[farhanbmw2021]

Hi Team - this is super scary and horrifying. I suffered a Drivetrain Malfunction on my new X5 45e. I have a 2021 X5 45e with only 6000 miles. Came out from a Target and noticed a Drivetrain Malfunction indicator light on saying its safe to drive but with reduced power. While in the parking lot I called the dealer service department and they said bring the car in and they told me it was safe to drive. As I was driving, the car kept gasping for breadth and continued to have jerks in power as if fuel was bring cut off. The aircon completed shut off (not cooling at all). Now came the nightmare - after about 15 mins of driving, the car stalled completely as it there was no power to the drivetrain. Pressed on the gas pedal - no power as if it was in neutral. The car was gliding. I was on a two lane business road without a shoulder. After a few seconds the car came to a complete standstill with engine on, transmission in D and no power at all. It was like the aircraft has no engines. By this time, I was just 2000 feet away from the dealer. Very scary situation, traffic was dangerously coming fast and breaking when they saw me stranded. Someone could have hit me from behind had I not directing traffic. Anyway it was a horrifying experience. The dealer came and picked me up - managed to restart the car and take it to the dealership. The car is at the dealer and after five days, they have still not be able to able to come up with a diagnosis. They want to do some more tests to determine what might be the issue. I was in a life threatening situation with a car completely stalled on a busy road. Like someone said above - we don't need a repair, we need an answer to this horrifying episode. I did inform BMW NA about this via a call today. Has anyone had the dealer solve this problem for them ? What is the likelihood that the problem might not occur again. I had just completed a long road trip. I could have easily been stranded in the middle of nowhere! Can someone please provide any insights as I am very scared of the car stall. This is my 4th BMW - I believe in the brand but my confidence is going to be severely tested. Thanks - Farhan

[sunfarm]

I am going to get my new X5 45e March 25 and will see. But this is a big issue.

[jad03060]

You may want to record this on the www.nhtsa.gov website. This is the first time someone has mentioned it on a forum that I read, but by reporting it there, if they detect a pattern, or multiple incidents, it can help the whole community and force the issue to the manufacturer. Keep us apprised of what they find. It’s probably a one-off, but who knows until they figure out what actually happened and why.

[adr1974]

Originally Posted by farhanbmw2021

Hi Team - this is super scary and horrifying. I suffered a Drivetrain Malfunction on my new X5 45e. I have a 2021 X5 45e with only 6000 miles. Came out from a Target and noticed a Drivetrain Malfunction indicator light on saying its safe to drive but with reduced power. While in the parking lot I called the dealer service department and they said bring the car in and they told me it was safe to drive. As I was driving, the car kept gasping for breadth and continued to have jerks in power as if fuel was bring cut off. The aircon completed shut off (not cooling at all). Now came the nightmare - after about 15 mins of driving, the car stalled completely as it there was no power to the drivetrain. Pressed on the gas pedal - no power as if it was in neutral. The car was gliding. I was on a two lane business road without a shoulder. After a few seconds the car came to a complete standstill with engine on, transmission in D and no power at all. It was like the aircraft has no engines. By this time, I was just 2000 feet away from the dealer. Very scary situation, traffic was dangerously coming fast and breaking when they saw me stranded. Someone could have hit me from behind had I not directing traffic. Anyway it was a horrifying experience. The dealer came and picked me up - managed to restart the car and take it to the dealership. The car is at the dealer and after five days, they have still not be able to able to come up with a diagnosis. They want to do some more tests to determine what might be the issue. I was in a life threatening situation with a car completely stalled on a busy road. Like someone said above - we don't need a repair, we need an answer to this horrifying episode. I did inform BMW NA about this via a call today. Has anyone had the dealer solve this problem for them ? What is the likelihood that the problem might not occur again. I had just completed a long road trip. I could have easily been stranded in the middle of nowhere! Can someone please provide any insights as I am very scared of the car stall. This is my 4th BMW - I believe in the brand but my confidence is going to be severely tested. Thanks - Farhan

How did they manage to start it?

