Bmw i3 acoustic pedestrian warning failure

[kkbmwi3]

Hello all,

I would like to ask for your advise - how can I resolve the issue with the warning failure for the acoustics pedestrian.
My BMW was serviced by the official service and they note that my external speaker is not working which cause a warning messages in my vehicle.
I read few articles and what I can see is that most of the people are trying to stop this speaker due to the annoying sound, meanwhile the replacement cost of the speaker turns out to be more than what I expect.
As result - I would like to find a way not to replace it and also to delete the warning (attached photo).
Do you know a way how to delete successfully this warning using the bimmer code or bimmer link. (Now I have both of them).

I tried to delete the errors - but this one for the speaker is still there.

 

[mojo]

Do you know for sure that it's legal to disable it? In some states/countries it's a legal requirement, depending on year of manufacture, and it may make it impossible to get the vehicle certified as roadworthy if that's the case where you are.

As a general rule, most manufacturers won't let you permanently delete a fault code if the underlying problem is still there - they want you to buy a replacement part, so it's not in their interests to include the facility to just turn the fault code off.

At the most basic level of fault-finding: do you know whether all the fuses have been checked?

 

[kkbmwi3]

I am not aware of any restrictions, even the official representative (service) told me that they can not delete it (by BMW policies), but if I want I can find a non-official representative where they can delete the warning.
Lets say it in other words - in my country we have around 5000 electric vehicles total - so the local legislation does not have any further requirements.

I have only information for this failure by the car and information that the "speaker is not working"- Unfortunately I do not have any further details.

 

[duanew]

I want to know what the warning sounds like. My 2019 I3 is completely silent when going slow. I bought it used and have never heard it. There are no error codes for me. Do you know where the speaker is mounted? I would like to know to check mine.

 

[mojo]

The situation may depend on where in the world you are. IIRC, it was an optional feature in many countries, right up to the point where it became mandatory - so if it wasn't mandatory in your country at the time that it was manufactured, your car may simply not have had it fitted.

The good news is that it's easy to find out whether it did or not. Simply go to one of the online VIN decoders and look to see if you have the following option listed:

S4U9    Acoustic pedestrian protection

 

[kkbmwi3]

The location is Bulgari - my bmw i3 2019 has this speaker (S4U9) and it is not working at the moment which cause the warning failure.
I would like to find a way with bimmercode/bimmerlink to lie the computer that this speaker is working, because I am not planing to replace it.

 

[wjsi327]

I want to know what the warning sounds like. My 2019 I3 is completely silent when going slow. I bought it used and have never heard it. There are no error codes for me. Do you know where the speaker is mounted? I would like to know to check mine.

My 2018 i3 was also quiet, but when I got my 2021 i3 it surprised me when I first heard it. I understand the importance of alerting pedestrians but I wish that I didn't have to hear the simulated engine sounds inside the car. Fortunately I've gotten used to it.

 

[JimBmwi3s]

Why not find out where the external speaker is and try to replace it yourself or try another garage

 

[accidentalyEV]

I want to know what the warning sounds like. My 2019 I3 is completely silent when going slow. I bought it used and have never heard it. There are no error codes for me. Do you know where the speaker is mounted? I would like to know to check mine.

 

[alohart]

I want to know what the warning sounds like. My 2019 I3 is completely silent when going slow. I bought it used and have never heard it. There are no error codes for me. Do you know where the speaker is mounted? I would like to know to check mine.

U.S. i3's didn't have the pedestrian warning system until the 2020 model year.

 

[duanew]

Thanks accidentlyEV

 

[duanew]

U.S. i3's didn't have the pedestrian warning system until the 2020 model year.

Really? That is wierd. I have the setting for it in the menu.

 

[accidentalyEV]

Really? That is wierd. I have the setting for it in the menu.

Interesting article I found Quiet Car Rule: New EVs Must Emit Warning Sounds In US By 2019

 

[TheAirman]

Here is the sound generator and where it's located.

 

[alohart]

Really? That is wierd. I have the setting for it in the menu.

I'd like to look for this iDrive setting in our 2019 U.S. i3. Where is it?

 

[alohart]

Interesting article I found Quiet Car Rule: New EVs Must Emit Warning Sounds In US By 2019

It states that all EV's sold after 1 September 2019 would be required to emit a pedestrian warning sound. That probably should have read "all EV's manufactured" after 1 September 2019 because it certainly wouldn't apply to new 2019 or earlier models that had not yet been sold by 1 September 2019. So this would apply to 2020 and later models. NHTSA certainly wouldn't require the retrofit of a pedestrian warning system on unsold 2019 and earlier models.

 

[websterize]

I'd like to look for this iDrive setting in our 2019 U.S. i3. Where is it?

In North American i3 models, the iDrive toggle for activating acoustic pedestrian protection is deactivated by default. You can activate it, though, with BimmerCode. See BimmerCode for BMW and Mini - BMW i3 for details.

(I assigned the toggle to one of the programmable memory buttons on my 2020 i3 s.)

 

[alohart]

In North American i3 models, the iDrive toggle for activating acoustic pedestrian protection is deactivated by default. You can activate it, though, with BimmerCode. See BimmerCode for BMW and Mini - BMW i3 for details.

Thanks! I doubt that BMW increased its costs by installing deactivated acoustic pedestrian protection on a 2019 U.S. i3 because it wasn't required. I'll make the coding change to add the acoustic pedestrian protection choice to iDrive and activate it to see whether anything happens. I'd like to be able to turn it on in large parking lots with pedestrians walking around, but I wouldn't want to have it on otherwise.

 

[alohart]

Thanks! I doubt that BMW increased its costs by installing deactivated acoustic pedestrian protection on a 2019 U.S. i3 because it wasn't required. I'll make the coding change to add the acoustic pedestrian protection choice to iDrive and activate it to see whether anything happens. I'd like to be able to turn it on in large parking lots with pedestrians walking around, but I wouldn't want to have it on otherwise.

The build list for our i3 does not include option 4U9 Acoustic Pedestrian Protection, so it does not have the necessary hardware. Using BimmerCode, I might be able to enable the acoustic pedestrian protection choice in iDrive, but it wouldn't do anything other than maybe set a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) and result in an error message being displayed.

 

[frictioncircle]

In North American i3 models, the iDrive toggle for activating acoustic pedestrian protection is deactivated by default. You can activate it, though, with BimmerCode. See BimmerCode for BMW and Mini - BMW i3 for details.

(I assigned the toggle to one of the programmable memory buttons on my 2020 i3 s.)

I've done the same as websterize.

While the concept of making an EV generate sound so it can make other road users aware of its activity makes sense, in reality, BMW chose poorly in regards to the loudness and tone of what late-model i3s have been saddled with.

As a 2021 BEV owner, the in-cabin quality of the synthetic powertrain is unacceptable. Not only is the sound far too loud in the cabin, the tone of it is (to my ears) so grating.

Having assigned the toggle to one of the preset buttons, this allows me to reserve the acoustic pedestrian protection function for locations that have high pedestrian traffic while disabling it for locations with limited pedestrian traffic.