Electronics issues with the new 5 series F10

[allstars11]

The new 5 series has significant electronics issues

Mine is a 530D, bought in July 2010 (four months old). Within the last month, it broke down three times with an empty battery. Each time, the BMW mobility service jump-started the car and asked to have the car seen at the dealer. The Stuttgart dealer took the car, kept it two days (without a replacement car) and gave it back to me as "repaired". After a few days same thing: dead battery.

After many hours spent on the phone, taking the car to the dealer etc, I finally got a call from a BMW manager from the Stuttgart dealership who, to my biggest surprise, explained that my "driving style" is the problem and that, of course, they won't give me a series 5 replacement while mine is being looked at.

According to this BMW Stuttgart manager, I did too many short journeys. Reality that I drove thousand of km's in the last few weeks. Besides, are BMW's supposed to be driven only on long trips?

The computer display shows "increased battery discharge while vehicle is stationary", but there are no electrical appliances are connected to the car. There are also other random messages displayed sporadically by the computer.

My conclusion is that this car is not fully developed, and, if I could go back I would absolutely stay away from the new 5 series.

The other definite is that BMW's statement about how one should drive cars (i.e. I should only drive long trips) is ridiculous. This is real good example of the traditional BMW service culture: BMW are the policeman and the customer has to be guilty!

So much for "driving pleasure"...

[Lord DRIFT]

First year production run growing pains. This is to be expected, however the the kind of service you are receiving is not.

[cbras9]

So far BMW has changed out 3 parts on my 550 now they want to try a 4th This is very frustrating to have paid 74000 for a piece of junk

[BMW Qatar]

this is my 2cent on this issuse ..from what i can understand is that the new 2010 5 series is more on electronics and this consumes lot more battary then the old model. since driving in city does not recharge the battary to its optimal level so the battary drain out more quickley.

BMW should either upgrade your battary to more powerful one or they should fix their battary recharge system...i would talk to the BMW manager again on this..

[Sandhopper]

Just test drove a 11' 528i and the salesman explained that the brakes will regenerate during stopping activity so I would think that city driving should actually help keep the battery charged. He also mentioned that the alternator would only engage when needed (like an A/C compressor) so it sounds like there may be some issues with the alternator kicking on to charge the battery. Just a thought...

[marshalljahja]

I just got the some problem yesterday after I left my car for 3 weeks holiday. When I returned from my trip, the door couldn't be unlock from comfort access at driver's door. The door was unlocked by remote key. After that I was started the engine with "increased battery discharge while vehicle is stationary" message on iDrive screen and the steering wheel didn't back to memory position as well.

After I brought my car cruising around. Everything back to normal except the comfort access on the driver's door. I can't lock the door using comfort access at driver's door.
Comfort access is working normally in the three other passengers door. I'm aware this problem still related to the battery issue.

My question
Is there any tricks to fix this myself instead going to the workshop? Maybe like reset the electrical setting or something like that. Because I have to take a long queue if go to workshop.

Any advice would be much appreciate.

[joako]

The other definite is that BMW's statement about how one should drive cars (i.e. I should only drive long trips) is ridiculous. This is real good example of the traditional BMW service culture: BMW are the policeman and the customer has to be guilty!

Nobody is saying that you can only take long trips. Ask the dealer to show you the technical documents on this issue if you don't believe me.

But if you take exclusively short trips you will have battery issues. If you take exclusivly short trips and your battery dies it won't be covered under warranty. It's not a consipricy, these cars have very advanced electrical system with hundreds of power-draining components. This sort of arrangement in an automobile requires advanced battery charge and monitoring systems. A by-product of this is that the workshop can view statistics and tell you that the problem is your driving and furthermore BMW warranty will not pay to fix something that isn't broken... would you expect the warranty to cover a bumper after you hit something?

Now, if you disagree with what the workshop determined, maybe you can go and talk to them in a civilized and productive manner. They say you take short trips, tell them you disagree because you have driven at least 1.000 KM a week and see if the both of you can correlate the data.

But I am sure if you gave the dealer the same attitude as your post they will dismiss your claims. I don't know how you can come to such drastic conclusions about an automobile like you did when you have only driven a single one. Do you know how many man-hours went into research, development and testing? Are you aware that most technologies are shared across the entire BMW marque, especially with the 5 and 7-series cars? I haven't had the opportunity to get down and dirty with these new additions, but it wouldn't surprise me if most of electronics between the F01 and F10 were practically identical, that was the trend in the past 2 generations of these cars (E38-E39, E65-E60).

I would forget (for the time being) about the battery going flat and try to work with your dealer on the battery drain messages in a professional manner.

