[steve090619]

Why does car alert me to change oil when i have 1300 miles to go? Next month I have to look at notification warning

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by steve090619

Why does car alert me to change oil when i have 1300 miles to go? Next month I have to look at notification warning

BMWs have always given a fair bit of warning. It's simply a yellow rather than a red warning. Gives people enough time to plan a visit to the dealer, work around trips, etc.

[MikeElmendorf]

The annoying part is that you can’t fully dismiss the alert.

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by ADS-UK

BMWs have always given a fair bit of warning. It's simply a yellow rather than a red warning. Gives people enough time to plan a visit to the dealer, work around trips, etc.

An alert being on that long just conditions you to ignore them.

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by nlaak

An alert being on that long just conditions you to ignore them.

1,000+ miles is nothing to a quite lot of people. I do 90 miles a day, so the warning is only about 2 weeks. And for us in the UK, we do need to book services in advance (2-3 weeks) if we want to get a courtesy car.

I know it's not the same for everyone but BMW along with many others are not able to satisfy all customers, all the time.

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by ADS-UK

1,000+ miles is nothing to a quite lot of people. I do 90 miles a day, so the warning is only about 2 weeks. And for us in the UK, we do need to book services in advance (2-3 weeks) if we want to get a courtesy car.

I know it's not the same for everyone but BMW along with many others are not able to satisfy all customers, all the time.

Absolutely it's not long for some people, but for me, it'd be 3-4 months. It'd also be that way for people that don't DD their BMW. Having the time interval being triggered by a fixed number of miles is pretty stupid, it should take into account normal mileage (or allow you to set that) / driving habits, etc.

Previous cars I've own have shown a specific "oil life low" and only pop it up on engine start, so it's clear/concise and not in your face all the time. Having a generic alert and needing to go check "what is this alert" is terrible UI and will cause other alerts to easily get masked unless every single time you start the car you go check "what alerts do I have".

"Alert fatigue", or whatever you'd like to call it, is a real thing and forcing people to see an alert for months is definitely going to cause some/many people ignore things they should not ignore.

Edit: Look at it this way, most fuel warnings are something like 50 miles of range left based on your current mpg. That's all the oil change indicator needs to be.

[AP]

I think this says a lot about how good the car is if this is the complaint.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by AP

I think this says a lot about how good the car is if this is the complaint.

^This.

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by AP

I think this says a lot about how good the car is if this is the complaint.

Iconography and user interfaces are ever more critical in today's cars. A friend of mine works for a well known automaker (not BMW) and we've had some good chats about some of the dumb ass icons car makers use. There's also a lack of commonality among makers which just makes it harder for people to comfortably switch cars.

Think of how crappy the toolbar icons are on something like Office or Windows sometimes. How unclear the icon is IRT the function itself. It's worse (IMO) when you're in a 4000 pound car travelling at 70+ MPH.

[AP]

Yes I think ergonomics can take a back seat on consumer products these days where style is prioritised, having said that I think beemers are on the whole pretty good.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by AP

Yes I think ergonomics can take a back seat on consumer products these days where style is prioritised, having said that I think beemers are on the whole pretty good.

Yah their (BMW) motorcycles are really nice to.

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by nlaak

Absolutely it's not long for some people, but for me, it'd be 3-4 months. It'd also be that way for people that don't DD their BMW. Having the time interval being triggered by a fixed number of miles is pretty stupid, it should take into account normal mileage (or allow you to set that) / driving habits, etc.

Previous cars I've own have shown a specific "oil life low" and only pop it up on engine start, so it's clear/concise and not in your face all the time. Having a generic alert and needing to go check "what is this alert" is terrible UI and will cause other alerts to easily get masked unless every single time you start the car you go check "what alerts do I have".

"Alert fatigue", or whatever you'd like to call it, is a real thing and forcing people to see an alert for months is definitely going to cause some/many people ignore things they should not ignore.

Edit: Look at it this way, most fuel warnings are something like 50 miles of range left based on your current mpg. That's all the oil change indicator needs to be.

You are pretty much explaining what you want than what's appropriate for a larger portion of consumers - 50 miles is impractical for something like an oils change. That by the way is journey to work for many people.

I think the solution lies in between. I don't find the warning intrusive in any way. It comes up when you start the car and stays in alerts. No big deal. It's been the same for me in my last couple of BMWs too.

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by ADS-UK

You are pretty much explaining what you want than what's appropriate for a larger portion of consumers - 50 miles is impractical for something like an oils change. That by the way is journey to work for many people.

