BMW i-Drive Problems

[Paulo12]

Hi All

I wonder if anyone can help?
I have a 3year and 6 month old BMW X1 (so just out of warranty) and its I-drive has failed!
When switching on, it works for about 2 seconds then goes blank, 10 seconds later it show "BMW Connected Drive" for 2 seconds, then goes blank again.
I contacted BMW customer service, and they said "download and install updates". Great but impossible as it is not on long enough to do anything!
Contacted local BMW dealer and they said £125 + vat to fix.
The car has always been serviced by BMW, and no extras added. Surely this is a manufacturers fault and not due to wear and tear? So why should I have to pay so much? While at the local BMW service centre, overheard 2 other owners complaining about the same issue. Yes you can still drive the car but no longer have Bluetooth phone, Satnav and media playing plus other comfort functions.
Does this mean every owner will have to fork out every 3 years or so for a fault that is not of their making?
Any help or advice much appreciated.
Thank you.

[Pica-Pica]

Have you registered in
https://www.bmw-connecteddrive.co.uk/
If not do so.
If you are registered, check what services you have.
Standard services should continue, enhanced services need renewing after 3 years from first owner (that is after any pre-reg’d dealer ownership).
I have just updated mine, because it ran out today.

[mike9009]

Paulo12 said:

Hi All

I wonder if anyone can help?
I have a 3year and 6 month old BMW X1 (so just out of warranty) and its I-drive has failed!
When switching on, it works for about 2 seconds then goes blank, 10 seconds later it show "BMW Connected Drive" for 2 seconds, then goes blank again.
I contacted BMW customer service, and they said "download and install updates". Great but impossible as it is not on long enough to do anything!
Contacted local BMW dealer and they said £125 + vat to fix.
The car has always been serviced by BMW, and no extras added. Surely this is a manufacturers fault and not due to wear and tear? So why should I have to pay so much? While at the local BMW service centre, overheard 2 other owners complaining about the same issue. Yes you can still drive the car but no longer have Bluetooth phone, Satnav and media playing plus other comfort functions.
Does this mean every owner will have to fork out every 3 years or so for a fault that is not of their making?
Any help or advice much appreciated.
Thank you.

I presume you did not pay to extend the warranty? 3 years is 3 years. You may get some goodwill, if you purchased the car from BMW and get it serviced there too. Be polite and ask, especially if this is a known issue with other owners. My 2007 iDrive is still working though.....

Otherwise, I reckon you just need to pay up. Or part ex it for a new car to get the 3 year warranty with no worries.

[Paulo12]

You must work for BMW ?
This is a manufacturers fault on a nearly new car, I am not the only one and do not see how £125 is the cost for someone to plug my car into another computer and press download, for something that is their fault.
Yes, I have owned 2 other BMWs and not had the fault, but I have now. No doubt like the emissions scandal BMW will ignore their failings. I seem to have little choice about how to fix this problem.
So I pass my story on as a warning to others, don't buy a BMW 3,2 or 1 series.

[Wacky Racer]

Paulo12 said:

You must work for BMW ?
This is a manufacturers fault on a nearly new car, I am not the only one and do not see how £125 is the cost for someone to plug my car into another computer and press download, for something that is their fault.
Yes, I have owned 2 other BMWs and not had the fault, but I have now. No doubt like the emissions scandal BMW will ignore their failings. I seem to have little choice about how to fix this problem.
So I pass my story on as a warning to others, don't buy a BMW 3,2 or 1 series.

It's not a nearly new car, it is three years old, the warranty has expired.

Hopefully they will look favourably on your issue and fix it FOC.

If not, £125 is hardly the end of the world, the cost of a decent meal out.

Good luck.

[Paulo12]

Thanks Wacky Racer, yes I have booked the car in now. Will keep my fingers crossed. It's not a huge amount but it rankles as I don't believe it comes under fair wear and tear.
Good luck to you.

[RUSSELLM]

I feel your pain.

But if they start fixing customers cars for free, out of warranty, I think I’d be cancelling my payments. It seems a waste of money on my part

Edit... Out of interest, how much did they offer you the extended warranty for, when yours got to 3 years ?

Second edit... It’ll be interesting to see what you get for the £125. I suspect a disconnect on the battery for a few seconds

Edited by RUSSELLM on Wednesday 19th February 11:52

[Paulo12]

Hi RussellM

Yes, probably the way it will go. I just hope it's a one off and won't recur every 3 1/2 years, and still think it's a large amount for 5 mins work ( I am not accounting for the download/update time).
Not sure about receiving a warranty extension quote, will check with the missus.

Thanks

[RUSSELLM]

If you don’t mind getting the tools out, I’d try the battery reset method first. I’m not sure how it works on BM’s hybrids though, in terms of wether you have to wait for the hybrid battery to die too.

[Elliot2000]

Paulo12 said:

Hi RussellM

Yes, probably the way it will go. I just hope it's a one off and won't recur every 3 1/2 years, and still think it's a large amount for 5 mins work ( I am not accounting for the download/update time).
Not sure about receiving a warranty extension quote, will check with the missus.

Thanks

How do you know it’s 5 minutes of work?
If it was so easy- do it yourself -except you can’t as you don’t have the thousands of pounds worth of equipment to do the job, or pay for the technicians to go on training courses to learn all the new technology on the modern cars, or pay all the costs associated with running a bmw franchise garage.

Your not paying for 5 minutes of work

[Paulo12]

Sorry, didn't realise I had to pay for the factory as well!!
Thought BMW was a customer led company, my mistake!
Won't make the same mistake again, I will buy another manufacturers car. I thought for just under £30k the car might last a bit longer.
Live and learn.

[768]

Does it have anything for your car here?

https://www.bmw.com/en/footer/software-updates.htm...

It seems nuts to me that you wouldn't be able to download it to a USB stick and do it yourself.

[Paulo12]

Thanks 768

I have used that to download the updates to a stick, just have to find a way to keep the I-drive on for longer than 2 secs. Will try battery disconnect as suggested above.

[Simes205]

Just out of interest have you got anything v plugged into the usb socket under the armrest?

Ours kept resetting until I removed the usb stuck in there.

[Elliot2000]

Paulo12 said:

Sorry, didn't realise I had to pay for the factory as well!!
Thought BMW was a customer led company, my mistake!
Won't make the same mistake again, I will buy another manufacturers car. I thought for just under £30k the car might last a bit longer.
Live and learn.

The I drive shouldn’t have failed- but like all cars - things do go wrong - this is why cars come with a warranty for a certain length of time to ensure that if something were to fail, it will be fixed. You are over this period, a manufacturers extended warranty was an option you didn’t take up.

In my opinion- if the only repair cost you have had in almost 4 years is the grand total of 125£ - id be happy with that.