I'm posting this under the problems area of the forum because I think this safety concern should be addressed by BMW. Curious if others have experienced this.
Basically I had the rear end of my i3 "kick out" a few times yesterday while driving home on icy roads. This happened when slowing down for a stop sign when already driving slow. Freaked me out when this first happened but I was driving slow enough for the conditions to avoid the ditch and any vehicles. Had this happened on a multi-lane road, the rear end probably would have hit any car next to me. Fortunately this only happened a few times and I didn't hit any ditches, cars, or mailboxes.
I'm surprised that the BMW engineers didn't take this into consideration when engineering the aggressive regenerative braking system. I think it would be helpful (and safer) if there was a "snowflake button" that could be selected to either completely turn off the regenerative braking so only the brake pedal activates the brakes, or to significantly reduce the regen when taking your foot off the pedal. I would feel much safer driving the car in these conditions if this feature existed. The Volt has the option to change the regen level so I'm sure BMW could do the same.
This commute was a rare occurrence, probably the worst drive home since I've lived north of town for over 15 years. Roads were literally covered with ice and main highway (which I would have avoided) was closed. Every northbound road was backed up with cars either stopped or going 10-15 MPH. The commute that usually takes less than 30 minutes took about 2 hours. Unfortunately I can't afford a winter wheel set so I'm cautiously driving this winter on the all season tires. I did have less problems than some other vehicles driving up a few slight inclines in the icy conditions.
Anyone else experience this?
Off topic, I was able to conserve the battery by using the heated seats and keeping the cabin heater off, but I did have to turn on the defrost a few times to remove condensation from windows. I was happy that my range didn't change much after about an hour of stop and go traffic at night while using the heated seats and playing music fairly loud.
Basically I had the rear end of my i3 "kick out" a few times yesterday while driving home on icy roads. This happened when slowing down for a stop sign when already driving slow. Freaked me out when this first happened but I was driving slow enough for the conditions to avoid the ditch and any vehicles. Had this happened on a multi-lane road, the rear end probably would have hit any car next to me. Fortunately this only happened a few times and I didn't hit any ditches, cars, or mailboxes.
I'm surprised that the BMW engineers didn't take this into consideration when engineering the aggressive regenerative braking system. I think it would be helpful (and safer) if there was a "snowflake button" that could be selected to either completely turn off the regenerative braking so only the brake pedal activates the brakes, or to significantly reduce the regen when taking your foot off the pedal. I would feel much safer driving the car in these conditions if this feature existed. The Volt has the option to change the regen level so I'm sure BMW could do the same.
This commute was a rare occurrence, probably the worst drive home since I've lived north of town for over 15 years. Roads were literally covered with ice and main highway (which I would have avoided) was closed. Every northbound road was backed up with cars either stopped or going 10-15 MPH. The commute that usually takes less than 30 minutes took about 2 hours. Unfortunately I can't afford a winter wheel set so I'm cautiously driving this winter on the all season tires. I did have less problems than some other vehicles driving up a few slight inclines in the icy conditions.
Anyone else experience this?
Off topic, I was able to conserve the battery by using the heated seats and keeping the cabin heater off, but I did have to turn on the defrost a few times to remove condensation from windows. I was happy that my range didn't change much after about an hour of stop and go traffic at night while using the heated seats and playing music fairly loud.