2014 BMW i3 owner complaints

I was stopped at a stop sign and when I accelerated the rear of the car felt like it got rear ended. I walked around the car, nothing was wrong. It drove fine up to 40 MPH, then on the highway, it made a rrrr sound. The next day I found out that the engine mount bolt snapped.

Two issues: 1. Driving at highway speed of 65 MPH, with battery power drained, the rex (reserve engine) turns on. Suddenly, speed drops from 65 MPH to 40 MPH while on a 2-lane ca freeway, almost causing me to be rear-ended by traffic. One month later, same situation, same problem. 2. Manufacturer states a combined mileage range of 80 miles on battery, 60 miles on rex (reserve engine), for a combined range of 140 miles. I have never had more than 60 miles on battery and 40 miles on rex for a combined mileage of 100 miles, 40% less than BMW states, even though I use a professionally installed level 2 charger. Brought the car to the dealer to check these issues. The BMW dealer?s written findings: "car performed as designed; vehicle is epa rated to go 72 miles per charge in ideal condit

Tl* the contact owns a 2014 BMW i3. The contact purchased the vehicle used in june of 2019. In early august, a loud grinding noise was heard when the air conditioning was activated. While braking, the contact released the accelerator pedal and heard a thumping sound and the drive train malfunction indicator illuminated. The warning indicator instructed the contact to bring the vehicle to the dealer for service. The vehicle was taken to BMW seattle (1002 airport way s, seattle, wa 98134, (206) 829-5004) where it was diagnosed that the engine mount bracket fractured. The engine fell and pinched the high voltage cable, which caused the drive train malfunction warning message to appear. Since the vehicle was not under warranty, it would cost over $5,000 to repair. The failure mileage was 13,01

I've had to replace the engine motor mount bolts twice in 3 years

I am writing to bring to your attention a persistent issue I have been facing with my 2014 BMW i3, VIN: [XXX] . Unfortunately, I have been experiencing an airbag and/or seatbelt alert problem identified as "Driver Restraint System Malfunction" with the error code 930904 displayed on the dashboard. I have attached supporting documentation, including images and information from the BMW Service Bulletin, which clearly outlines that the error code 930904 is a known and routine problem for my specific vehicle model, thus a Service Bulletin was issued by BMW, as you can see attached from BMW’s website. It has come to my attention, through online forums and discussions within the BMW i3 community, that others have successfully resolved this issue under the terms of the service bulletin, but for s

I am writing regarding an ongoing issue I am having with BMW North America and their dealerships concerning a faulty airbag in my 2014 BMW i3 electric vehicle (VIN #: [XXX] ). On multiple occasions in October 2023, BMW North America informed me that the "Driver Restraint System Malfunction" alert in my vehicle could be repaired under a Service Action extension (code SIB010818/DC3234908400) that covers airbag issues in vehicles under 10 years old and 100,000 miles. See pictures of the issue/alert on dash attached. However, when I brought my vehicle to two local BMW dealerships (in Rochester and Syracuse, NY), they either claimed the Service Action code did not exist or that I would need to pay a diagnostic fee of $250 AND $1,800 to fix the airbag and seatbelt issue out of pocket, despite

Passenger seat sensor would fail to detect a passenger after drive lasting 20 minutes or more. The passenger air bag will not deploy in this state because no fault codes are registered in the seat sensor or anywhere else. BMW claims that this caused by "cell phone interference" and it "can never be fixed" but has replaced my seat sensor with a totally redesigned seat sensor. No one can explain why the "cell phone interference" line was used or why the seat sensor was redesigned. I presume my car is fixed with the new redesigned mat but other 2014 i3s may not be. This issue would occur in motion or while stationary, on city or highway streets. This issue would also occur *without* cell phones in the car. Once the issue occurs, the airbag would not come on again unless the car was left

