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      11-15-2019, 01:08 AM   #1
ivdes07
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Is the xDrive45e dangerous?

Hello,

I would like to open a specific topic on the X5 Hybrid fire in Belgium, although it is already covered in other conversations.

I should take delivery of my X5 Hybrid next week but, following this fire, I admit that my pleasure is totally ruined.

I don't think I'm being paranoid about whether it wouldn't be irresponsible to park this car in a closed garage: in my case, my garage is on the ground floor of a 3-storey building, the ceiling of the garage being the slab on which the 1st apartment is built. When you see the fire in the car park in Belgium, I can't imagine what would happen if my car caught fire in the middle of the night.

What I find really regrettable is that BMW does not communicate anything on the subject. There are also these rumours of a recall launched a few days ago for a wiring problem that one might think is related to the fire in Belgium.

It seems to me that:
or BMW does not (yet?) know the cause of this fire and plays the card of caution by suspending deliveries and manufacturing while recalling vehicles already in circulation;
or BMW knows the cause of the fire and communicates the reason for it while informing about the measures taken or to be taken and states that there is no danger either of driving with the hybrid version or of parking it in a closed area.

In my opinion, there is nothing worse than silence that opens the door to all rumours and hypotheses.

Two days ago I wrote to BMW Switzerland the following message:

Hello,

My xDrive45e (WBATA61060 LZ...) arrived at the dealership last week and I should take delivery in the next few days.

However, it is with great concern that I read about the brand new X5 hybrid that burned in Belgium and I would like to know the official position of the manufacturer before taking any risk of experiencing the same misadventure. We cannot imagine what would have happened if this fire had started in a closed area such as a garage.

isrodrig @ BMW X5 xDrive 45e hybrid: Photos and features

https://www.hln.be/.../

I would therefore greatly appreciate BMW's views on this incident, which can only cause doubts and concerns, as soon as possible. Are the causes of this fire identified? Are the rumours of a recall of cars already built or a delay of several months in future deliveries true or false?

In the hope of a prompt response and with my best regards.


No answer, no return to date. I find it incredible that, given the stakes, my request is not processed immediately.

What would you do in my place? Would you take delivery of your car next week?
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      11-15-2019, 01:55 AM   #2
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IMO, BMW knows EXACTLY what happened with that car in Belgium. Currently, a team of lawyers and accountants are all collaborating on how best to handle this PR mess, without letting anyone know about it, while simultaniously weighing hiding the problem versus the existence of potential lawsuits and deaths.

A recall for an electrical fault, and an unexplained fire on a 3-week old car????

And BMW DEAD SILENT on the matter??

No way in Hell would I take that car.
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      11-15-2019, 02:04 AM   #3
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From what I have heard BMW doesn't know the root cause just yet of that X5 45e that burned down in Belgium.

Source is coming from another person who also drives same model and was in contact with BMW.

I'm one of the first ten (or so) owners of a X5 45e in Belgium, I took delivery a couple of weeks ago and while my car is in the garage now for the recall on the preheater cable they don't know yet if that was actually the root cause. So my car is definitely staying outside of the garage that is connected to my house.

So your concern is justified in my opinion.
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      11-15-2019, 02:59 AM   #4
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I assume they probably don't know the cause yet and are investigating. For sure the insurance company will want to know the exact cause.
Like it was said in a thread, who knows the cause is a mistake from the owner and is not related to the car itself at all.
Maybe even crime is involved (exaggerating much) , we really don't know anything, only rumours.

What I do expect is that BMW would contact owners to for example park the car outside for now, just in case.
(don't know if they did, but I'v read some owners that got contacted by their dealer)

I would also expect them to hold any deliveries too. (are they doing this?)

I ordered an X5 45e mid October (delivery March 2020), didn't hear anything yet from my dealer.
Didn't contact them myself either because I'm getting there next week to change to winter tires. Then I will ask about it for sure.

I do understand BMW to be careful with communication about anything, you don't want to send out false information because you reacted to quickly and they have the commercial damage control also.

Side note: Is driving a Tesla dangerous? I heard more stories about them burning up... How did Tesla deal with all this?
Side note 2: I've read about non-hybride non-bmw cars burning up too.