[farhanbmw2021]

Originally Posted by jad03060

You may want to record this on the www.nhtsa.gov website. This is the first time someone has mentioned it on a forum that I read, but by reporting it there, if they detect a pattern, or multiple incidents, it can help the whole community and force the issue to the manufacturer. Keep us apprised of what they find. It’s probably a one-off, but who knows until they figure out what actually happened and why.

This is a very good idea! I never thought about it. I have read one other 2021 M50i owner run into exactly the same issue just a few days ago. So there is are two of us. NHTSA must be brought in the loop as the issue is serious enough to be elevated. Thank you Sir for your advice / suggestion! Very helpful to all!! Sure I will you all posted. I stopped by the dealer on Saturday (March 13th). They were still diagnosing - perhaps indicating to me that this is a pretty serious issue that the local tech could not pin point in over 3 days the car has been there. Let's see what I found out this week.

[farhanbmw2021]

Originally Posted by sunfarm

I am going to get my new X5 45e March 25 and will see. But this is a big issue.

I am a BMW fanatic. I have been to Welt in Germany and heavily engaged with the brand. But this incident has definitely caused a major alert and concern. I don't think it has anything to do with hybrid. I read a post - a gentlemen has a 2021 M50i and he ran into the same issue early March. I am told my case was discussed in the senior leadership meeting at the dealer. One the senior sales managers told me - this is a BIG thing and will not be taken lightly. Please keep an eye on my future updates. Thanks - Farhan

[sebseb]

I'm guessing your battery was completely drained and you couldn't drive it to the dealer in electric mode or was the engine malfunction not even allowing you to drive in EV mode?

[codex57]

I'd still make sure NHTSA is in the loop to keep BMW honest.

[Eu001939]

Originally Posted by adr1974

How did they manage to start it?

Yes, how did they start it ? Where you driving electric or on ICE ?

And what was the battery indicating ? And was the motor still running ?

[njapilot1]

Originally Posted by sunfarm

I am going to get my new X5 45e March 25 and will see. But this is a big issue.

Keep in mind that thousands of X5 45e's have been sold and this is the first any of us have heard of this particular issue. It's easy to read these boards and see the complaints/issues people have and get anxious over your new ride. These are the 1%'ers here. Most of the vehicles work perfectly. It's important to educate yourself, and these boards are invaluable, just don't get overly worried. Chances are your car will be just fine. Also keep in mind that horrifying to one person is just another day to another. It's all relative.

[farhanbmw2021]

Yes - I am reporting to NTHSA with full disclosure of all dealer notes, fault codes, and the diagnosis that they come up with!!

[farhanbmw2021]

Originally Posted by njapilot1

Keep in mind that thousands of X5 45e's have been sold and this is the first any of us have heard of this particular issue. It's easy to read these boards and see the complaints/issues people have and get anxious over your new ride. These are the 1%'ers here. Most of the vehicles work perfectly. It's important to educate yourself, and these boards are invaluable, just don't get overly worried. Chances are your car will be just fine. Also keep in mind that horrifying to one person is just another day to another. It's all relative.

I appreciate your response and I noticed you also drive a BMW X5 45e. Just note that for a car to lose ALL power and stall on a highway is life threatening. NHTSA will be all over this. One fatality is a fatality. I have driven German cars and every vehicle I have owned has had some minor issue but this is too serious to be ignore - here is the reason why. If BMW cannot diagnose why this happened and just says - oh the software needed an update, I will be very worried. If they cannot pin point to what caused it, it is likely that this will happen again and someone someday might get hurt (I had a large semi brake hard when he saw me - it could have come and hit me and I might not have been here today). So we should not take these things lightly and must report them so a proper investigation can take place. If someone remembers the unintended acceleration of Toyota cars that killed many people got Toyota to pay 100s and millions of dollars in lawsuit claims let alone the loss in market share and company reputation. Where human life is involved, its good to be safe - there is no harm in getting to the bottom of this. If we find nothing - nothing is lost. If we find something - we might save lives! Good discussion here - love it! I will keep you all posted and I appreciate diversity of thought. Thank you sir!

