traction/DSC warning light after running down to 2 miles range

Hi All, has anyone had warnin lights displaying after running the battery down to 1% remaining?

The message 'initialisation of stability system ' and the skid marks icon is showing after I reach 6mph.
In the 'Settings' main menu I can see traction ticked as 'Normal' but below that is the skidmarks icon with the word 'off' below it.

The ABS, regen coasting and anti-wheelspin seems to be working. I tested this by switching to the hidden 'roller' mode and doing a bit of Ken Block driving to compare.

I hope it just needs the warning light resetting- does anyone know how to do this without taking it to BMW dealer?

First thing to do is to double-check the air pressure in all of your tires. That logic is triggered when there is a difference in rotational speed on the wheels that could be caused by sliding because of poor traction, grabby brakes (unlikely), or the pressure lower than the others. Once you've checked and adjusted that, if it needs it, reset the TPMS so it can correctly monitor for drops in the pressure.

I don't think you can run the battery down to 1%. I believe the car shuts down around 4% state of charge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
What Jim said about tire pressure and resetting TPMS is correct but I'm not sure what you're seeing if you're really running the SOC down to 1%.
Now, if you're running the car down to 2 miles range remaining (which means you probably have 5-6% SOC), then follow Jim's advice.

1% indicated, is still about 10%, but BMW won't let you use that amount to prevent damage to the batteries. IOW, there should still be enough power to run all of the computers, but not run the HVAC (which would already have been shutdown), or propel the car very far or fast.

If it's not the tire pressure, the only other thing I can think of is that maybe something is funky, and you're seeing the result of that module resetting (like when you first turn the car on...it turns on various fault indicators as part of self-test.

theothertom said:

I don't think you can run the battery down to 1%. I believe the car shuts down around 4% state of charge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

I've driven mine to 2% (4km left) to see what would happen. I was near a DC fast charger at the time (on purpose). I can report that other than the HVAC shutting down, and the battery bars all going orange, not much else happened. I wasn't going fast though so I'd imagine it would have limited that. But the range guess-o-meter was pretty much spot on from the moment I started my journey with a full battery.

nitramluap said:

theothertom said:

I don't think you can run the battery down to 1%. I believe the car shuts down around 4% state of charge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

I've driven mine to 2% (4km left) to see what would happen. I was near a DC fast charger at the time (on purpose). I can report that other than the HVAC shutting down, and the battery bars all going orange, not much else happened. I wasn't going fast though so I'd imagine it would have limited that. But the range guess-o-meter was pretty much spot on from the moment I started my journey with a full battery.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Since you're "not in the USA" perhaps your car is coded differently than mine which is in the USA. In any event, thanks for the follow up.

theothertom said:

Interesting. Since you're "not in the USA" perhaps your car is coded differently than mine which is in the USA. In any event, thanks for the follow up.

Click to expand...

It's a BEV not a Rex so perhaps that might explains it? No idea.

I suspect if I tried to accelerate enthusiastically it would have refused and the maximum speed would have surely been curtailed... but it didn't stop.

When I did stop the car it gave a warning that it should be charged ASAP to avoid it running 'below zero' (on the gauge) while parked doing nothing.

nitramluap said:

theothertom said:

Interesting. Since you're "not in the USA" perhaps your car is coded differently than mine which is in the USA. In any event, thanks for the follow up.

Click to expand...

It's a BEV not a Rex so perhaps that might explains it? No idea.

Click to expand...

Maybe. I don't know either. Maybe someone else will chime in

FWIW, if you've run the gas out of a REx, both it and a BEV will function the same when the battery runs down.

thanks for the input, I run my tyres at 50psi and check them regularly (watching for any uneven tread wear).
I've done 1200 miles with the higher pressures.
I lowered the car with -30mm eibach springs about 200 miles ago.

The warning light could be linked to the sensors not receiving expected values due to those mods, but the extreme low battery might have been the catalyst for the 'puter to say 'that's it something's wrong'.

My car's still within warranty, it's booked in at the local BMW dealership next Friday.
The aftermarket springs shouldn't void the warranty. I bought two i3s from them so I hope they won't be awkward.

I don't think I've ever looked...but, what is the max pressure marking on the sidewalls of the tires? While yes, you might get slightly better mileage off of the batteries, the actual tire footprint and therefore traction would be lower when it comes to cornering or starting or stopping. It could be that given the power of the i3's motor, and the high tire pressure, they are indeed slipping slightly on high acceleration. Many people thing the ride is already rough, bumping up the tire pressure certainly won't help.

jadnashuanh said:

While yes, you might get slightly better mileage off of the batteries, the actual tire footprint and therefore traction would be lower when it comes to cornering or starting or stopping.

Click to expand...

This.

I run 2.3 bar (33 psi) at the front and 2.8 (40 psi) at the rear (19" rims) as recommended by BMW.

If any of you have tried driving your i3 in 'roller' mode (traction, ABS, dsc and regen braking off), you'll be surprised how hard you have push the limits to lose traction on a dry road.
On very loose surfaces, snow or 'road like a river' I'm sure you'll get some spinning and sliding.
I've been a streetbike stunter for ten years and it taught me a lot about traction limits with a small contact patch of rubber- I was pleased to learn the i3's low CofG means its limits aren't the same as steel cars.

I'll let you know how the high pressure work out in emergency situations- but I hope the DSC is fixed when/if that day comes

KolorMeCarbon said:

thanks for the input, I run my tyres at 50psi and check them regularly (watching for any uneven tread wear).
I've done 1200 miles with the higher pressures.

Click to expand...

You're REALLY close to the maximum safe pressure allowed (at least on mine, that's 51psi at maximum load). If your gauge is slightly off, you could easily be over, and, if you filled them on a cold day, and tomorrow it was hotter, you could easily exceed that maximum safe pressure. Excessive pressure means that the car's suspension cannot react as designed, and an impact is more likely to damage the tire. There's a middle zone where it can act like a spring, and where it is too soft and deflects too much, or is too rigid and can break something (which could include the rim).

Closure on this thread, I had the warning light diagnosed at the local BMW dealer.
The service was excellent, and as an unexpected bonus they reset the warning light under the warranty, even though it was caused by the -30mm springs giving readings the DSC sensor didn't compute.

The low battery condition triggered the warning because it was one of the systems that is turned down when the car's at its limit to conserve battery power.

Good to know. BTW it has absolutely nothing to do with the lowering springs, because the right height in this car is not related to the stability control in any way. But at least the dealer was fair enough to not charge you for a simple reset of the steering angle sensor. It is usually done bu turning the steering wheel to full left, then full right, then back to the center.

that's a more logical explanation.
The BEV rode higher than my wife's ReX, the lowering only took it down to about -10mm different to her car.
If it'd been on the bump-stops with radical camber, then maybe the geom would affect sensor.