[Titanflux]

I wonder if the efficient dynamics and only recharging the battery when coasting or under braking is the issue? I don't think the intelligent alternator engages unless the car is under these conditions.

Maybe the OP's problem is this or a failure of the alternator to engage properly?

[jcoley2]

After many hours spent on the phone, taking the car to the dealer etc, I finally got a call from a BMW manager from the Stuttgart dealership who, to my biggest surprise, explained that my "driving style" is the problem and that, of course, they won't give me a series 5 replacement while mine is being looked at.

According to this BMW Stuttgart manager, I did too many short journeys. Reality that I drove thousand of km's in the last few weeks. Besides, are BMW's supposed to be driven only on long trips?

The computer display shows "increased battery discharge while vehicle is stationary", but there are no electrical appliances are connected to the car. There are also other random messages displayed sporadically by the computer.


OMG this sounds eerily like the problem I am having with my 2009 x6 50i and the reason it has been at the dealer for 3 weeks. Shortly after buying mine, I noticed the battery was draining. Dealer service rep told me I had an 'adverse driving profile' and that my trips were "too short" and I needed to "stop driving the car on short trips and drive it longer trips" or else not drive the car. WTF, Did she really say that. I was furious.

The new car sales manager intervened, said she did not know what she was talking about, put in a new alternator and battery and declare the problem fixed. (This occurred last Winter.)

Over the summer I had a complete discharge when I left the tailgate open for a 1.5 hour football practice, and the dome light completely drained the battery. I have never ever had a car do that. 2 hour wait for roadside service for a jump was the cure.

So guess what, new winter and as soon as it turned cold I hot the "Battery Discharge" error message three days in a row and the clock had to be reset. I knew I had a problem again.

Saw the dealer and wouldn't you know, same service writer (Jill) gave me the exact same speech on "adverse driving profile". I flipped and went to the owner. He intervened and put the head of service on the problem. They declared the battery had a bad cell and replaced it, checked it over several days and gave me it back.

As soon as I drove it off the lot, the water pump failed (I was getting an error saying "Temps too High" even though it is 10 degrees outside and the car had sat overnight.)

Took it back to repair the water pump a week later and told them the battery was discharging again. I told them: "fix the pump, fully charge the battery, let it sit two days, then check it and see what happens." If I am not driving it on short trips, then it is not my driving profile.

So, the service manager called me and said I was right. Apparently the battery holds 12.4 amps, and when it reaches 12.0 all hell breaks loose. They fully charged mine to 12.4, and within 2 days, it drops to 12.1 which is too close to 12.0 to drive the car.

They cannot find the short. They have had all their equipment on the x6 and do not detect any electronic system draining the battery. Something else is wrong.

At this point I am in discussions with dealer to take it back and credit me a 'fair amount' towards a new BMW or else I will go arbitration in CT can get the full value of the car back in cash. Unfortunately we are miles apart on the buyback amount.

I was planning of ordering a 2011 550ix M but your post is scaring me a little. Is not the x6 and 5 series on the same platform?

I am convinced they have undersized the battery for the car given all the electronics, or else something else is shorting it out, probably related to heated seats as it occurs mostly in winter.


Nobody is saying that you can only take long trips.

In my case, the dealer is saying I must drive it longer, although if you read my post below, I disproved that theory by having the car sit there for 2 days and rechecking the battery.


Ask the dealer to show you the technical documents on this issue if you don't believe me.

This is according to my lawyer how you win with the Lemon Law. There is nothing in the owners manual stating a minimum length of drive required. Plus, no arbitration board wold accept such a silly point.


But if you take exclusively short trips you will have battery issues. If you take exclusivly short trips and your battery dies it won't be covered under warranty. It's not a consipricy, these cars have very advanced electrical system with hundreds of power-draining components. This sort of arrangement in an automobile requires advanced battery charge and monitoring systems. A by-product of this is that the workshop can view statistics and tell you that the problem is your driving and furthermore BMW warranty will not pay to fix something that isn't broken... would you expect the warranty to cover a bumper after you hit something?


I do not agree at all on this. I have owned 27 cars over the years, all of which were NOT BMWs. I have lived in the same house for the past 12 years, and have had an Audi S6, Mercedes 500S, Porsche Boxster S and Jeep Grand Cherokee, all driven exactly the same way in the same driving profile: short trips during the week to and from train, with longer trips on the weekend. No other car has ever had this problem.

[Sephora]

OMG this sounds eerily like the problem I am having with my 2009 x6 50i and the reason it has been at the dealer for 3 weeks. Shortly after buying mine, I noticed the battery was draining. Dealer service rep told me I had an 'adverse driving profile' and that my trips were "too short" and I needed to "stop driving the car on short trips and drive it longer trips" or else not drive the car. WTF, Did she really say that. I was furious.

