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BMW · NHTSA safety record

2019 BMW I3

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 13 safety complaints about the 2019 BMW I3 with the US government. Of those, 1 describes a crash and no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the hybrid propulsion system.

The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 6 complaints, 46% of the total.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers December 2019 to July 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

13 complaints on file

13

Complaints

1

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

0

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 6 · 46%
STEERING 4 · 31%
POWER TRAIN 3 · 23%
ENGINE 2 · 15%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 · 15%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 · 15%
HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 · 8%
SEAT BELTS 1 · 8%
SERVICE BRAKES 1 · 8%
STRUCTURE 1 · 8%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 · 8%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 13.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2025 at 4.

8 6 4 2
19 20 21 24 25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2019 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA has not crash tested the 2019 BMW I3. Its New Car Assessment Program tests a selection of each year's vehicles and does not reach motorcycles, heavy trucks, motorhomes or most low-volume models, so an absence here says nothing about how the vehicle would perform. It is not a low score.

What owners have reported about this vehicle is below, and it is a different question: a crash test measures what happens to the people inside in a controlled impact, while a complaint records what broke during ordinary use.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM

19V599000 · August 14, 2019

The defect
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2019 i3 BEV, i3 REx, and i8 vehicles. A circuit board problem within the Electric Motor Electronics (EME) module may shutdown the supply of high-voltage electrical power.
The risk
A shut down of high-voltage electrical power would result in a loss of propulsion, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
BMW will notify owners, and dealers will replace the EME module, free of charge. The recall began October 11, 2019. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.

BMW of North America, LLC · up to 139 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations

1 on file

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Pedestrian alert sounds

DP22005

Closed defect petition · opened January 27, 2023 · closed August 7, 2023 · led to recall 22V063000

the electrical system

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

SERVICE BRAKES

crash

We were sitting at a traffic light for a few minutes behind another vehicle. Suddenly, our car accelerated very quickly. My foot was on the brake when the car accelerated. I felt the brake pedal depress further as it accelerated. I initially thought a car had hit us from behind and propelled us forward, but there was no car behind us. We were moving as though we had just started a drag race - full acceleration - and the brakes did not respond. We crashed into the car in front of us at full acceleration despite me pumping the brakes at least twice. It was surreal. We drive a 2019 BMW i3. It’s an electric vehicle and I wondered if there was som electrical failure. The car stopped only because

NHTSA complaint 11671462, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM

towed · 43,000 miles

The contact owns a 2019 BMW I3. The contact stated that while stopped in traffic on a bridge, the vehicle stalled, and independently shifted to park(P). The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The Police arrived on the scene and directed traffic around the vehicle until a tow truck arrived to take the vehicle to a local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) module had failed and short circuited the safety box inside of the high voltage battery and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact referenced NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V599000 (HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM) as a

NHTSA complaint 11646562, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The car has lost power on the highway multiple times and gone into Limp mode with no warnings on the dashboard. The Rex engine has failed to start as well. Very dangerous on the highway going 20 mph trying to make the next exit. The car has been back to the BMW dealer multiple times (over 2.5 months at the dealer ) with no repair. They are now offering to take the car in trade. The car is still under the EV warranty in California. Seems they and BMW engineering don’t know how to repair the car and are now putting the burden on the consumer.

NHTSA complaint 11751920. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
This is an electric vehicle. I experienced a sudden loss of all power while traveling on the interstate in heavy traffic. I nearly lost control of the vehicle as it would not respond to my inputs. I had to cross two lanes of dense interstate traffic to get to a safe area to pull over and it was terrifying because the car just suddenly shut down while traveling at highway speeds. The dealership that I had the car towed to did some diagnostic work and said that "EME" had failed. The EME is the main processor that controls all electrical functions in the vehicle. My understanding is that 2019 BMW i3's were recalled due to failures of the EME due to corrosion. How my car was missed in that

NHTSA complaint 11737149, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SEAT BELTS
In early September, a "driver retention system" error appeared the dash display of my '19 i3. I searched the issue on line and tried but failed to resolve it. A few weeks later, the seat belt alarm stopped going off when the belt was clasped. At this point, I had no choice but bring it in for a fix. The dealer advised that there would be a $305 fee to diagnose the problem. They found a faulty belt buckle that failed in normal use. To fix it was going to cost another $805.22 to replace the buckle. I had no choice but to authorize this work. I believe safety related equipment should be covered by the manufacturer, beyond the normal warranty for a minimum of 10 years. Using AI, i find

NHTSA complaint 11695052, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
The range extender did not turn on while I was driving the car. When the range extender failed to work the car slowed down from 70+ mph to as low as 7 mph in minutes. The car then limped along for several minutes at this dangerously slow speed until the range extender turned on. Once the range extender began working, the car took off like a rocket, going from 7 mph to 70 in seconds. There are no warning lights or indicators in the car that show if the range extender is going to turn on or if it will fail to turn on. This has happened four times while I was driving on a a highway and once while I was driving on a road with heavy traffic. The first instance happened in [XXX] on my ride back

NHTSA complaint 11638411, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the BMW I3

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2018 14 3 —
2017 52 3 —
2016 33 2 —
2015 47 3 —
2014 54 4 —

Other 2019 BMW models

X5 190 X3 170 X7 47 330I 41 430I 21 530I 15 R 1250 GS 15 530E 13

Complaints on file, same model year.

Every BMW on this site — 257 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst