Artificial Noise on 2021 i3

[Threeuser]

I am just replacing my 2017 i3 Rex with a 2021 i3. It has an artificial noise generator. I believe it was an option. Does anyone know how to switch it off?

 

[Threeuser]

BTW. It is a storm trooper and I bought it on 4 May. IYKYK.

 

[mojo]

It depends where you are. In many countries you cannot legally turn off the pedestrian warning sound - it is after all there for the benefit of pedestrians, and not for the benefit of the driver.

If you are in a territory where it is a mandatory requirement, there will be no option within Idrive to turn it off. It should still be possible to turn it off by coding, but you need to bear in mind that this may have insurance implications in some countries.

 

[wjsi327]

My 2018 i3 lease was totally quiet, thankfully. But when I switched to a 2021 lease (which I have now purchased) I noticed the warning noise as a low but obvious rumble. Now, 3 years later, I hardly hear it. You may not have the same experience but I’m I longer bothered by it.

 

[eNate]

I would encourage you to let it be -- it's been mandated for a purpose.

"Data from 32bn miles of battery-powered car travel and 3tn miles of petrol and diesel car trips showed that mile-for-mile electric and hybrid cars were twice as likely to hit pedestrians than fossil fuel-powered cars, and three times more likely to do so in urban areas."

This is from data collected before the widespread use of pedestrian acoustic warning systems in Europe and the US. The study is not definitive as to the reason(s), but from observation I have to assume that EV stealth is a leading factor. I can certainly name a time when my young son and I would have been on the receiving end of a silent EV.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/a...-pedestrians-than-petrol-vehicles-study-finds

 

[Simoni3]

Yeh, have had peeps listen and then x the road, Darwin genes I recon

I love my quiet car, drive it with care, I'd def disable the noise

My wife's Zoe makes a nasty humming noise when driving slowly, easy to switch off

 

[eNate]

I drive with care, too. In my silent 2017 it was annoying how often on my quiet residential street pedestrians simply had no Idea I was behind them, and this isn't isn't the sort of situation where I'd go tooting my horn.

Here's the reality as I see it: regardless of fault, if I tamper with my acoustic warning system, and a pedestrian steps out in front of me, and I have zero opportunity to react, and they're gravely injured or killed, I'd not only have to live with that on my conscious, but also with the threat of one good personal injury attorney connecting the dots and eating my lunch. Certainly, if I or any of my family or friends faced a similar injury vs. an EV, that's something I would inquire about.

I would recommend not being so blasé about disconnecting it.

 

[robthebold]

Yeh, have had peeps listen and then x the road, Darwin genes I recon

I've been hit by a car. The concussion caused personality changes for several months. Don't know if the driver made a habit of driving with care or not, I don't have any recollection of the actual incident.

 

[Slithica]

Parents forgot to teach their children to look both ways before crossing the street.

I love my silent i3s. If mine made noise I would have to remove it. If people literally walk out in front of a vehicle without looking it's entirely their fault.

It's not like vehicles are just sneaking around and not on obviously paved roads. I mean, what are they... squirrels?

 

[robthebold]

Parents forgot to teach their children to look both ways before crossing the street.

I love my silent i3s. If mine made noise I would have to remove it. If people literally walk out in front of a vehicle without looking it's entirely their fault.

It's not like vehicles are just sneaking around and not on obviously paved roads. I mean, what are they... squirrels?

That's . . . quite disturbing.

 

[eNate]

I mean, what are they... squirrels?

That's not fair to squirrels. They're low to the ground, and can see around the tires of 5-foot tall parked vehicles. They're impossibly quick with a honed prey instinct. Their field of vision is over 300° and sharp. Their hearing is thought to be better than 2x that of humans. And if one makes a bad call and ends up in front of your moving vehicle, there's an 80% chance the vehicle will pass right over it and it'll live to bury another acorn.

... and yet given all those advantages over your typical 7 year old or distracted mother, we still see squished squirrels in the street.

 

[Slithica]

"and yet given all those advantages over your typical 7 year old or distracted mother"
Don't let small children play in the streets... duh? At that point it doesn't matter if the vehicle is making noise. Small children that are running into streets without looking won't notice the noise anyway.

If they did they wouldn't get hit in the first place. It's an invalid argument.

Your "think of the children" argument is almost always invalid and made in bad faith.

 

[eNate]

That's a me-me car centric mindset that you're entitled to, but I suppose the point of me replying isn't to convince you, but to offer a counterpoint to the dozens or hundreds of other readers who stumble across this thread, plus the occasional squirrel..

Yes humans walk run play cross and step into our paved streets – imperfect humans who have been told to "look both ways" but have been trained through experience to rely on their ears and are guilty of making a bad decision. If you've concluded they're not worth living – correct me if I'm wrong? – then so be it, but to me it seems rather heartless (not to mention financially imprudent).

 

[robthebold]

"and yet given all those advantages over your typical 7 year old or distracted mother"
Don't let small children play in the streets... duh? At that point it doesn't matter if the vehicle is making noise. Small children that are running into streets without looking won't notice the noise anyway.

If they did they wouldn't get hit in the first place. It's an invalid argument.

Your "think of the children" argument is almost always invalid and made in bad faith.

The city nerd guy made a youtube video on huge pickup trucks and got a lot of this noise in the comments, but I sure didn't expect that here.

 

[Dutchi3]

I have hit a bicycle rider once, when there were only a few electric cars around. It was at night, with street lighting on. I drove on a priority city road and the poor fellow came from the right on a bicycle lane and had to give priority. He did not have any lighting on his bike and his brakes did not function well. I did not see him coming because of the lack of lighting on his bike and when the poor youngster saw me, he tried to brake, I made an emergency stop but he nevertheless ended up on my car. He broke his arm and I brought him to his parents in the neighborhood and called an ambulance. I was not liable, but it was a bad experience. Since then I am extra careful with people that I assume that they do not hear me. I must also state that there are a lot of ICE cars that are very quiet, especially when new. From a certain speed you hear only the noise of the tyres when they pass by, like with an electric car. Yet those ICE cars do not require an artificial noise, so I am not in favor of it per se.

 

[Slithica]

It's no different to me than sticking a fork in an outlet. It's the parents jobs to prevent that and it doesn't mean the outlets need to be changed. I means the parents need to be changed.

If an adult is stupid enough to do it, it's on them.

That's legally how it is as well. At least in the USA. Society has expectations for people. If we design society around the worst, everyone else suffers.

Also, as you stated ICE vehicles don't have this and most of the newer ones and some older ice vehicles are so quiet that you can't even tell they're running.

It's an imagined concern. Just like europe designing hoods to be "pedestrian safe". I'm not saying that we should have no regard for pedestrians or children. I'm saying there is a limit and that personal responsibility trumps this specific scenario.

 

[JohnnyCakes]

Could we pleas return to the OP's question? He's not asking for a moral assessment of his choices. He'd like to know whether the artificial noise can be disabled.

I have a 2015, which is completely silent, but nevertheless I'm interested to whether and how the artificial noise could be defeated in more recent models.

 

[mojo]

As I said in the third post, it depends on where you are and the legal position there. If it's legal to turn it off then (as I understand it) there will be an option in iDrive that allows the driver to turn it off. If it's not legally permissible in your jurisdiction then there will be no such option available, and the only way to disable it would be to physically disconnect it (I would expect you will get a fault warning continually on the dash if so) or to code it out with something like BimmerCode.

 

[Slithica]

As I said in the third post, it depends on where you are and the legal position there. If it's legal to turn it off then (as I understand it) there will be an option in iDrive that allows the driver to turn it off. If it's not legally permissible in your jurisdiction then there will be no such option available, and the only way to disable it would be to physically disconnect it (I would expect you will get a fault warning continually on the dash if so) or to code it out with something like BimmerCode.

I have provided the method to disable it.

 

[chucki3]

That's . . . quite disturbing.

I agree, Rob. It's especially important for those on a bike. I depend a lot on my hearing to sense autos behind me. And I'm not always in a marked bike lane!
I seek a low-level noise maker or a low-level manual noise maker for my i3.