I think the solution lies in between. I don't find the warning intrusive in any way. It comes up when you start the car and stays in alerts. No big deal. It's been the same for me in my last couple of BMWs too.

You're not following me. Of course 50 miles would be ridiculous, the oil life monitor 'system' needs to be adaptive based on the driving style of the owner - just like the low fuel indicator in most cars.

I fully understand how someone that drives 1500 miles a month needs a 1000 mile warning on oil life, that's totally reasonable. But to force everyone to that is a poor design. When I get my M5 (or possible M550i, I haven't decided) a warning 1000 miles before the oil life 'expires' will literally be more than 3 months. My current car will be 3 years old on 8/2 this year and I have ~10,500 miles on it.

It comes up when you start the car and stays in alerts.

See, and this is where you're really not listening. It is a big deal. It's a well known phenomena: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Alarm_fatigue

Sure, this is less critical in a car than in healthcare (as in the wiki article), but if I'm buying a car where an engine replacement is $40,000 USD - it's plenty damn critical. Your belief that it's no big deal doesn't change the realities of the situation.

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by AP

Yes I think ergonomics can take a back seat on consumer products these days where style is prioritised, having said that I think beemers are on the whole pretty good.

I don't current have a BMW so I don't have any first hand experience in their general ergonmoics, etc on a daily basis but it annoys the hell out of me when companies spend a $1B developing a new car and designing incredible user interfaces and then fall down on the simple stuff. Digital dashes, infotainment, soft touch controls, etc are generally pretty poor across the entire industry.

[SoCal540]

Originally Posted by steve090619

Why does car alert me to change oil when i have 1300 miles to go? Next month I have to look at notification warning

Why not get your oil changed as soon as BMW will do it? My dealer will change my oil as part of the included service with 2,000 miles remaining and reset the idiot light... just saying it makes sense to me to get it done.

[Qsilver7]

If you unlock your cluster...I believe you can go to TEST 16 (CBS) and scroll through the screens of that test to see what the time & distance limits are for your car.

I wonder if any of the coding software apps allow you to change those limits...if it can be done...then this is something that the OP could do to make it better for their situation since the 1300 mile warning is too long for their taste.

Just a thought.

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by nlaak

I don't current have a BMW so I don't have any first hand experience in their general ergonmoics, etc on a daily basis but it annoys the hell out of me when companies spend a $1B developing a new car and designing incredible user interfaces and then fall down on the simple stuff. Digital dashes, infotainment, soft touch controls, etc are generally pretty poor across the entire industry.

Wait, you currently don't drive a BMW and was speculating how the warnings should work??? :

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by ADS-UK

Wait, you currently don't drive a BMW and was speculating how the warnings should work??? :

What does that have to do with anything? It's a car, it has an oil life monitor. There's no reason not to make it intelligent, and I'm not speculating, I'm commenting.

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by nlaak

What does that have to do with anything? It's a car, it has an oil life monitor. There's no reason not to make it intelligent, and I'm not speculating, I'm commenting.

This specific comment below where you are talking about UI without actually knowing/experiencing how iDrive 6 handles these alerts on a daily basis.

Originally Posted by nlaak

Previous cars I've own have shown a specific "oil life low" and only pop it up on engine start, so it's clear/concise and not in your face all the time. Having a generic alert and needing to go check "what is this alert" is terrible UI and will cause other alerts to easily get masked unless every single time you start the car you go check "what alerts do I have".

[nlaak]

Originally Posted by ADS-UK

This specific comment below where you are talking about UI without actually knowing/experiencing how iDrive 6 handles these alerts on a daily basis.

You know what I'm done trying to talk to you. Feel free to think you know best.

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by nlaak

You know what I'm done trying to talk to you. Feel free to think you know best.

Did I say anywhere that I know better than others? If anything, I simply highlighted the difficulty companies have in satisfying different groups of customers.

You don't have to speak to me. It's your choice. However, I'm sure many of us would appreciate factual and real-world experiences. By all means, share new ideas too but don't hyperbole.

[CLABRO]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

If you unlock your cluster...I believe you can go to TEST 16 (CBS) and scroll through the screens of that test to see what the time & distance limits are for your car.

I wonder if any of the coding software apps allow you to change those limits...if it can be done...then this is something that the OP could do to make it better for their situation since the 1300 mile warning is too long for their taste.

Just a thought.

This.

Also, I wonder if the Bimmerlink or Carly app would allow you to clear the notification. I know it's not necessarily a diagnostic code because in that case you could clear it, but it's a service type indicator.

Lastly, it wouldn't hurt to ask the dealer if there was a way they could change the notification warning to only come on when you have say <100 miles to go (or whatever is best for you).