Headlights coming on by themselves

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tlsallada

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
11
I am a new owner of the i3 with an unusual problem. At night when the vehicle is parked and locked, the headlight will come
'ON' by themselves. When I press the "LOCK' button on the remote, they will turn off and stay off. The headlight switch was in the 'A' automatic position initially but I've since put it in the 'OFF' position and they still come on by themselves.

It's a 2017 model with just over 24K on it. Any help will be appreciated!!
 
If they only come on when you are exiting your vehicle , its to light up the walkway, that's normal and can adjusted thru the idrive. By any chance are you leaving a spare key in the vehicle? Also check to see if all the previous owners driver profiles have been deleted.
 
No, the headlights come on hours after being parked in the driveway. The previous owner profiles were deleted and there are no key fobs left in the vehicle when it's parked.
 
Is the fob in your pocket when this happens? IF so, try leaving it on the counter or somewhere other than a pocket. If you look at the status on the Connected App, for chance is the car unlocked at the time?
 
I regularly have the key fob accidentally trigger buttons in my pocket. As jadnashuanh suggests, try leaving your keys on a counter or something to make sure it's not that.
 
SHortly after I bought mine, I found that the bare fob in my pocket could trigger the unlock button, and if held down, lower the windows, sometimes, just slightly. I bought BMW's fob cover (which someone recently said they stopped selling?) and installed it backwards on my fob to protect the buttons. With comfort access, I really don't need to ever press the buttons, but you still can, but it's harder. Lately, I've been getting the front hood popped, so that's a pain. Don't know if it's mal-adjusted, but I'm getting that button pressed. The headlights can come on, depending on what you've done with the fob. If you're lucky, it's that. But, it's easy to tell, just put it where you won't be pressing buttons for awhile and see if things change. FWIW, the actual headlight 'switch' is just a digital input to the computer. If you were to pull that switch panel out, you'd see the connections are probably 24-gauge wire, and nowhere near big enough to power headlights...moving the switch sends a signal to the computer, and it turns the lights on/off. Most things in the car are done that way. That's the reason why there's a delay when pressing the horn...press horn, send signal, decode signal, send signal to horn, horn turns on. A faster processor takes more power. Not saying it shouldn't be done, but it's the way it is, just like the lights and most other things in the car.
 
This happens late at night (Midnight to 5am) while the keys are hanging inside the house which is 100 feet from the vehicle. There's nothing touching the keyfobs so the keys aren't depressed.
 
I have another thought - is it possible the prior person who leased the vehicle could turn the headlights on via the Connected app ? I did delete the prior profiles from the vehicle. Is there a way to eliminate the prior connected app users (Short of hiring a hit man!!) .
 
tlsallada said:
...is it possible the prior person who leased the vehicle could turn the headlights on via the Connected app ?


Not likely? All I can do from my connected app is flash the headlights.
 
I know that when I bought my 2015, Connect was still connected to the previous owner somehow. We would occasionally get "appointment reminders" for appointments that definitely weren't ours.
 
You may want to contact BMWNA at 800-831-1117 and ask to have your name and address updated as the new owner of record. When I had some issues checking on my car's service and warranty info, this is what my local Dealer advised me to do.
 
Just wanted to follow up - Had the car into the local BMW dealer and they found two problems. The 12 volt battery was going bad and the left headlight was causing the battery to drain which somehow caused the lights to come on.
 
"Oh! That makes sense!"

...said no one ever.

Wow, I'm glad you got that sorted. That 12v battery is full of surprises.
 
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