The BMW i3 electric vehicle that comes with a range extender has a critical hazardous design flaw. It cannot consistently power the vehicle to maintain a safe speed when driving on a moderate incline for a reasonable period. In other words, you may be driving on a california freeway and run out of electric charge and the range extender will kick in. Everything is fine until you approach a hilly area. As the car ascends the incline it starts to reduce speed. So before you were going the same safe speed as the surrounding traffic now you start to slow down. 70, 65, 60, things start getting scary as cars start passing you on both sides, 55, 50 45, now it's really scary and very dangerous as cars are passing you going 70+ MPH. By this time you are desperately trying to get to the sl

In several occasion, a drive train malfunction while I was driving in the city. A "drive train malfunction" lights up and car stops and will not shift into gear again. I turned off the car for a minute then on again, the light disappeared. This happened twice. The third time I started up my car and the light appeared again and this time the light remained and the car is immobilized. It is very odd that a drive train is malfunctioned after only 39,000 miles. I have learned that most of the drive train on the i3 are often malfunction and is expensive to repair. I have a 2014 base model and was told that it has gone out of warranty because the 5 years came before the 50,000 miles.

While driving the vehicle suddenly jerked and lost all power while in motion on a city street. I can't imagine what would have happened if I was on the freeway with traffic. The message on the screen in my car stated drivetrain malfunction stop and turn off engine do not continue to drive call roadside assistance.

The carbon fiber roof is delaminating and a portion of it came off and hit the front windshield of another car, causing them to partially lose control of their vehicle almost causing an accident. This is a known issue BMW has not taken an action to resolve it. I’m afraid that a larger chunk may hit somebody’s car and cause a severe accident.

A large portion of the car's hood (carbon laminate?) has ripped off and is surely to continue to tear and fly off while driving.

Roof is bubbling showing signs of delamination. Structural integrity is in question. I believe it is due to the carbon fiber epoxy material degrading due to sunlight exposure.

While pulling onto the road my car started pulling strongly towards the left and was very hard to steer. It had very heavy difficult steering. It felt absolutely different than anything I've felt in the two years of ownership. I pulled into a parking lot and 'googled' i3 difficult steering and came across multiple forum posts and discussion of this issue. It appears the i3 power steering can randomly stop working and then returns with an ignition cycle. I locked the car, went in a store for 5 minutes, and normal steering resumed when I drove away. One becomes used to the way their car drives when they drive it every day. When all of a sudden the steering changes drastically it seems it can be an alarming and potentially dangerous situation.

Intermittently, the power steering does not come on when the car is turned on. Steering is heavy and slow. Turning the car off and back on generally corrects this fault. It has happened several times over the past year. I documented below approximately the date of the first event.

BMW are manufacturing newer model tires for their i3 . These tires are very narrow compared to other cars that get easily worn out . The tire tread readings show that they are below safety level, within 12k miles of driving. They are very unstable and can be a risk factor while driving on the roads. *tr

December 6th, 0650, I drove down the ready ave nw in fort walton beach fl. I was driving normal - speed limit 35 - when I drove over a huge cutout on the road because there were no warning signs, no cones - nothing. Just a big hole in the middle of the street. Front right tire got severe damage from that cutout on a road and my car needed alignment after replacement because it was pulling to the right.my child was in a hospital and I had to go couple days after to take a picture. The cutout was covered and filled. I took pictures of evidences. I am looking to find out who is responsible for this cut out and cost of my tire damage/replacement and alignment. Receipts show all 4 tires with discounts. The cost from that for one tire is $270.76 and I want to be reimbursed at least for that

Tl* the contact owns a 2014 BMW i3. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 55 MPH, the cruise control warning light illuminated. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1,000.

I went to leave work. Upon turning the car on I noticed 3 warnings appear which required me to read them and acknowledge them. They were all related to the auto braking/pedestrian warning system. Driving home the vehicle was driving strange. I noticed that the steering wheel was turned slightly counterclockwise versus normal when driving straight. The car was responding strange when the drivers side hit a dip or rise in the road. The rear end felt "looser" than normal. When I got home I parked it and called the local BMW dealer. They arranged for a tow. Once the car got there they put it up on a lift, they called and informed me that the left rear "control arm" (caster link) was broken into 2 pieces. The car was BMW inspected and certified pre-owned, with only 9k miles and a clea