CRASH .... oh. no.

Well not really a crash. After a successful trip to London I hit the M4 home, then started hearing a rattling from the rear, VERY rattly like gravel in a box!
Carried on for a bit and the rattle got no better. Stopped at services and had a look round the back... the glass panel was shattered and bits had dropped though into the tailgate frame and were rattling about. What! Had a stone hit the rear? Had it been badly installed and just shattered? Looked OK to carry on so drove home.

On my drive I opened the boot to get my stuff out, upon closing the glass just exploded into bits with the lights hanging on their wires!
On a proper inspection I spotted damage to the rear left wing edge, looked suspiciously like the bumper hight of a lorry, all I can guess is something had hit the back wing and edge of the glass light panel in London and then cleared off. Unless you went in the boot you'd never spot a problem, and I didn't.

As I'd parked in two places in London I gave the details to insurance company as surely CCTV would have got the culprit, guess what? Nothing!
In West London there were no camera in either spot I parked!! So I'm stuffed and will have to pay my excess with no chance of getting it back!

Not happy.

Anyway if anyone was is London on Friday 29th and spotted my Grey i3 (you can see my plate) getting rubbed by a truck PM me with details - let's see if the hive mind can get my excess back!

You can see damage to rear wing edge in this pic - way higher than any car could reach.

This is no fun to deal with, especially a new car--I empathize with your pain!

This raises a concern that the rear glass is a bit too fragile :?

Ouch !

Not a pretty sight. And the culprit gone and all. Hope you'll get it sorted quickly.

Regards, Steven

elptex said:

This raises a concern that the rear glass is a bit too fragile :?

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Why on earth would BMW use non-transparent, heavy, fragile glass there instead of the lightweight durable plastic like they use on the sides and bumpers? That seems like idiocy to me.

i3Alan said:

elptex said:

This raises a concern that the rear glass is a bit too fragile :?

Click to expand...

Why on earth would BMW use non-transparent, heavy, fragile glass there instead of the lightweight durable plastic like they use on the sides and bumpers? That seems like idiocy to me.

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It does look nice...

This just makes it seem like any rear-end collision will result in a comparatively expensive replacement of that glass.

elptex said:

i3Alan said:

elptex said:

This raises a concern that the rear glass is a bit too fragile :?

Click to expand...

Why on earth would BMW use non-transparent, heavy, fragile glass there instead of the lightweight durable plastic like they use on the sides and bumpers? That seems like idiocy to me.

Click to expand...

It does look nice...

This just makes it seem like any rear-end collision will result in a comparatively expensive replacement of that glass.

Click to expand...

Based on my insurance quote, it doesn't surprise me. My company wants 23% more to insure my i3 than my Lexus RX450h. Both vehicles MSRP cost are very close to actually the Lexus costing more based on the "base price".

That is terrible bad luck very sorry to see on new car.

That is awful. What a shame the rear view camera can't be activated to record when contact is made.

elptex said:

It does look nice...

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It is beautiful, with the lack of seams around the tail lights. However, it goes against the philosophy BMW promotes for the car by adding quite a bit of weight. It also adds to the initial cost and to repair costs. And, it could have been done with similar effect with plastic, just like the plastic lens cover for the headlights, which might have cost a bit more, but would have been much more durable and less likely to ever need repairing.

Agreed, I'd love to know the answer, it's a question that had occurred to me before the OP's misfortune. Any ideas?

That looks nasty, you have my sympathy. Any idea how long it will take for BMW to source the parts?

i3Alan said:

However, it goes against the philosophy BMW promotes for the car by adding quite a bit of weight. It also adds to the initial cost and to repair costs. And, it could have been done with similar effect with plastic, just like the plastic lens cover for the headlights, which might have cost a bit more, but would have been much more durable and less likely to ever need repairing.

Click to expand...

Ah great point, I missed the weight point on your first comment. 100% agree--achieve the same with plastic.

I am very surprised that BMW went for a fragile rear end.
For crash protection, generally speaking, the fronts of cars are crumpleable, whereas the rears are made very strong to resist rear-end impacts. A shatterable element is the exact opposite of very strong once it's shattered!

elptex said:

This just makes it seem like any rear-end collision will result in a comparatively expensive replacement of that glass.

Click to expand...

My old Volvo C30 had a glass tailgate and that never gave any trouble, but it was well protected and it was designed to collapse into the back of the car rather than project shards of glass into the cabin when the car was rear-ended.
It looks like this i3 was side-swiped and the glass bowed i.e. was compressed and then shattered. A polycarbonate replacement would be an improvement.

Insurance repair place just picked it up and dropped off a Polo for me, feels very cheap in side after the i3!

No idea on repair time as yet. However the online parts sites seem to show BMW only sell the tailgate as a complete unit. Prices seem to be around the £400 $600 mark for the whole unit including glass rear window.
Looking at mine it seems like the glass light panel is bonded heavily to the plastic tailgate frame and would be a pig to take off and re-bond.
http://realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=1Z22&mospid=56088&hg=41&fg=60

There are lots of cars these days with the glass back end - BMW is slightly better than most as the rear screen is separate to the lower glass panel Volvo, VW, Seat, Toyota to name a few, all extend a single piece rear window down to bumper level. Not ideal for those 'parking rubs' that touch the glass edge, as looks to be the case with mine.

Agree on the weight and fragility issue, I suppose the glass just looks good and doesn't scratch.

Without the glass I might not have noticed the damage for a while, not sure if that's a good thing, it does look quite catastrophic!

This pic was it before I opened and closed the tailgate, some glass had already started to fall off around the lights when we'd opened and closed the doors getting out.



Lights secured!

That cost doesn't seem too bad. Many years ago the hatch on one of our Saab 900s was slightly damaged by someone trying and failing to force the lock, probably with a screwdriver. The whole hatch had to be replaced and if I remember correctly the cost was much the same.

Finally got the car back today! Nice to drive it again, spoke to the assessor bloke and they put on;

Near rear left body panel
Complete rear tailgate (only comes as complete unit)
Couple of badges
Some paint work

Assessor told me the rear tailgate was £600 and was the reason it took so long as there was 1 in UK when they priced up, when they got insurance go ahead it was gone and had to order in from Germany.

Anyway, glad to be back on electric!