i3 Software Update (USA)

[jadnashuanh]

If the dealer is on top of things, they should have the latest software in your vehicle when initially delivered...but, ask. Personally, I'd rather wait another day to get it updated rather than taking it back to be done! Depending on when it came through the port, they tend to update things there prior to delivering the vehicle to the dealer.

 

[kevinb61]

If the dealer is on top of things, they should have the latest software in your vehicle when initially delivered...but, ask. Personally, I'd rather wait another day to get it updated rather than taking it back to be done! Depending on when it came through the port, they tend to update things there prior to delivering the vehicle to the dealer.

The latest software update is actually part of a recall campaign, so there is a reasonably good chance they will have done it.

 

[nostatic]

My wife's car is at the Oxnard distribution center right now and they are supposedly doing the software update before it gets loaded on the truck to my dealer.

 

[Boatguy]

All good comments, but how can I verify that the software update mentioned at the beginning of this thread has been applied?

 

[jackt]

@boatguy you can't its only visible on a key read by your dealer, you can only check the iDrive versions yourself. Some BMW's do have a secret diag menu that shows some of the versioning info, but I don't believe anybody has published the secret handshake for the i3.

 

[mindmachine]

My i3Rex is still stuck at the VPC waiting a software update that the dealer says should put it up to date with the latest recall. My car arrived at the VPC 8 days ago and as of yesterday there was no estimated trucking assignment date. Dealer says the VPC is apparently behind on everything as there are two other BMW's of his (not i3s) that are delayed at the port along with my car. There were several other cars that were not his that he checked dates on and he said it just plainly looks like the port is backed up and everything is getting delayed at the VPC.

Apparently the dealer has more info than many of us realize. I talked to my CA in detail about when the car was originally scheduled to arrive at the dealership (2 days ago) and even the date of assignment to a shipper/car carrier.

 

[i3Alan]

My wife's car is at the Oxnard distribution center right now and they are supposedly doing the software update before it gets loaded on the truck to my dealer.

You must be new to BMW. This is a BMW. BMW does not have dealers. BMW has centers. Your wife's BMW is soon to be on its way to your BMW center. Just like your BMW does not have trim levels, it has worlds. Also, your BMW driving modes are not Sport, Normal and Eco, they are Comfort, Eco Pro and Eco Pro +. Similiarly, your Homelink designed and manufactured (OEM) garage door opener (if you got the Giga or Tera trim, I mean world) does not have a name, (it is not found at all in the manual) and the Homelink trademark is not to be found on anything with a BMW copyright attached, such as your owner's manual or the BMW website. Now, could someone more experienced in BMW lingo tell me the proper way to say "I really do LOVE my i3," in spite of all the BMW nomenclature nonsense.

 

[RJSATLBA]

Tut, tut, be grateful the name engineers didn't christen the object of your affections a Special Hybrid iTransport. :lol:

 

[nostatic]

My wife's car is at the Oxnard distribution center right now and they are supposedly doing the software update before it gets loaded on the truck to my dealer.

You must be new to BMW. This is a BMW. BMW does not have dealers. BMW has centers. Your wife's BMW is soon to be on its way to your BMW center. Just like your BMW does not have trim levels, it has worlds. Also, your BMW driving modes are not Sport, Normal and Eco, they are Comfort, Eco Pro and Eco Pro +. Similiarly, your Homelink designed and manufactured (OEM) garage door opener (if you got the Giga or Tera trim, I mean world) does not have a name, (it is not found at all in the manual) and the Homelink trademark is not to be found on anything with a BMW copyright attached, such as your owner's manual or the BMW website. Now, could someone more experienced in BMW lingo tell me the proper way to say "I really do LOVE my i3," in spite of all the BMW nomenclature nonsense.

My bad. Now if you'll excuse me I need to see my dealer...I mean Amateur Pharmaceutical Distribution Representative since this whole episode has left me stressed out. I better call my salesman to...uh, I mean Client Advisor.

 

[user 1096]

I received a call from BMWNA "Concierge" advising me that the software update for my car was now available for installation at the dealer. They said it amends two key items: high-temperature concerns when batts are charged at high ambient temps and the Check Engine Light that is plaguing everyone.

I'm scheduled in for end of the week; the dealer said it could be an hour or four hours but will provide a loaner for me. From reading, I got the impression that this update process was much less dramatic than the old days and was done by inserting a thumb drive with updates. In the bad old days, it could take all day with the car completely shutdown in a corner and not disturbed until the Black Forest gremlins were exorcised.

After 1000 miles, my CEL has come on again (nb: immediately after a ChargePoint visit with ambient air about 85) but the charge was otherwise uneventful. Otherwise it is smooth sailing.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I do not know if they've updated the procedure for the i3, but last month when they did a s/w update on mine, they said they had to connect to the corporate server, and they had some connectivity problems, and needed to keep the car until the next day because they couldn't finish.

I just had my ICE in and they needed to reprogram the (whole?) car, and that ended up taking over a day as well.

If everything works to plan, it's a 1-4 hour task, but it can have hiccups. Mine is going in on THursday for the same thing.

 

[user 1096]

I had mine done yesterday (4+hours) and only thing I noticed (other than CEL being extinguished) is that they blew away my radio settings. Today, I went to tackle reinstalling them and found a new procedure with a new screen with a RED Template. The deal is the new version (for Harman Kardon anyway) is that you tune your station,push right and find Save to Presets, hit that and then scroll down to where on the rank/order red template you want to place your selection, and hit iDrive again. At first, I was only placing one station at slot #1, until I realized I could scroll down and park it where I wanted.

