Love it or hate it, software is utmost essential in modern passenger vehicles, particularly electric vehicles. The increased complexity also means that automakers are prone to more issues, be they small or a bit more serious. BMW, for example, has recalled almost 5,000 examples of the first-ever i5 due to a software issue affecting the external artificial sound generator control unit of the electric sedan.
Vehicles range between the i5 eDrive40 and performance-oriented i5 M60 xDrive. Manufactured for the 2024 model year, the recalled vehicles were assembled at the BMW Group Plant Dingolfing between June 26 and December 14. Because the external artificial sound generator control unit may sporadically experience a fault condition during start-up, affected vehicles may not fully conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 141.
Effective since April 2018, the aforementioned standard concerns performance requirements for four-band alert sounds (section 5.1) and two-band alert sounds (section 5.2). As per documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the supplier of the external artificial sound generator software is Harman Becker Automotive Systems of Baden-Württemberg.
BMW started investigating this problem in September 2023, installing data loggers on a number of pre-production vehicles to collect external artificial sound generator information. At the end of the test program, toward the end of November 2023, the collected information revealed that the control unit doesn't activate the sound generator in very rare cases. Further analyses were conducted, and BMW ultimately decided to stop i5 shipments to the US on December 8 due to FMVSS 141 section 5.
The safety boffins aren't aware of any reports of accidents or injuries potentially related to this condition, which BMW describes as being difficult to reproduce. Dealers nationwide have already been instructed to reflash the control module with updated external artificial sound generator software.
Photo: BMW
Owners, however, will have to wait until February 13 to receive BMW of North America-branded envelopes informing them of the noncompliance recall. The Munich-based automaker hasn't provided a VIN list, although owners can easily determine whether their brand-new electric sedans are recalled or not by running the 17-character vehicle identification number on the NHTSA's portal.
Internally referred to as G60 for the sedan and G61 for the 5 Series Touring, the eighth-gen 5er features the CLuster ARchitecture of its predecessor. The battery-electric i5 also rocks CLAR underpinnings. Gifted with an 84.3-kWh battery pack that sports 81.2 kilowatt hours of usable capacity, the i5 starts at $66,800 in the United States of America. Unfortunately, it doesn't qualify for the $7,500 tax credit because this fellow isn't made in the US.
At press time, only eight nameplates qualify, those being the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T and R1S, Tesla Model 3, Model Y, and Model X. Turning our attention back to the i5, the entry-level eDrive40 is no slouch at 5.7 seconds from zero to 60 miles per hour (97 kph).
EPA-rated 270 to 295 miles (435 to 475 kilometers), the eDrive40 plays second fiddle to the M60 xDrive in terms of acceleration. But alas, the M Performance version leaves much to be desired in terms of range (240 to 256 miles or 386 to 412 kilometers).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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