In China, BMW recalls tens of thousands of electric vehicles (EVs) due to software issues that pose a safety risk.
According to an announcement on China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) website, the German luxury automaker is recalling 93,632 iX Series, i3, and i4 EVs in China and will repair them with software updates.
The vehicles are affected by two software issues, the first of which poses a risk of power outage and the second of which poses a risk of failure to make pedestrian protection sounds.
BMW recalls the following vehicles because of the first type of possible issue:
- 37,197 iX3 electric vehicles produced between September 26, 2020, and December 30, 2022.
- 8,500 i3 electric vehicles manufactured in China from April 12, 2022, to December 28, 2022.
- Between November 22, 2021, and October 24, 2022, 1,985 i4 electric vehicles were produced.
- 2,929 iX electric vehicles manufactured between July 27, 2021, and October 19, 2022.
The vehicles subject to this recall have a software miscalculated due to an incorrectly set voltage tracking threshold for the high-voltage battery control unit microcontroller.
This could result in an unexpected interruption of vehicle charging or a high-voltage system shutdown, which could cause power outages and pose a safety hazard in extreme cases.
The following vehicles have been recalled due to the second type of potential hazard:
I3 electric vehicles manufactured in China with production dates ranging from April 14, 2022, to January 11, 2023, and iX3 electric vehicles manufactured in China with production dates ranging from November 26, 2020, to January 19, 2023, for a total of 33,021 units.
Battery software issues
BMW Brilliance, a partnership between BMW and Brilliance Auto based in Shenyang, northeastern China, will “program the software” for the recalled vehicles to eliminate the safety hazard.
With the rapid expansion of the intelligent electric vehicle industry, software issues are causing an increasing number of recalls.
BMW recalled 6,636 China-made iX3 electric vehicles in May due to a software design flaw in the vehicles’ battery control units.
Due to battery issues, BMW recalled 38 imported BMW iX and i4 electric vehicles, as well as three older BMW i3 electric vehicles, in China on December 1.
According to data released by BMW on January 10, 2022, BEV sales in China were 41,886 units, a 91.6 percent increase yearly.
In 2022, BMW delivered 791,900 BMW and MINI-branded vehicles in China. This means that BEVs accounted for approximately 5% of BMW Group sales in China.
