Class Action Lawsuit

[Fisher99]

Interesting. Appears to apply to certain model year California cars only.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/theres-a-class-action-lawsuit-for-a-dangerous-bmw-i3-range-extender-problem/

 

[Deutsch100]

People will sue over everything. I know many people with 14-16 i3 and they have never complained about this. Frivolous are the reason prices for everything go up. I am glad a Judge had the common sense and decency to throw part of this suit out!

 

[Anonymous]

If I remember right, the one guy who has been pushing the lawsuit for years is/was a 2014 i3 REx owner who expected the car to be able to do 80 plus miles an hour indefinitely on mountain roads with the HV battery below 6% and running on the REx engine. Because of the speed the guy was driving at and the steep grades he was driving on, the REx couldn't keep up with the heavy power demand, so the HV battery pack was taken down basically to zero and the car went into turtle mode. His claim is that this is a 'defect'. As always, the component with the highest failure rate in any car is the nut behind the wheel.

 

[GoldiE46]

he should've coded the Rex.
I am sorry but he's an idiot. What a joke, people sue over everything

 

[jadnashuanh]

Some stories I read said that BMW really didn't want to include the REx option at all but it was pushed by marketing. The vehicle is designed as a city car for commuting, not as a cross-country one but it's a tribute to the design that people can use it that way.

The thing is a serial hybrid meaning that when the battery is too low in charge, extended needs of high current just cannot be sustained. The motor is a 170Hp one, which is about 126 Kw/hr. The engine is only about 34 Hp...enough to help maintain the battery level, but by no means enough to power the motor to its fullest extent. It can handle a passing maneuver, but not climbing a hill momentarily augmented by the battery.

If anything, BMW was negligent in fully explaining what and how the thing worked, but then, how many people would have sat around to listen? There's been many decades of expectations about how cars work...the new ones do not work that way. Maybe it's the engineer in me...I don't see this. The vehicle will be warning you that the charge is getting low. Ignore it at your peril.

 

[richs]

No one ever calls the i3 REx a plug-in hybrid. It's an EV with a little electric generator. The car clearly tells the driver when the battery is getting depleted. All electric cars go into some kind of turtle mode when the battery is almost exhausted. The only difference is that an i3 REx keeps limping along in turtle mode until you get it to a charger.

In essence, the i3 has an "extended turtle mode" feature that other EVs lack. If the i3 REx were marketed as a PHEV, then I could see the point of this lawsuit, but it wasn't. It was clearly marketed as an EV. It's just doing what all EVs do when the battery is depleted.

If you want to avoid turtle mode in your EV, keep your car charged! :lol:

 

[louisgrenier]

Taken from the article:

"However, the lawsuit says, the slowing issues also occur when the i3 switches from battery power to the Range Extenders."

The i3 never switch from battery power to the Range extenders. No wonder if journalist write it wrongly, that many people won't understand that the i3 electric engine always takes it's power from the battery

Louis

 

[Anonymous]

No wonder if journalist write it wrongly, that many people won't understand that the i3 electric engine always takes it's power from the battery

Exactly! Instead of doing their own research/investigation, they just regurgitate what the guy (and his lawyers) are saying. They just have it in their heads that the i3 is/should be a typical 'hybrid' with the gas engine able to drive the wheels when the battery is depleted. Even when the lawsuit originator was told by BMW exactly how the i3 REx design works, that the gas engine simply generates electricity to maintain enough charge in the HV battery to extend the car's range under city driving conditions, they guy continues to insist that this is a huge undocumented design flaw - that the gas engine should be propelling the car at speed, because 'that's what some (uninformed) dealer sales guy told him'..

 

[Timjohn]

This is getting silly isn't it. Why don't people sue because their cars slow down when they run out of gas!

 

[jadnashuanh]

This is getting silly isn't it. Why don't people sue because their cars slow down when they run out of gas!

I agree, but, people associate a running engine with full functionality. That's not the case with a serial hybrid. The i3 is one of the only hybrid vehicles out there that's that format, so there's no experience, and when you apply typical ICE experience, it does not apply...so, there's a major disconnect. The REx is only in the order of a 34-hp engine...not enough to handle some loads you may put on the i3.

Too many people buy things and never read or understand the instructions describing the limitations.

 

[Dynamic76]

Hi everyone so I’ve had my 2014 i3 for a yr and within that yr the bolt has broken 3 times the last time has rendered my car beyond repair. This is something that the dealership told me was a problem but when I took it in they still didn’t replace the mounts I left out thinking they did a week later it broke again and now my car extended warranty won’t fix because it’s too much to repair I’m going to have to salvage it out but will only get the value of the car now paid off and that’s not going to cover my entire loan. BMW knew that’s this was a problem I told them I needed the replacement but they didn’t do it when I was there and didn’t even tell me now I’m at home my baby is never going to be on the road again and I’m liable for the loan, and BMW knew this but never gave us a solution that wasn’t going to cost us less than $4000 to repair but mind I I took it in with my extended warranty and told them what had happened and to use my warranty but they didn’t how is this my fault

 

[agzand]

If your car broke motor mounts three times in a year, even with updated parts, I think there is something wrong with the car of the way you use it. Even the original weak motor mount should not break that frequently.

 

[frictioncircle]

Dynamic76 –

The updated motor-mount bolt should not break under normal driving.

Does your state have a lemon law?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_law

 

[alohart]

The updated motor-mount bolt should not break under normal driving.

However, some have broken previously. When this happened with the 4-year warranty still in effect, BMW would authorize updating the motor mount bracket to the stronger aluminum version which also allows a thicker, even stronger attachment bolt to be used. Unfortunately, it's almost certainly too late for that fix with the extensive damage that apparently occurred.