This represents an improvement over the old system that simply logged and listed them as you found them ( and I never found a way to rearrange or delete the saved stations and order).

My Tire Pressure monitor error also seems to have been corrected from reading LOW by 3 lbs at every wheel, despite correct and verified settings at each tire. Don't know if Update fixed that or if they tweaked something else after noting it on service order.

BTW, I received a phone call from BMWNA Concierge (9/5, I think) telling me the update was ready for my car and to schedule with my dealer.

 

[davidrshelton]

Similiarly, your Homelink designed and manufactured (OEM) garage door opener (if you got the Giga or Tera trim, I mean world) does not have a name, (it is not found at all in the manual) and the Homelink trademark is not to be found on anything with a BMW copyright attached, such as your owner's manual or the BMW website.

I thought I was going crazy. I at least expected a graphic that pointed to the three buttons on the rear-view mirror in the manual. I ended up going to the HomeLink website and getting some pretty good instructions. I also looked over a Youtube video or two.

At least my Volt clearly documented the garage door opener function in the manual. (In contrast, my i3-REx didn't have all of the manuals in the glovebox upon delivery. Apparently the PDI guys were overzealous and thought some of those materials were superfluous. :evil: )

 

[davidrshelton]

Getting back to the main topic, I took my car in based on the August i3 Concierge announcement about the software update (now known informally as the 07-503). Only after I made an appointment with the dealership and came in did I find out from the service advisor that the update had ostensibly been applied (perhaps at the VPC) prior to my July 31 delivery. However, I decided to have smaller stuff done (front license plate installation and an intermittent problem with the adaptive cruise control).

The good news is that they plugged in the car to confirm that I already have 07-503. The bad news is that, once again, the multi-day BMW service event struck me. They said that they wanted to hold the car overnight so that they could check in with corporate to see if there was some special "hotfix" (sorry, my IT term) for the adaptive cruise control. I'll post hopefully tomorrow when I get my car back (maybe). Does everything need to be connected back to NJ just to do a lookup? Sheesh.

DRS

P.S. When I asked them to charge the vehicle as part of the service, the service advisor acted somewhat put out but that they'd do it for me. Please insist with your dealers that they charge up your vehicle as part of your service. That's a must for i3's, but we need to reinforce this in general. I'm tired of dealers treating EVs like some extraterrestrial vehicle.

 

[RRi3]

I thought I was going crazy. I at least expected a graphic that pointed to the three buttons on the rear-view mirror in the manual. I ended up going to the HomeLink website and getting some pretty good instructions. I also looked over a Youtube video or two.

I actually found a very good step-by-step for the HomeLink setup in the user's manual that's built into iDrive.

-RRi3

 

[Neil]

davidrshelton- I'm curious to know what the issue is with your adaptive cruise control and whether it could be fixed. I have issues with mine as well. It has become basically useless for me on my commute home which is towards the west and apparently the sun wreaks havoc with it. At least before the software update when it shut off, it would always reset and allow me to engage it again- at least until it shut off again. Now after the software update when it shuts off it will not reset until the car is apparently turned off and on again. So depending on when it shuts off, I might have 30 miles with no cruise control. What a pain in the rear and definitely not what I expected from BMW. :evil: At this point I wish there was an option so I could set it to be a dumb cruise control so I could at least use it under these conditions. I am very disappointed with this extra cost option at this point. I hope a future software update will help fix it.

Neil

 

[canuckjc]

At this point I wish there was an option so I could set it to be a dumb cruise control so I could at least use it under these conditions. I am very disappointed with this extra cost option at this point. I hope a future software update will help fix it.

Neil, although I haven't tried it, this thread says it's possible by simply holding down one of the distance control buttons.

http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1401

 

[davidrshelton]

Concerning the ACC (adaptive cruise control), there are two problems with it. The first one relates to when it mistakenly thinks there's a car in front of me when there isn't, typically on either an incline or decline. That's happened two or three times, once at night. The bigger problem is that the AAC for no apparent reason (flat terrain, no sudden changes) will literally deactivate itself, as if one turned it off immediately. This has the result of very rapidly decelerating the vehicle--not a good thing, particularly on a freeway with cars behind you.

I reported this not in the hope of an immediate resolution, but rather reporting this as a serious bug (this is software, after all) that will be researched and hopefully resolved soon.

FYI, I believe there is a setting to turn off the adaptive part such that it acts as a normal cruise control. I'm still trying to memorize all of the submenu.

David

 

[user 1096]

DRS

P.S. When I asked them to charge the vehicle as part of the service, the service advisor acted somewhat put out but that they'd do it for me. Please insist with your dealers that they charge up your vehicle as part of your service. That's a must for i3's, but we need to reinforce this in general. I'm tired of dealers treating EVs like some extraterrestrial vehicle.

Curious: When I handed my key fob (I had first i3 in our area) to my long-time friend the service writer, he chuckled and asked for my patience, as he had never seen or used a fob like this before...And the FIRST thing he read when the screen opened was a Command from BMWNA to CHARGE THE BATTERY. He laughed and said "ok, ok, we'll charge the battery!"

And they did.

I cannot understand your dealer's reticence, and maybe you ought to check with Concierge..

 

[brianives]

I got an email from BMW iConcierge BMW of North America stating that I needed a software update even though I have only had my i3 for several weeks. Going in tomorrow and I'll ask for a full charge.
On the ACC, I have had mine shut off apparently for no reason several times, but my observation has been that it might be picking up overpasses on the highway ahead. Anyone else think this is a possibility? Still something that needs to be corrected by BMW.