BMW Recalls Over 14K EVs For Battery Issue That Could Cause Loss Of Power
Electric vehicles and hybrids are complex machines. A pure EV may not have the same mechanical failures as a gasoline powered vehicle like blown head gaskets, exhaust problems, and a litany of other things, but any given EV is still an incredibly intricate piece of hardware. There are practically endless lines of code powering the array of sensors and onboard diagnostics. Not to mention the battery-related equipment to make sure your EV's power source is behaving correctly.
With that complexity comes recalls, the unfortunate reality of manufacturing cars on any scale. Recently, Tesla was able to send out a wireless recall fix to affected vehicles, but that's not always the case. In June of last year, BMW was alerted of an issue with the high voltage battery control unit in its new line of hybrids that could potentially cause a total loss of power while operating the vehicle. In December of last year, BMW decided that it needed to recall the affected vehicles, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report.
Thankfully, no accidents reported
So far, BMW has determined that a little over 14,000 overall vehicles are affected by the recall. This includes "approximately 5,389" 2022-2023 BMW ix xDrive40, iX xDrive50, and iX M60 models, as well as "approximately 8,659" 2022-2023 BMW i4 eDrive35, i4 eDrive40, and i4 M50 models. In addition, around 38 2023 BMW i7 xDrive60 vehicles are part of the recall (via NHTSA). The recall potentially affects an estimated 1% of vehicles, and there has been a total of five reported cases of the issue within the United States.
The NHTSA states: "...vehicles were manufactured with a high voltage battery electronic control unit containing software that may, during certain vehicle operating conditions, result in an interruption of electrical power." Affected vehicle owners will be notified by mail by February 10 of this year. After notification, the owner will have to get their vehicle serviced free of charge to remedy the issue.
As of now, there have been thankfully no accidents reported relating to the recall.