BMW forced to recall several thousand electric cars

Tesla gets in the press more often with all sorts of accidents or problems its electric cars are experiencing, primarily because of the company’s statements, via CEO Elon Musk, that make these products seem “perfect.” As has been proven over time, they are not much different from other cars, they just had a technological advance in the electric area. BMW seems to be gaining ground in recent years with the electric “i” series, but it faces the same problems as Tesla. US authorities are forcing the German automaker to service more electric cars for problems with the audio warning system.

Electric BMWs have problems with low-speed sound generator

According to NHTSA, the authority that regulates traffic safety in the US, BMW delivered electric cars with problems with the pedestrian warning system. This is an audio system that produces sounds when the car is travelling at low speeds or when it is in reverse. Since electric motors do not produce sounds loud enough to be easily heard, electric cars are required to be equipped with such warning systems. The sound produced by BMW’s electric cars was created by famous composer Hans Zimmer, responsible for Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe and many other Hollywood movie soundtracks.

Approximately 3,500 BMW i4 and iX series units sold in the past year appear to have been delivered with these systems either completely or partially inoperative. Some cars did not turn on these warning systems when they were supposed to come on automatically, and others did so only sometimes. So BMW will have to call the affected cars in for “service”.

However, as this is a software problem, it will be fixed quickly with an update. However, unlike Tesla, which prefers to offer over-the-air updates via 4G or Wi-Fi directly to customers’ cars, BMW will ask customers with affected cars to make an appointment at an authorized service facility to fix this “bug”. At least this visit will be completely free.

BMW will send out notifications to customers that their car is affected starting March 17.