Cannot turn off alarm (with dog inside). 2014 i3

New owner here of i3.

I sometimes need to lock my dog in the car. From what I read in the manual once I lock it with the fob, then within ten seconds if I press it again it should stay locked though without the alarm on. Otherwise everytime he moves the alarm goes off.
Have I understood it correctly?
I've tried a few times and it doesn't seem to work.

Also what does LIM mean on the dashboard? It says LIM 76. Cannot find it in a search in the manual.

Thanks in advance.

Your "new" car had at least one, and possibly more than one previous owner. One of them may have "coded" the car with an app called BimmerCODE to change how the Key Fob works. You did not say where in the world you were, but in the USA the Connected Services are no longer available for the 2014-2016 model years.

Owners who liked to remotely pre-heat the cabin in cold weather using the BMW app were out of luck, so they would use the Coding app to change the Lock button on the FOB so when you clicked it twice, it would start pre-heating the cabin of the car. I don't think that feature and disabling the interior alarm feature could co-exist. One or the other. They never put it back to factory settings when they sold the car. That's my guess.

Hmm. Does that mean I'm basically out of luck, if that's the case? Yes, USA.

In lieu/or in addition, is there a way to turn off the entire alarm system for good? This is actually my preference.

Or what if I got a new fob? Would this work?

Turia said:

Hmm. Does that mean I'm basically out of luck, if that's the case? Yes, USA.

Click to expand...

"Codiing" is merely changing the values of parameters that affect various behaviors and so is reversible. This could be done with the BimmerCode smartphone app (~$40 in your favorite app store) used in conjunction with an OBD to WiFi or Bluetooth adapter (~$25 and up at Amazon) that plugs into the data port below the dashboard to the left of the steering column.

However, I'm not convinced that the behavior of the fob buttons has been changed because the only options are short, medium, and long button presses; there's no "press the button twice" mode. The alarm system must be responding to 2 short presses within 10 seconds to disarm the motion sensor.

Make sure that you're following the procedure to turn off the motion sensor. After locking the doors with the fob, press the lock button on the fob again within 10 seconds (short press). The red light below the rear view mirror should illuminate for 2 seconds before resuming its normal flashing when the alarm is armed.

Turia said:

In lieu/or in addition, is there a way to turn off the entire alarm system for good? This is actually my preference.

Click to expand...

I'm not aware of any supported way to disable the alarm permanently. It is controlled solely by whether the doors are locked.

Turia said:

Or what if I got a new fob? Would this work?

Click to expand...

Replacing the fob wouldn't help and would drain your wallet (~$400!). Used fobs cannot be programmed to work with your car, so you would need to order a new fob from BMW.

Thanks for your reply, Art.

Well I've tried again, numerous times, and it just doesn't work.

Do you think if I take it to a dealer they will be able to sort it out?

as for LIM, I believe it is referencing SPEED LIMIT, so look up SPEED LIMIT INFO in your manual.
I have not used this so I can't really help any further. You should be able to toggle it on/off though.

Ok, thank you, Evanston. Will look it up.

EvanstonI3 said:

as for LIM, I believe it is referencing SPEED LIMIT, so look up SPEED LIMIT INFO in your manual.

Click to expand...

I've not set a speed limit, either, but I'm guessing that's what "LIM" indicates. A speed limit can be set or unset in Eco Pro mode.

I don't know what to advise when being unable to turn off the alarm motion sensor. Does the red light below the rearview mirror illuminate for a couple of seconds after pressing the fob lock button a second time as it's documented to do? I don't know what would happen if you disconnected the alarm siren although it contains its own battery. Some sort of error message might be displayed.

I hate to take our i3 to a BMW dealer because I know that doing so could be expensive. If there's a BMW owners group in your area, you might ask for their assistance.

Yeah, Art. I hate to take it to the dealer also, but not sure what else to do.
I have to be able to lock the dog in the car from time to time.

The light does not change at all with the second clicking. Or third or fourth!
If I could take the battery out from the alarm I would def. do that.

Access the fuse box that is UNDER the passenger side glove box. No tools needed, just 2 hand twist knobs to release it.
It will fold down and you will see this:



look for the brown 5amp fuse where the arrow is pointing and remove it. See if that cuts the alarm.
There is a paper "map" of the fuses in there but the fuse box is "upside down" when viewing it.

Oh my, Evanston. Ok! I can't get to this today but will try this week.

THANK YOU. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi Evanston,

I was able to get into the fuse box but cannot see the way to remove the fuse.

Thanks!

There is a Red Plastic "grabber" tool for you to use on the left side of the fuse box. See yellow circle:

Ok, will try that.

Thank you.

Evanston, you are marvelous.

It took a little bit of gymnastics (wish I had a photo) to get to it all, but the deed is done.
I just hope that's the only thing it's connected to and not some vital organ of the machinery.

Testing right now, doing some errands with the pup.

Thanks again!

PS: Seems to have undone the passenger airbag. At least am getting that warning on the dash.