My BMW i3 Saved My Life

[dirtyblueshirt]

In Thursday I was involved in an accident. The vehicle in front came to a panic stop ahead of me and in just three seconds it was over. It took a second for the ACC to determine it could not safely stop on its own. It took a split second when the alarm went off to slam on the brakes, and in the next second I made a choice to attempt an evasive maneuver, as it was clear the car would not stop in time. Unfortunately I was hit my a 30-foot box truck hurtling full speed through the HOV lane. Before I knew what hit me (quite literally), my i3 lurched to a halt two lanes over.

I was safe, save from a couple bruises. I didn't even have any cuts from the glass debris. The i3's construction saved me from serious injury or worse. Unfortunately though, this ends my 2-year relationship with the car. In that time I put nearly 22,000 miles of nearly pure commuting on the car.

It was all caught on dashcam.

Full album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmARETR7


Accident 2019-02-14 by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Where it died by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Interior Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Interior Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Interior Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Interior Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Interior Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


The Morning After by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


The Morning After by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


The Morning After by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Rear Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Rear Damage by Aaron Slater, on Flickr


Damaged Frame by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

 

[PBNB]

Good to see that you are alright.

Did you have the ACC running at the time? I wonder if that would have made a difference in the stopping time?

It is interesting to see all the inner pieces. Doesn't look like there will be much rust occurring. Are you going to keep the car after your settlement with the insurance company?

What dash cam did you install?

You could be one of the rare few that has a bunch of parts for sale.

 

[dirtyblueshirt]

Good to see that you are alright.

Did you have the ACC running at the time? I wonder if that would have made a difference in the stopping time?

It is interesting to see all the inner pieces. Doesn't look like there will be much rust occurring. Are you going to keep the car after your settlement with the insurance company?

What dash cam did you install?

You could be one of the rare few that has a bunch of parts for sale.

Thank you. The ACC was operating, yes. Goes to show that a camera-based ACC is inferior to a radar-based ACC when it comes to sudden vehicle stops ahead of you.

I won't keep the car. The structural cell is damaged. There's no benefit to repair and I don't have the room to store it for part-outs.

This is the dashcam I used: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C89GCHU/

 

[AndrewDebbie]

Glad you are ok after such a hard impact. Shame about the car, but it did its job and protected you. The photos show how the structure of the car absorbed the impact.


Any thoughts on a replacement?

 

[dirtyblueshirt]

Glad you are ok after such a hard impact. Shame about the car, but it did its job and protected you. The photos show how the structure of the car absorbed the impact.


Any thoughts on a replacement?

Thanks, To be honest, I don't know if I'll get another i3 (go back to having one car). If anything I'll trade in the Mustang for a Tesla Model 3 (a long shot), or get something easier on the commute and fun, like a Mini Cooper S.

 

[gt1]

Glad it ended relatively well. I'm not sure any ACC applies maximum brakes. On the forum for my other car, which has away better radar ACC I read about an accident that was very similar.
Does i3 preload the brake pedal when ACC senses that a strong braking may be needed?

 

[PBNB]

I was using the ACC yesterday in stop and go freeway traffic and I noticed that the car delays a bit when taking off and almost slams the brakes on when stopping. The car brakes a lot harder than if I was doing it. There were a few close calls but I had my foot over the brake pedal just in case.

There was a lot of stop and go so I appreciated this feature but I was a bit uneasy about the hard braking when the cars in-front went from 80 kph to 0 in a hurry!

 

[JohnKelly]

Glad you are OK. That flashing advertisement on the other side of the highway in your video is incredibly obnoxious. Amazing that crap is legal.

 

[dirtyblueshirt]

Glad you are OK. That flashing advertisement on the other side of the highway in your video is incredibly obnoxious. Amazing that crap is legal.

First, Thank you. Second, fun fact: the sign is not flashing to the naked eye, it's just an artifact of the video thankfully.

The technical explanation is that a lot of high-use LEDs are set up to flash very rapidly, too quick for the human eye to discern. LED billboards and even LED tail lights do this (look at some car videos with LED brake lights, especially in slow-mo). This is done to reduce the energy consumed, since LEDs generally do not suffer the dame negative effects of power surging when you quickly turn on/off incandescent or CFL lights. In an extreme case of simplification, if an LED flashes every 1/100th of a second, being on for 1/100th and off for 1/100th, it's only really "on" for 1/2 a second, cutting power consumption by 50%.

 

[alohart]

Goes to show that a camera-based ACC is inferior to a radar-based ACC when it comes to sudden vehicle stops ahead of you.

Not sure if that's true in good visual conditions for a camera-based system that features a high-resolution camera or 2 cameras. A problem with the i3's ACC camera is that it is a low-resolution black and white VGA camera that cannot detect obstacles far enough ahead at highway speeds to stop safely. In fact, the i3's emergency braking feature can't avoid a collision even at speeds as slow as 12 mph; it can only reduce the collision velocity. So human intervention is definitely required for safe driving.

 

[EVMan]

I saw the video, Curious , whose fault will the insurance determine to be ?
it looks like the truck was either already gone into the shoulder lane ( superior visibility ahead) or was just moving to the shoulder lane ?

if the truck knew , you would goto shoulder lane, it should have just gone straight...

 

[AndrewDebbie]

The truck is in an HOV/Express lane.

 

[I33t]

The truck is in an HOV/Express lane.

Sorry, don't know what the HOV/Express lane is?

Should the I3 owner should have moved to the right side of the car in front of them? Looks like the truck was running fast on the video!

 

[ksnax]

The ACC is merely an accident mitigation system, not avoidance obviously. I don't like the way it responds to normal conditions, but I use it just in case I do get distracted at the wrong moment. Glad it worked for that at least!

Sadly Aaron, this is likely going to be 100% against you on fault. Whether the truck was supposed to be in the HOV lane, or speeding or not is irrelevant to failing to follow at a safe distance and react accordingly. You might be able to get your company to rate it as less, but they'll be writing checks to owner of the truck regardless.

 

[AndrewDebbie]

The truck is in an HOV/Express lane.

Sorry, don't know what the HOV/Express lane is?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-occupancy_vehicle_lane

 

[greenlion]

Glad you are ok after such a hard impact. Shame about the car, but it did its job and protected you. The photos show how the structure of the car absorbed the impact.


Any thoughts on a replacement?

Thanks, To be honest, I don't know if I'll get another i3 (go back to having one car). If anything I'll trade in the Mustang for a Tesla Model 3 (a long shot), or get something easier on the commute and fun, like a Mini Cooper S.

new i3 owner here,i have a 16' mini countryman s i was looking to trade in on the i3 but didnt do it,firstly they didnt want to give me jack for it, second , its just to damn fun to drive! Have fun with the Mini if you get one!

 

[RexMan]

Sad listening to the poor car grind to a halt but you're ok and that's all that matters and no one else was hurt.

It does look like there was plenty of time to stop though what happened, were you waiting for the car to react and brake you ?

I think I would have rear ended the car in front rather than move into another lane like that but split second decisions can make you do a lot of things in a panic.

The i3 took a hell of a blow !

 

[Srivenkat]

Just saw this thread. Glad that the OP survived. I must say the OP was extremely lucky that no other vehicles were travelling in the lanes that the car moved thru after the hit. Goes to show the lane we are in is possibly the least deadly and any maneuvers around an obstacle need a lot of situational awareness. IIHS does rate ACC as "Advanced" so it should go a long way in mitigating even a head-on collision by priming the brake power and such.

Thanks to the OP for the video; helps me adjust my instincts if ever I find myself in that situation.