Just Got our 2017 i3 REX....and...

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JetBlacki3

New member
Joined
Mar 13, 2017
Messages
4
Hi there..

We just leased a 2017 i3 REX in the US ( we are in the Los Angeles area). Very nice car. It's primarily for my wife so she drives it everyday. The car has barely 150 miles on it.

Something odd happened this morning. I was there when it happened as it's the first day she's taking it to work.

She went to start the vehicle, pressing the Start/Stop button. Everything fires up as it should. Then she releases the parking brake, and then turns the iDrive know to R. Nothing happens. The system doesn't engage gear. We try D, R, etc over and over and nothing happens. Then the yellow check engine light appears.

We shut the vehicle down. Retry...and it engages fine. She drives off.

On the way home, it happens again when she starts the car at work to come home.

Any ideas what is going on? Is she doing something wrong? The two days I drove it, it seemed fine and nothing like that happened.

I know there is a recall on some REX's here in the States right now but I can't imagine a dealer selling one that is affected. I know BMW put a hold on sales.

I wanted to ask before I waste half a day at a dealership if anyone knew what might be happening.

Cheers.
 
I know this is probably not the case but make sure there are no doors open. It wont engage if a door is open. It will indicate that though. That is why i think it it probably not likely.
 
That's not normal and not something that operator error could cause. The CEL illuminating indicates that a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) was set, at least briefly. The setting of this DTC might have created a log entry that the dealer could examine. If this were my new car, I'd take it right back to the dealer and ask them to diagnose the problem.
 
Ok thanks. I'm also wondering if she didn't put her foot on the brake when when trying to start.

I'll have to wait for her to bring the car back and have availability to take it in.
 
JetBlacki3 said:
Ok thanks. I'm also wondering if she didn't put her foot on the brake when when trying to start.
If one doesn't press the brake while pressing the Start/Stop button, the transition to drive readiness does not occur, but this doesn't cause the CEL to illuminate. Maybe the car transitions to radio readiness state if the brake pedal isn't pressed while pressing the Start/Stop button. I don't find the i3's states and state transitions that occur when the Start/Stop button is pressed or the driver's door is opened to be very intuitive, and the poorly-written Owner's Manual doesn't describe the states and state transitions very well.
 
Ok so I replicated the issue with my friend's i3 Rex and indeed it was the fact that the brake pedal was not applied on startup.

There is no warning stating that one should depress the pedal prior to shifting into gear. What happens is the car remains in a state of "pre-ignition"...similar to what one would see if a regular car's ignition isn't turned on all the way and the engine isn't running.

Thank goodness as I had no desire whatsoever to go to the dealer so soon!
 
A useful point for new owners is that the latch for the rear doors is quite sensitive...while you don't need to actually slam the rear door, if you don't close it with some authority and get the two latches fully engaged, you can get a door open warning and that can cause some problems. I think it's part of the fact that there's no B-pillar, so for the front door to be as strong as designed, the latches on the rear door may be a bit stronger and thus a little harder to fully engage. That can also cause some issues with failing to start or being able to put it in gear.
 
JetBlacki3 said:
Ok so I replicated the issue with my friend's i3 Rex and indeed it was the fact that the brake pedal was not applied on startup.

There is no warning stating that one should depress the pedal prior to shifting into gear. What happens is the car remains in a state of "pre-ignition"...similar to what one would see if a regular car's ignition isn't turned on all the way and the engine isn't running.
I now suspect that the CEL briefly illuminating was caused by a normal transition between operating states that occurs when pressing the Start/Stop button repeatedly without pressing the brake pedal. All of the warning lights on the instrument cluster will illuminate briefly when one of the operating states is initialized to indicate that they are functional but not as an error warning.

The Owner's Manual states,

"with the vehicle stationary, press on the brake pedal before shifting out of P or N; otherwise, the shift command will not be executed."

The failure to press the brake pedal prevents the transition to the drive readiness state from occurring which makes shifting out of P or N impossible.

Even after more than 2 years of ownership, I don't find indications of operating states and transitions between states to be very intuitive, in general. The Owner's Manual doesn't help much, either. Gone are the simple 4 operating states of off, accessory, ignition on, and start indicated by ignition switch position and the simple transition between states by merely changing the ignition switch position.
 
I have to agree with you. The interface and media system in this car is not very good. I've a Chevy Volt myself and the Mylink interface is simple, clean, and easy to use.
 
Do you know of any car that will let you shift out of park without stepping on the brake pedal? Well, a manual transmission, but many of them also have a switch on the clutch pedal that will prevent it from starting unless pressed.

Basically, the car wants you to press the brake pedal to turn it on to READY state and to switch in/out of park/neutral. It also tells you that on the display if you don't.
 
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