Also, there are these stories that a hybrid/EV keeps burning, in fact this is not the case, they can put out the fire. The issue with the batteries is that the fire restarts after a while because of the chemical reactions. So if it's underground, they should be perfectly capable of putting it out and pulling the car out to completely handle it outside.

Last edited by awosy; 11-15-2019 at 03:07 AM..
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      11-15-2019, 03:10 AM   #5
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This is the answer I am receiving right now from BMW Switzerland:

Thank you for your e-mail of 13 November 2019.

We regret that you have to worry about the incident in Belgium.

We cannot yet make any statements on the incident in Belgium. BMW conducts extensive investigations into these types of incidents. As these investigations have not yet been completed, we are not yet in a position to comment on the cause of the fire.

In principle, however, we may share the following information with you:

BMW will only put vehicles on the market after they have been thoroughly inspected and tested. For this reason, such incidents should not occur if our products are handled properly.

In the event of irregularities which appear only after the placing on the market, the recalls shall be carried out immediately.

We ask you to understand that no more detailed statements can be made at this time.

Best regards


Otherwise: let's trust....
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      11-15-2019, 03:35 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivdes07 View Post
This is the answer I am receiving right now from BMW Switzerland:

We cannot yet make any statements on the incident in Belgium.

As these investigations have not yet been completed, we are not yet in a position to comment on the cause of the fire.

We ask you to understand that no more detailed statements can be made at this time.
Gee... that doesn't sound like it was written by a lawyer at ALL...
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      11-15-2019, 04:44 AM   #7
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My concession called the day the incident occurred. (I'm taking delivery next week) Confirming that they don't know yet what the cause is. But they will keep me updated if more information is available.

There was a delivery stop issued a few weeks before the incident. I assume the vehicle was delivered before this delivery stop. If not...I don't want to be that concession at the moment. :-)

For me I'm 100% confident that BMW will not take any risks. I'm sure customer safety and their good reputation will be top priority.

But I hope they will be honest in their communication towards customers (that have a X5 xdrive45e on order) and that they don't hide behind lawyer talk.

I want to know the cause of the incident. What they did to solve/avoid it. I might not understand all of it but for me it's crucial in keeping confidence in the brand.
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      11-15-2019, 05:19 AM   #8
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I share your concern. Im also not excited anymore to receive my 45e (February)...
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      11-15-2019, 05:26 AM   #9
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I just heard today that my order (late July) is being put together at the plant right now. The news about the fire is just about the last thing you'd like to learn of while waiting for a new expensive car. We don't know the cause for some time and it's useless to guess but when you have your own car coming it's hard not to speculate.

Had they built a million G05 hybrids, you'd allow for a number of cars to malfunction somehow at some point. But they've only built a few thousand at most and all of them are still being broken in! Self-ignition sounds really bad to me although lives are rarely lost in this kind of accidents. Erroneous design, defective manufacturing, flawed quality control, what else?!

Taking a deep breath, I think we can only wait for the cause to be investigated and then expect and demand BMW to communicate properly and to do everything needed to prevent this from ever happening again, it if is their fault.

After a second or third case of fire I would really start to worry, but now I am looking forward to taking delivery in about two months -- and hopefully we are all wiser about this by then.
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      11-15-2019, 05:40 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by awosy View Post
I assume they probably don't know the cause yet and are investigating. For sure the insurance company will want to know the exact cause.
Like it was said in a thread, who knows the cause is a mistake from the owner and is not related to the car itself at all.
Maybe even crime is involved (exaggerating much) , we really don't know anything, only rumours.

What I do expect is that BMW would contact owners to for example park the car outside for now, just in case.
(don't know if they did, but I'v read some owners that got contacted by their dealer)

I would also expect them to hold any deliveries too. (are they doing this?)

I ordered an X5 45e mid October (delivery March 2020), didn't hear anything yet from my dealer.
Didn't contact them myself either because I'm getting there next week to change to winter tires. Then I will ask about it for sure.

I do understand BMW to be careful with communication about anything, you don't want to send out false information because you reacted to quickly and they have the commercial damage control also.

Side note: Is driving a Tesla dangerous? I heard more stories about them burning up... How did Tesla deal with all this?
Side note 2: I've read about non-hybride non-bmw cars burning up too.

