- BMW is recalling four electric models to fix an issue with their drive motor software.
- Affected vehicles can lose power for up to 20 seconds, which sounds very dangerous.
- Only 0.1% of the potentially affected cars reported the problem, which can be fixed via a software update.
Suddenly losing power and coasting for up to 20 seconds sounds quite scary, especially if you're midway through overtaking another vehicle.
That’s the potential issue faced by 70,852 electric BMWs manufactured between 2022 and 2024. The company has issued a recall for what it describes as faulty drive motor software. The affected models are 35,414 i4s built between 2022 and 2025, 4,674 i5s from 2024 and 2025, 5,484 i7s built in 2024 and the 25,280 iX SUVs manufactured from 2022 through 2024.
BMW had originally attributed it to issues with the drive units themselves, not the software that controls them, but it was so rare that it couldn’t find what the problem was.
The manufacturer notes that between 2021 and 2022, it received warranty claims related to the issue, all of which appeared to indicate a possible fault in the drive motor. However, after extensively checking the motor, high-voltage battery and electronic control units, BMW didn’t find the source of the issue.
Because the number of reports and warranty claims was very low, “it was not possible to associate each specific claim with the supplier production issue.” It then continued the investigation into the issue through 2023 and 2024, when it became clear that there wasn’t anything physically wrong with the vehicles.
According to the recall notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA), BMW explains that it was eventually able to pinpoint the problem as “a true double-isolation condition, which warranted a high-voltage system shutdown," even though it was "in fact, only a single-isolation condition.
In such cases, and as a fail-safe measure, the high-voltage system was shut down in order to prevent any possibility of electric shock and/or thermal risk.”
Thankfully, even though unexpectedly losing power can be very dangerous, BMW says that when this power loss occurs, the power steering and brakes continue to function as designed, allowing you to maintain control of the car.
The manufacturer reports that 43 warranty claims were filed as a result of this defect, accounting for less than 0.1% of all potentially affected vehicles, indicating that it was a very rare occurrence. No accidents or injuries were officially linked to this defect.
The remedy is a simple software update that can either be performed at a dealer or over the air in vehicles that support this function. Dealer notifications will begin on June 13, while owners will be notified starting August 5.
