Safety issue of BMW i3

Hi,

I am not sure if other BMW i3 owners ever faced this problem.

I live in Singapore and own a BMW i3. The BMW i3 is driven by my wife and she uses it to send my children, aged 5 years old and 8years old, to and from school daily.

On two separate occasions in June 2018, while she was driving the BMW i3, the passenger side door opened on its own. This similar incident happened not once but twice, and on both occasions, my younger son was sitting on the rear passenger seat, when the passenger side door opened on its own.

I contacted Performance Motors Singapore immediately and highlighted this safety issue to them, and Performance Motors Singapore took the car in for inspection to diagnose the problem, but I was subsequently informed that they were not able to determine what had caused the passenger side door to open on its own.

Performance Motors Singapore suggested that I take the car back and to highlight the issue to them when such problem arise again. Given what had happened, I am of the view that it is too risky to drive my BMW i3, and I do not want a situation where such a problem happens again.

Subsequently I was informed by Performance Motors Singapore they will get the door locks changed for both doors of my BMW i3, and I subsequently collected the car after the door locks were changed.

On 5 July 2018, my wife drove my son to school, and when she was there, the teacher assisted to open the passenger car door of my BMW i3, and the car door handle of the passenger side came loose and was detached.

After the incidents mentioned above, I have doubts about the safety of BMW i3 cars. This is unacceptable, and not what I had expected from BMW. I no longer have faith in the BMW i3 and will not put the lives of my family at risk. I cannot be certain that other parts of the car will not come loose.

Given the severity of the problem, I decided to write to BMW Headquarters at ‘[email protected]’ and ‘[email protected]’. I have received an email from ‘[email protected]’ that this is not the correct email to write to, but have not received any response from ‘[email protected]’.

Can anyone assist me on how else I can contact BMW and resolve this issue. Thank you.

Cheers,
MP

I think there were two problems:

1) Unexpected door opening - could be due to multiple causes including worn door latches and posts, front and rear door.

2) Handle coming off after repair - suggests a repair not properly completed.

I can't help on who to contact because every country has their own BMW group. I would probably start with a heart-to-heart conversation with the local dealer and follow-up. If you don't get satisfaction, a letter to BMW HQ would make sense.

Bob Wilson

mookus said:

On two separate occasions in June 2018, while she was driving the BMW i3, the passenger side door opened on its own.

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If any door or the hatch isn't latched securely, a door open icon and warning should be displayed on your instrument panel. Have you seen this icon and warning?

mookus said:

This similar incident happened not once but twice, and on both occasions, my younger son was sitting on the rear passenger seat, when the passenger side door opened on its own.

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To be clear, did the front or rear passenger door open? If the front door opened, the rear door should have remained securely closed. The rear door should not open without the front door being opened first, so I would think that your son in the rear seat would not have been in danger.

mookus said:

On 5 July 2018, my wife drove my son to school, and when she was there, the teacher assisted to open the passenger car door of my BMW i3, and the car door handle of the passenger side came loose and was detached.

Click to expand...

This is unfortunately a fairly common occurrence. Fortunately, it's due to a door handle attachment screw being loose. Tightening this attachment screw properly seems to fix the problem.

The front door latches to the rear one, so if the rear one is not fully closed properly, neither will the front. I've found that it requires a bit more aggressive action to ensure that the rear door on the i3 is properly latched than on some other cars. Keep in mind, unlike most cars, the i3 has two latches on the rear door...one at the bottom and a second one at the top. ONly when those are both properly engaged will the single latch for the front door be secure.

While it could be something else, first thing I'd play with is to give the rear door a solid push when closing. It can 'look' closed, but not be fully latched. The sensor system usually can detect that, but that could be out of alignment, so it wouldn't report the problem.

Other than getting that occasional warning, I've never had an issue with the doors latching. I usually am alone in the vehicle, so don't know if pressing on the door could have caused them to open, but I've never noticed that happening.

Oil your latches (there are 6 of them in total for the doors) so you know for sure they are fully seating/latching. I found that my dealership has never lubricated mine after 3 years. Made a world of difference adding a little lube!