The defect
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2022-2023 i4 eDrive40 and iX xDrive50 electric vehicles. During vehicle start-up, the artificial sound generator control unit may experience a fault and fail to generate the external pedestrian warning sound. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 141, "Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles."
The risk
Without external warning sounds, pedestrians may be unaware of an approaching vehicle, increasing the risk of injury.
The remedy
Dealers will update the external artificial sound generator software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 9, 2023. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| BMW i4 | 2022, 2023 |
| BMW iX | 2022, 2023 |
Components: BACK OVER PREVENTION:WARNINGS:EXTERNAL/PEDESTRIAN ALERT | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS:EXTERNAL/PEDESTRIAN ALERT
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| BMW i4 | 2022 | 10 | 8 |
| BMW i4 | 2023 | 46 | 7 |
| BMW iX | 2022 | 31 | 11 |
| BMW iX | 2023 | 38 | 12 |
Other forward collision avoidance recalls in 2023
6 of the 894 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2023 concerned the forward collision avoidance; BMW of North America, LLC filed 347 campaigns in all.
| 23V805000 1 Dec 2023 | Prevost Car (US) Inc. |
| 23V718000 26 Oct 2023 | Mazda North American Operations |
| 23V489000 14 Jul 2023 | Tesla, Inc. |
| 23V395000 1 Jun 2023 | Altec Industries, Inc. |
| 23V212000 29 Mar 2023 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2023