Also, there are these stories that a hybrid/EV keeps burning, in fact this is not the case, they can put out the fire. The issue with the batteries is that the fire restarts after a while because of the chemical reactions. So if it's underground, they should be perfectly capable of putting it out and pulling the car out to completely handle it outside.
All valid points, there are also YouTube videos of Lambo's that burn out. That wouldn't really stop me one day to buy a Lambo if I'm completely honest.

However, since it's a hybrid car and putting out a battery fire is near impossible I'm not putting the car in garage attached to my house.
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      11-15-2019, 07:10 AM   #11
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My $.02 is that the fire probably did not start in the battery compartment, so it’s not the hybrid part to blaim.
If it’s the cable issue, that’s only on the 45e, but it’s being addressed, this feature could have been installed on any version of the G05 so again that’s not the hubrid part.
You could argue that all G05 are at risk now and should be parked outside.
If an ICE car burns down during the night your garage will also be up in flames.
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      11-15-2019, 08:49 AM   #12
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I would at least park it outside of the house if possible....this is a new hybrid system and BMW doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to year 1 vehicles. They seem to need at least one year to work out software and assembly issues.
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      11-15-2019, 09:02 AM   #13
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I'm still (impatiently ) awaiting the delivery of my 45e.

I'm not really concerned with the news, other than feeling sorry for the owner. I never planned to put the car in the garage anyway so I've had the charging station installed in my car port. And I certainly don't consider the 45e to be dangerous. Not any more than any other car regardless if it's an EV, PHEV or has an ICE. (I could tell you some stories about the e-tron which would deter some people from buying one )

BMW has a solid reputation in building electrical cars. I'm sure that if somehow this issue is related to the car being Hybrid, they will get it sorted out.

I personally tend to agree with the people who think the fire did not start in the battery compartment. Whatever the root cause I hope BMW communicates openly and clearly about it.
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      11-15-2019, 09:19 AM   #14
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Lots of speculation and panic with no facts. Only 1 car out of how many? Keep Calm and Drive On!
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      11-15-2019, 09:56 AM   #15
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You state that the car is not dangerous but at the same time say you do not intend to put the car inside the garage. A bit contradictory...
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      11-15-2019, 10:03 AM   #16
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But i have to state i agree the fire does not seem related to the battery compartment.
It seems related to this:


https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/vid...lames-47364947
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      11-15-2019, 11:01 AM   #17
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I believe they will track it down to Audi employees running around with blow torches. They need the extra revenue to pay off the DieselGate fines so making BMWs look like a fire waiting to start is part of their master plan for increased market share.
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      11-15-2019, 11:07 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kebiN View Post
You state that the car is not dangerous but at the same time say you do not intend to put the car inside the garage. A bit contradictory...
How so? I don't think the car in itself is dangerous. And certainly not any more so than a Tesla or Audi for example. Finger pointing this particular car is nonsense in my opinion.

The reason why I decided not to put it (or any other electric vehicle) in my garage is simple risk mitigation. It doesn't mean I think this car is dangerous.
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      11-15-2019, 11:14 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kebiN View Post
But i have to state i agree the fire does not seem related to the battery compartment.
It seems related to this:


https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/vid...lames-47364947

In another thread somebody posted the recall documents for the auxiliary heater ground wire. That brought things like this to mind

Of course. until BMW releases an official statement everything we say is only speculation
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      11-15-2019, 11:20 AM   #20
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My partner works in an insurance company. The chance that my house burns down from one of the numerous domestic electrical appliances in the house is much greater then my 45e gets toasted in the garage
So the 45e will sleep inside. But we have fire sensors in the house and garage.
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      11-15-2019, 11:26 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Heavyd View Post
My partner works in an insurance company. The chance that my house burns down from one of the numerous domestic electrical appliances in the house is much greater then my 45e gets toasted in the garage
So the 45e will sleep inside. But we have fire sensors in the house and garage.
I understand why news stories focus on "stories" - it's all about the emotional connection. But sometimes I wish they provided actual data. Like what % of BMW's on the road have caught on fire, how does it break down by model and year, are there trends/patterns, etc.
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      11-15-2019, 08:36 PM   #22
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In other fiery news

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/15/77975...al-fire-hazard
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