BMW of North America has issued a voluntary recall of all BMW i3 electric cars sold in the U.S. since the car's inception, and has also sent a stop-sale order to its U.S. dealers for any new or used i3 vehicles they may have. The recall and the stop-sale order are precautionary moves resulting from a recent government crash test—and will probably last until BMW has figured out a repair. BMW i3 drivers may continue to drive their cars, and should be perfectly safe as long as they do one small thing: buckle up.
InsideEVs.com reported that members of the BMW i3 Worldwide Group on Facebook provided documents from BMW of North America announcing the recall and stop-sale order to its dealers. All BMW i3 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Range Extended (REx) vehicles coming to the U.S. since 2014 through November 14, 2017 are included in the action. The BMW documents indicate that 29,383 i3s in customer hands and 1,159 new and used i3s on dealer lots are affected.
BMW decided to take this step after learning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that during recent frontal-impact crash testing, a "limit for one of many criteria was marginally exceeded." To be specific, the tests resulted in a marginally higher neck load on 5 percent of the population; that is, adult females who are around five feet tall and weigh about 110 pounds, and who are sitting in the driver's seat and not wearing seatbelts.
Put another way, if you are not a five-foot tall, 110-pound adult female driver in an i3, then the frontal impact crash test showed that the loads on your neck will not exceed the standards required by the NHTSA, even if you are not wearing your seat belt. Loads on all passengers not sitting in the driver's seat were not exceeded.
If you are an adult female falling into that 5th percentile, all you have to do to stay safe is wear your seatbelt while driving. However, BMW—and BMW's lawyers—know that somewhere, sometime, a 5th percentile driver will not be wearing her seatbelt when she has a frontal collision, and they don't want to have to pay for the consequences; hence, the recall.
In the meantime, BMW says the cars are safe to drive until the recall is applied, as long as drivers wear their seatbelts. And since it is against the law to drive a car without wearing a seatbelt—except if you are over 18 years old in New Hampshire—this should not be an issue because everybody follows the law, right? Well, wrong, actually. Too many people do not wear seatbelts and they comprise a large percentage of traffic fatalities in this country. We hope BMW drivers are smarter than that.
The segment of the population that will be affected most are those buyers of new or pre-owned i3s who have not yet taken delivery of their cars. That will have to wait until BMW devises a fix that puts 5th percentile drivers back into the safe zone.
According to BMW Blog, this was BMW's official position on the matter:
"BMW has a long, well-documented history of pursuing the highest levels of active and passive safety. In a recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test of the BMW i3—specifically the unbelted small adult rigid barrier test (NHTSA’s 5th percentile female), the driver seat occupant sustained loads marginally above the limit.
"While BMW’s compliance testing showed results well below the required limits, more recent testing has shown inconsistent results. Consequently, BMW has issued a recall and is working with the agency to understand the differences in the test results. A remedy is forthcoming.
"The BMW passive safety systems are optimized for safety belt use. BMW i3 owners should feel confident that their vehicle will perform well in a real world crash when the safety belt is used. BMW recommends that all vehicle occupants fasten their safety belts before driving, and keep them fastened for the duration of travel. Customers with questions may contact BMW Customer Relations at 1-800-525-7417, or email CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com."
BMW i3 owners should start receiving letters from BMW in January 2018, but it may be quite a while before a repair is ready. Meanwhile, if BMW AG was counting on a late-2017 surge of U.S. BMW i3 sales to help it reach it's goal of selling 100,000 electrified BMWs by the end of the year, it might be out of luck.—Scott Blazey
[Photos/documents courtesy of Amanda Meeker from the BMW i3 Worldwide Facebook group via InsideEVs.com. BMW i3 photo courtesy of BMW AG.]
