Owners Manual features listed are lies for US market-Mirrors

[GiefHammer]

Specifically the one that really bothers me is the comfort access folding mirrors. In the manual it says you can "hold down the lock key or the access pad on the door handle and windows will roll, doors will lock, and THE MIRRORS WILL FOLD IN." Thats simply not true, the mirrors DO NOT fold in. I know I can do it on the door handle, but often times I forget and Im already outside the car with the charge port in hand. I personally was really excited about this feature since Im often parking in tight spots and having to charge. The mirrors are exceptionally bulky when maneuvering that charging cable around the car to the charge port. The BMW dealership specialist told me, "thats a typo, the manual is simply translated from European market and not all the features are accurate in it for US market." I say "not my problem, that's false advertising!" Either give me the accurate information when I'm purchasing the vehicle or fix this by coding the operation into the car. Does this bother anyone else?

 

[Sparky]

First world problem?

 

[WoodlandHills]

Corporate honesty and ethics are an all world problem...... It's just that the first world has some small ability to complain, the rest just have to suck it up and deal with it.

That BS about the manual being for the European market and that a US buyer has to be clairvoyant in order to know what is in their car is a complete joke! How is this not fraud? At least they didn't use their other excuse about it being "Greener" or helping the extend the range..... I do not understand how the DOT allows such cost driven shortcuts in a car sold in the US market. How hard is it to print a manual that reflects the actual car available for purchase?

 

[GiefHammer]

Def a first world problem, no doubt. But hey, I paid for this car and I want it to have the features it says its supposed to have. Yeah, WoodlandHills, I agree, I dont think just brushing it off as "oops sorry for the typo" is valid or any excuse. This is a relatively expensive car and it simply erks me that they arent being accountable for something they printed in tens of thousands of user manuals. If Europe has this feature, Id imagine theres a pretty quick fix they can employ.

 

[jadnashuanh]

If you spend a little time on one of the BMW programming forums, you'll find that a lot of the functionality of the BMW is controlled by software switches in the programming. Each market is tweaked so that it meets local code and local practices. In Europe, with many ancient, narrow streets, it is quite common to fold mirrors when parking - there just isn't enough room. A typical parking space in the USA is designed for an SUV, and most have plenty of room without folding mirrors. I'm not justifying the user manual's international flavor, but it does describe functions that are not implemented and it states that. You could look at it like describing the automatic cruise control, when you only have the 'normal' one...superfluous, and maybe a distraction, but is the norm to include all options. Now, instead of requiring someone to hack the car, they COULD put that option in the iDrive menus, and maybe they should, but fraud? Give me a break...the USA is not the rest of the world, and we sometimes tend to do things in a different manner than elsewhere. Show me where it says that in one of the product descriptions without the disclaimer (IOW, it says it's available in the USA), and then you have a case for fraud...not that it's available elsewhere and they chose not to implement it here.

 

[WoodlandHills]

The problem is that there is no place in the manual that states what features described in the manual apply to what markets. That is why I said that a buyer is expected to be a clairvoyant in order to know what is actually in ones own car. Simply putting some legal weasel-words somewhere in the manual does not help the customer although it is the literal minimum that BMW could have done to address the situation. At least they covered their own butts first, perhaps they will get around to helping their customers in another year or two.

In my own case I was convinced when I got my car that it would self steer under 25 mph when in ACC. I assumed this because I read all about it online and in the manual, but it is not an available feature in NA vehicles. Who knew? I didn't....... I thought I had all the appropriate initials and boxes ticked.

 

[jadnashuanh]

YOu can blame some of the 'omissions' on the fact that we have vastly more lawyers/population than probably anywhere else in the world. Someone would end up suing BMW because their car hit something in a construction zone where the lane markings were gone or worn off, and the car went out of its implied lane. The fact that juries award damages in some of these (IMHO ridiculous) situations is very unfortunate, and wrong. We seem to have lost much of what was called common sense...the common feeling today seems to be I'm entitled to it, and to hell with everyone else.

 

[WoodlandHills]

It is not so much that the self-drive system is not available here, but that the manual is completely silent on that subject. Nowhere do I find it clearly stated which parts of the manual apply in NA and which do not. What's the big secret? I would think that in our so-called litigious culture BMW would be extra sensitive to such things. If they are too cheap to actually print an accurate manual, is it too much to hope that they would put them online?

In what way is the omission of country specific information from the manual the fault of the lawyers?

 

[jadnashuanh]

Do you have a smartphone? Have you tried to download the customized manual that runs (at least) on Android (and probably iOS)? They ask for your VIN when you do that, so it MIGHT have exactly what you want. I got it, but haven't really run through all of it. Download the BMW Driver's Guide from the app store...it will ask you for your VIN, and then customize it and then download the actual required info to your device.

 

[Vach]

The manual works for the iPhone and is for the most part accurate on things the paper manual is not.

 

[websterize]

Forum member "rtanov" helped me figure out the codes for closing windows AND folding-in side mirrors. Now it only takes a press of lock button on the key fob.

Module: BDC_BODY
3056 > KOMFORTSCHLIESSUNG_FB > Set to: aktiv; werte = 00
3110 > ASP_BEIKLAPPEN > aktiv
3110 > ASP_BEIKLAPPEN_BEI_KOMFORTSCHLIESSEN > werte = 01
3110 > ASP_AUSKLAPPEN_NACH_KOMFORTSCHLIESSEN > werte = 01

It's easier to kvetch than learn a new skill.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Why should we be required to learn new skills to be able to turn on the features we were promised on our cars? What kind of business model is that? I didn't lease my i3 in order to undergo a personal growth and improvement project by becoming a coding expert. I just wanted a car that did what the BMW literature promised..... Hell, I would settle for a document that gave a complete inventory of all the features of my car, at least that would help me determine what parts of the universal manual apply to my own car. But BMW cannot be bothered to even do a list of country specific options and features as a rough guide, much less vehicle specific.

For example, where in the manuals does it state that the self-steering in ACC is not available in NA?

 

[websterize]

 

[WoodlandHills]

Cute picture, and I am flattered that you went to the trouble, although it does not advance the discussion much...... I am guessing that as far as coding and features, your feeling is that you got yours and screw everyone else? Since you can code into your car the features that we all were promised, the rest of us are just a bunch of willfully ignorant dunces for wanting BMW to supply the car they promised instead of doing it ourselves...... Is that a fair assessment?

 

[websterize]

This "discussion" reeks of whining. If you click on the coding spreadsheet in my signature, there's a link to a beginner's how-to PDF that I used to configure my i3. The mirrors were just one of a dozen or so bells and whistles I tweaked. These aren't mission-critical edits. The PDFs walk you through. It's one of many tutorials available. Had never coded a car before this one.

You can give it a shot, or you can continue being victimized by BMW.