Windows wound down in a downpour!

[FrancisJeffries]

Has anyone suffered from this? A neighbour called and told me that my windows are down and it was pouring! I closed them straight away, but the car was soaked inside.
Then, It happened again overnight in a deluge while i was asleep. Again it was soaked inside and took days to dry out.
I was told that if I pressed for a long time on the unlock button on the fob, the windows wind down. The BMW dealers said all BMW's have that "benefit", but the workshop can disable it.
So I took it in, and they did the firmware mod to disable it. But it didn't work! Long presses on the unlock button still wind the windows down.
The workshop is taking advice from BMW and will let me know when they can fix it.

 

[Stevei3]

Hi Francis,

that is unfortunate and rather disturbing... Some other drivers have reported this earlier. Usually, the keyfob was deemed the culprit.
Please keep us posted.

Regards, Steven

 

[I33t]

So is the car doing this itself or are you sitting on the fob or something?

 

[TomMoloughney]

Yes, unfortunately I have had a few people tell me about this. It is indeed the long press of the unlock button. All BMWs have this feature and I've heard of it happening with other models also but it seems like it's happening more with the i3 because of the key fob design. It has never happened to me but I have the BMW i key fob cover. I really don't know it that makes any difference though but you may want to give it try just in case it does help.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The unlock button seems to be way too close to the edge of the FOB for me and I had a few occasions of the car being unlocked and a couple where the windows were (only partially - must not have been pressed as long) down. I have never had that issue with other fobs, but they all seem to have had the unlock button further in from the edge.

Since I have comfort access, I bought the key cover, and installed the fob in it with the buttons covered. I have not had an issue since, so it must have been unintentionally hitting the silly button.

As an aside...the blue plastic case seems to glow in the dark! Makes finding it easier. Don't know how long it glows after exposure to light, but it's awhile. A lot of money for a fairly simple piece of plastic, but in my case, it solved my problem. Of course, it really shouldn't have been a problem in the first place...poor design in my view.

 

[FrancisJeffries]

I can't be sure that I didn't press on the unlock button, of course. But the windows weren't all the way down, so I probably did.
But the really worrying thing is that the garage couldn't disable the facility. They thought they would be able to do so.

 

[jadnashuanh]

It doesn't surprise me that the dealers do not know how, or even if it is possible, to disable that function. You may need to search for someone that does custom programming for the i3. There's a FaceBook group that has been established that is doing that, and they've posted some instructions. I haven't searched it out. Keep in mind that if you go that route, with a new vehicle s/w update, you may need to redo any customization that you've previously done. I found that the fob cover solved my problem and was quick and easy. I feel it was a problem that should not have occurred, but, the solution wasn't drastic or expensive.

It takes a fairly long press to get it to respond by opening the windows, and only a momentary one to get the doors to unlock. What would indicate an error was if the windows were down, but the doors were locked. Well, on second thought, maybe not. THere's logic in there that if you do not actually open a door after unlocking, that it relocks them after a delay. I do not remember if that's something you can configure on the I-drive menus or not.

 

[ultraturtle]

There's logic in there that if you do not actually open a door after unlocking, that it relocks them after a delay. I do not remember if that's something you can configure on the I-drive menus or not.

It is a user selectable option in the i-Drive menu.