[farhanbmw2021]

Originally Posted by Eu001939

Yes, how did they start it ? Where you driving electric or on ICE ?

And what was the battery indicating ? And was the motor still running ?

I was driving on hybrid mode - when I saw Drivetrain Malfunction - I thought the EV has issues so I changed to gasoline - and that is where the car started to gasp for breadth and eventually lost all power after about 5 mins of driving.

[farhanbmw2021]

Originally Posted by sebseb

I'm guessing your battery was completely drained and you couldn't drive it to the dealer in electric mode or was the engine malfunction not even allowing you to drive in EV mode?

I had almost 50% of the battery left! But my gut said that something might be wrong with the EV portion of the car so I changed the driventrain to gasoline (pressed sports mode- which gets the car into all gas) and that gave me most the problems. Seems like the problem was with the gasoline part of the engine.. they are still working on the diagnostics. I will know more tomorrow. Yes very strange.. (and worrying).

[nZtiZia]

farhanbmw2021
could there have been an issue with your wheel and tire setup that would strain the AWD system?

[bimmerwerks]

Originally Posted by farhanbmw2021

I was driving on hybrid mode - when I saw Drivetrain Malfunction - I thought the EV has issues so I changed to gasoline - and that is where the car started to gasp for breadth and eventually lost all power after about 5 mins of driving.

Why does this sounds like a bad gas? Did you fill up the gas right before?

This happened to be before on other car and car lost power because of bad fuel and clogged injector and burned fuel pump

[Dwillbimmer]

Given that you had no power from either the ICE or the battery, it seems likely that the common element is the drivetrain. Aren't the ICE and electric motor connected in the transmission? This may be a transmission problem.

[sunfarm]

Originally Posted by njapilot1

Keep in mind that thousands of X5 45e's have been sold and this is the first any of us have heard of this particular issue. It's easy to read these boards and see the complaints/issues people have and get anxious over your new ride. These are the 1%'ers here. Most of the vehicles work perfectly. It's important to educate yourself, and these boards are invaluable, just don't get overly worried. Chances are your car will be just fine. Also keep in mind that horrifying to one person is just another day to another. It's all relative.

You are absolutely right. Thanks. I am very exited to get my first BMW SUV and hope everything will be OK.

[jad03060]

The engine output and electric motor are essentially concentric so that one, the other, or both can provide power.

If the vehicle was driving along okay and you forced it into sport mode, which wants to use primarily the ICE, and the ICE or the logic controlling it was messed up, the EV mode might just have been still fine. The error message is not explicit enough to say exactly what was wrong, but the computer did detect something was, and alerted you. Manually switching into ICE mode via sport may just have been the thing that lost you all of your propulsion capability, as long as there was still charge left in the batteries. Still not right, but maybe self induced.

[njapilot1]

Originally Posted by farhanbmw2021

I appreciate your response and I noticed you also drive a BMW X5 45e. Just note that for a car to lose ALL power and stall on a highway is life threatening. NHTSA will be all over this. One fatality is a fatality. I have driven German cars and every vehicle I have owned has had some minor issue but this is too serious to be ignore - here is the reason why. If BMW cannot diagnose why this happened and just says - oh the software needed an update, I will be very worried. If they cannot pin point to what caused it, it is likely that this will happen again and someone someday might get hurt (I had a large semi brake hard when he saw me - it could have come and hit me and I might not have been here today). So we should not take these things lightly and must report them so a proper investigation can take place. If someone remembers the unintended acceleration of Toyota cars that killed many people got Toyota to pay 100s and millions of dollars in lawsuit claims let alone the loss in market share and company reputation. Where human life is involved, its good to be safe - there is no harm in getting to the bottom of this. If we find nothing - nothing is lost. If we find something - we might save lives! Good discussion here - love it! I will keep you all posted and I appreciate diversity of thought. Thank you sir!

