very dangerous as cars are passing you going 70+ mph. By this time you are desperately trying to get to the slow lane, sometimes crossing multiple lanes of traffic going 25+ mph over your speed. You put your 4 way blinkers on and now the car is going 39 mph, well below the minimum speed limit on the ca highway, and you are praying that someone does not slam into you going 80 mph. I hope this gives you a clearer picture of my serious safety concerns. I had my car in for service at the BMW dealership a few months ago and the head I3 technician explained that that I would be getting an electronics update/upgrade and thought that maybe it would fix the problem that I was experiencing. After the service was performed the only difference that I noticed was the warning of potential loss of power alert appear on the display as I started up a hill. The loss of power was exactly the same as before. This experience that I described to you has happened to me several times in the past and continues to happen every time I run out of electricity and have to run on the extender and climb a hill that is not necessarily steep but extends some distance at an incline. The car is unsafe.

- Aliso Viejo, CA, USA