The new car sales manager intervened, said she did not know what she was talking about, put in a new alternator and battery and declare the problem fixed. (This occurred last Winter.)

Over the summer I had a complete discharge when I left the tailgate open for a 1.5 hour football practice, and the dome light completely drained the battery. I have never ever had a car do that. 2 hour wait for roadside service for a jump was the cure.

So guess what, new winter and as soon as it turned cold I hot the "Battery Discharge" error message three days in a row and the clock had to be reset. I knew I had a problem again.

Saw the dealer and wouldn't you know, same service writer (Jill) gave me the exact same speech on "adverse driving profile". I flipped and went to the owner. He intervened and put the head of service on the problem. They declared the battery had a bad cell and replaced it, checked it over several days and gave me it back.

As soon as I drove it off the lot, the water pump failed (I was getting an error saying "Temps too High" even though it is 10 degrees outside and the car had sat overnight.)

Took it back to repair the water pump a week later and told them the battery was discharging again. I told them: "fix the pump, fully charge the battery, let it sit two days, then check it and see what happens." If I am not driving it on short trips, then it is not my driving profile.

So, the service manager called me and said I was right. Apparently the battery holds 12.4 amps, and when it reaches 12.0 all hell breaks loose. They fully charged mine to 12.4, and within 2 days, it drops to 12.1 which is too close to 12.0 to drive the car.

They cannot find the short. They have had all their equipment on the x6 and do not detect any electronic system draining the battery. Something else is wrong.

At this point I am in discussions with dealer to take it back and credit me a 'fair amount' towards a new BMW or else I will go arbitration in CT can get the full value of the car back in cash. Unfortunately we are miles apart on the buyback amount.

I was planning of ordering a 2011 550ix M but your post is scaring me a little. Is not the x6 and 5 series on the same platform?

I am convinced they have undersized the battery for the car given all the electronics, or else something else is shorting it out, probably related to heated seats as it occurs mostly in winter.



In my case, the dealer is saying I must drive it longer, although if you read my post below, I disproved that theory by having the car sit there for 2 days and rechecking the battery.



This is according to my lawyer how you win with the Lemon Law. There is nothing in the owners manual stating a minimum length of drive required. Plus, no arbitration board wold accept such a silly point.



I do not agree at all on this. I have owned 27 cars over the years, all of which were NOT BMWs. I have lived in the same house for the past 12 years, and have had an Audi S6, Mercedes 500S, Porsche Boxster S and Jeep Grand Cherokee, all driven exactly the same way in the same driving profile: short trips during the week to and from train, with longer trips on the weekend. No other car has ever had this problem.

Curious as to what dealer you deal with in CT.

[jcoley2]

Curious as to what dealer you deal with in CT.

Darien. Why do you ask?

[Josher76]

I have the same problem on my 2008 335xi every winter. Need to reset time and date several times during the week in very cold weather. Dealer told me I need to take longer trips. Using the 'rest' feature seems to make it worse.

[Uncleants]

Munich - we have a problem! Much the same with my 523i F10 (October 2010). Low mileage driver (4-5k pa). Battery replacement warning after 8 months (why does this car not have a battery charge meter??).

Got BMW to replace free after much argument. Gave me same story ie 'driving style'. This is of course ridiculous - no other car I have owned ever had this problem.

I sent full trail of my correspondence with BMW UK MD (Tim Abbott) to Which magazine, Jeremy Clarkson and Car magazine. Which have responded and referred for further research. I will be writing to UK MDs of Mercedes, Audi and Jaguar to alert them of the problem too.

Very simply, BMW refuses to acknowledge a serious design flaw with the F10 5 Series that casues premature battery failure for low mileage drivers (I was told 10k is the minimum).

I want to put more pressure on BMW to either fix the problem or honour a minumum 3 year warranty on all new batteries. I will look at setting up a Facebook page and/or Twitter account to see if I find more owners with this problem but all suggestions welcome.

[jcoley2]

Not limited to just 5 series:

http://www.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=467757

[42Pilot]

This kind of makes sense since the battery is only charging on decel (EfficientDynamics) where the alternator is not robbing the engine of power (and therefore, mpg). I don't agree with BMW's EfficientDynamics on this one - wholly crap, charge the battery - period.

[wildvan]

This is a bit concerning, I traded in a Mercedes and went back to BMW, the Mercedes was driven mainly in town, 3-5 mile trips. This would happen for weeks and never a battery issue. I will be interested if my 550 starts acting up as this gets a few more miles on the highway, but this is my wifes DD and her work is 3.5 miles from the house and the mall is only 8.