Originally Posted by farhanbmw2021

I appreciate your response and I noticed you also drive a BMW X5 45e. Just note that for a car to lose ALL power and stall on a highway is life threatening. NHTSA will be all over this. One fatality is a fatality. I have driven German cars and every vehicle I have owned has had some minor issue but this is too serious to be ignore - here is the reason why. If BMW cannot diagnose why this happened and just says - oh the software needed an update, I will be very worried. If they cannot pin point to what caused it, it is likely that this will happen again and someone someday might get hurt (I had a large semi brake hard when he saw me - it could have come and hit me and I might not have been here today). So we should not take these things lightly and must report them so a proper investigation can take place. If someone remembers the unintended acceleration of Toyota cars that killed many people got Toyota to pay 100s and millions of dollars in lawsuit claims let alone the loss in market share and company reputation. Where human life is involved, its good to be safe - there is no harm in getting to the bottom of this. If we find nothing - nothing is lost. If we find something - we might save lives! Good discussion here - love it! I will keep you all posted and I appreciate diversity of thought. Thank you sir!

I don't disagree with you in the issue needing to be reported. The X5 45e is a relatively new vehicle and any and all safety issues should be reported. Your definition of horrifying and mine are different. That's all.

[adr1974]

Originally Posted by farhanbmw2021

Hi Team - this is super scary and horrifying. I suffered a Drivetrain Malfunction on my new X5 45e. I have a 2021 X5 45e with only 6000 miles. Came out from a Target and noticed a Drivetrain Malfunction indicator light on saying its safe to drive but with reduced power. While in the parking lot I called the dealer service department and they said bring the car in and they told me it was safe to drive. As I was driving, the car kept gasping for breadth and continued to have jerks in power as if fuel was bring cut off. The aircon completed shut off (not cooling at all). Now came the nightmare - after about 15 mins of driving, the car stalled completely as it there was no power to the drivetrain. Pressed on the gas pedal - no power as if it was in neutral. The car was gliding. I was on a two lane business road without a shoulder. After a few seconds the car came to a complete standstill with engine on, transmission in D and no power at all. It was like the aircraft has no engines. By this time, I was just 2000 feet away from the dealer. Very scary situation, traffic was dangerously coming fast and breaking when they saw me stranded. Someone could have hit me from behind had I not directing traffic. Anyway it was a horrifying experience. The dealer came and picked me up - managed to restart the car and take it to the dealership. The car is at the dealer and after five days, they have still not be able to able to come up with a diagnosis. They want to do some more tests to determine what might be the issue. I was in a life threatening situation with a car completely stalled on a busy road. Like someone said above - we don't need a repair, we need an answer to this horrifying episode. I did inform BMW NA about this via a call today. Has anyone had the dealer solve this problem for them ? What is the likelihood that the problem might not occur again. I had just completed a long road trip. I could have easily been stranded in the middle of nowhere! Can someone please provide any insights as I am very scared of the car stall. This is my 4th BMW - I believe in the brand but my confidence is going to be severely tested. Thanks - Farhan

Why don't you share how the dealer managed to start the car? Would be helpful in the event anyone else should encounter an experience similar to yours.

[rudyjay]

i just experience this issue yesterday at my work my x5 is brand new only have 698 mileage, im 15 miles away from my home so i have to drive my car on a side street running up to 3omi/hr and i got home safe, i have the check engine light on all that time, when i woke up this morning to bring my car to the dealer i started it and the check engine light went away no message about drive train malfunction but i still have to drove it to the dealer and i got a little bit disappointed, the service guy receptionist said they are fully book and i said im not bringing my car for service i drove her coz of the drive train malfunction and ask him if they priorities this type issues of brand new car with 698 mileage, and he told me to come back tuesday which is the 13th, but i couldnt do anything but to wait till tuesday i guess.