Window pop out in high winds

Last Sunday on the freeway I was traveling between 65 - 75 mph. I had a front/side wind (direction -- passenger front towards driver rear) at approximately 40 -50 mph.

The inside of the vehicle kept feeling like it was pressurizing and then the driver window would pop out of its top track. I would then roll down the window and back up again to reseat. This happened four or five times until I just left the window slightly open until I got out of the wind.

Has anyone ever experienced this? And how would you recreate to have someone fix, if there is a fix.

FWIW, the i3 has frameless windows on the front doors...i.e., there is no top track.

Are you saying that the rubber gasket got sucked outside of the glass, rather than the glass sitting on it and compressing it?

MorfManx said:

...and then the driver window would pop out of its top track. Has anyone ever experienced this?

Click to expand...

Hi,

alas, this happens to me regularly, but only at gale force 10 or about. The window away from the wind gets sucked from its rubber seal. The top seals are going to be replaced when our i3 goes in for its 2 year service next week. I have no idea if this wil alleviate the issue. We'll see...

Regards, Steven

I have the same problem. Opening and closing (for a moment) fixes the problem. Seems like the structure isn't capable of holding its seal under high pressure.

Well, it's really high negative pressure that causes the problem usually. Common on cars with frameless glass.

One reason the glass on BMW doors drops down when opening is to relieve some of the pressure of the glass to the seals. Otherwise, it would be a greater strain on both the glass and the support structure. ANd, it would be harder to close the door against the resiliency of the seals. Aerodynamics can be optimized for forward motion, but is much harder with sidewinds, eddy currents, gusting winds, etc. that can cause pressure drops. Without measuring, I'd guess the area of the window is about 450sqin...a 0.1#/sqin pressure drop would be the same as pulling on the glass with 45#. You can exceed that while driving at speed. YOu can only apply so much pressure to the glass against the seals before things start to break. I've had this happen on other cars with frameless glass on the doors, and don't experience it much with my i3.

It doesn't happen often. Reading these posts actually make me feel better about it and that it can potentially happen. Noticed it only on highway speeds usually with no shelter and of course a certain (strong) direction of wind.

BMW actually looked into this during one of the services and re-calibrated the window mechanism.

Thank you all for your responses. I will be sure to have BMW check on my next service.

Hi guys,

my rubbers have been replaced. Let's wait and see if it helps. FWIW: I've been told by my agent that they've received a directive from BMW that the rubbers of cars with this issue are to be exchanged.

Regards, Steven