[bmw530e]

A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in the car with my friend in the passenger seat parked in her driveway. The car was on for heat, but the gear was in park and the parking brake was also engaged. Neither of my feet were near the pedals. All of a sudden, the car accelerated very aggressively and launched itself into her garage, breaking her garage door and damaging her two cars inside, pushing them into the front of the garage. Right after that, with the same speed, it sped backwards on to the middle of the street. I tried pressing the brakes but it did nothing to stop the vehicle. The car sped up so fast, there were very deep skid marks with melted rubber left on the driveway.
I believe this to be some sort of mechanical malfunction with the vehicle and don't believe it is safe to drive at this time. Luckily it was late and no one was around, but this could've been fatal if someone was nearby.
Has anyone else experienced something similar?

[LogicalApex]

That's very concerning!

Are you using third party floor mats or anything that could have interfered with the accelerator?

My car won't allow transiting from P to D without holding the unlock button. It also won't allow transitioning to R without holding the unlock button during the transition into R. To prevent unintentional gear selections that can lead to situations like this. The car also won't automatically remove the parking brake without Auto H being active (if my memory is correct as I drive exclusively with Auto H on and am remembering back to my tests when I took delivery 5 years ago).

How were you able to get the vehicle under control again? Did engaging Neutral make any difference? Or was the gear selector entirely non-functional after it started behaving erratically?

[darkrom]

Theres a number of safety features that would have had to have failed for this to happen. Not saying its impossible, but I can't even imagine how it could have happened.

First thing I thought about as well was floormats. This doesn't explain it but its usually involved in most unintended acceleration issues.


Somehow for this to happen it bypassed the gear selector safety mechanisms including the unlock button AND brake pedal input, acted on its own to go into gear, then ALSO acted on its own to accelerate without pedal input? Very strange.

[LogicalApex]

I've been pondering this one for a bit as it is very concerning!

The only two scenarios I can possibly think of that could cause this... One with a floor mat and another with Cruise Control (CC).

In both scenarios I can think of the car wasn't in P, but was brought to a stop with Auto H activated. When you've stopped the car in this manner it will show PARK in the instrument cluster, but the subtle difference is PARK will be illuminated green instead of red. The parking brake will be activated, but Auto H will automatically disengage it when it is no longer needed.

The secondary condition would be a floor mat shifting up and then pressing the accelerator. Auto H would disengage the parking brake and accelerate...

The other would be the car previously being in CC and since it was brought to a stop and parked via Auto H. The CC can be reactivated by simply hitting "resume" on the steering wheel and the car will attempt to come up to the previous CC speed very quickly. It will also automatically disengage the parking brake in this scenario.

The only way I could think R would happen in either scenario would be accidental engagement when attempting to get the car into N to stop its unintended forward momentum. Grabbing the shifter in such a way you press the button at the same time could cause that issue.

If the car truly did go from P to D with no human intervention at all you should log a complaint with NHTSA and press your insurance company, BMW, or NHTSA to get the cars black box pulled so BMW can be forced to issue a recall. As that's an extremely serious safety issue.

[430Scud]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

I've been pondering this one for a bit as it is very concerning!

The only two scenarios I can possibly think of that could cause this... One with a floor mat and another with CC.

In both scenarios I can think of the car wasn't in P, but was brought to a stop with Auto H activated. When you've stopped the car in this manner it will show PARK in the instrument cluster, but the subtle difference is PARK will be illuminated green instead of red. The parking brake will be activated, but Auto H will automatically disengage it when it is no longer needed.

The secondary condition would be a floor mat shifting up and then pressing the accelerator. Auto H would disengage the parking brake and accelerate...

The other would be the car previously being in CC and since it was brought to a stop and parked via Auto H. The CC can be reactivated by simply hitting "resume" on the steering wheel and the car will attempt to come up to the previous CC speed very quickly. It will also automatically disengage the parking brake in this scenario.

The only way I could think R would happen in either scenario would be accidental engagement when attempting to get the car into N to stop its unintended forward momentum. Grabbing the shifter in such a way you press the button at the same time could cause that issue.

If the car truly did go from P to D with no human intervention at all you should log a complaint with NHTSA and press your insurance company, BMW, or NHTSA to get the cars black box pulled so BMW can be forced to issue a recall. As that's an extremely serious safety issue.

Can you provide a definition for the acronym "CC"?

[430Scud]

Originally Posted by bmw530e

A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in the car with my friend in the passenger seat parked in her driveway. The car was on for heat, but the gear was in park and the parking brake was also engaged. Neither of my feet were near the pedals. All of a sudden, the car accelerated very aggressively and launched itself into her garage, breaking her garage door and damaging her two cars inside, pushing them into the front of the garage. Right after that, with the same speed, it sped backwards on to the middle of the street. I tried pressing the brakes but it did nothing to stop the vehicle. The car sped up so fast, there were very deep skid marks with melted rubber left on the driveway.
I believe this to be some sort of mechanical malfunction with the vehicle and don't believe it is safe to drive at this time. Luckily it was late and no one was around, but this could've been fatal if someone was nearby.
Has anyone else experienced something similar?

This should be reported and investigated.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index
There is a process for reporting incidents like this.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by 430Scud

Can you provide a definition for the acronym "CC"?

That's fair, I meant Cruise Control or is cousin Automatic Cruise Control

[430Scud]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

That's fair, I meant Cruise Control or is cousin Automatic Cruise Control

Cruise control cannot (should not) activate below a specific speed. The owners manual would speak to what the threshold is, or you may have to test it. Usually the minimum is 25 or 30 mph. Nor can it be activated from a standstill to resume a setting, until you reach the minimum threshold speed.

Applying the brake will always deactivate cruise control, and the brake should always be able to overcome the power of the engine.

But of course if there is a software fault or broken sensor, then anything is possible.

[darkrom]

Still can’t describe a scenario where this is possible. So if it happened take this in for forensics. If you’re just trying to play off an accident to insurance, they will find that in the black box etc. this is for sure one of the weirder ones. I won’t call you a liar, but explaining how this is possible really bends my mind.

Any chance you work for a spy agency and someone wants you dead 😅

[G30M]

it's happened to electric vehicles before

too easy with software glitches. not sure why we don't see this with gas engines (most also use software to control throttle, used to be a wire connected to the pedal)

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...af-evs-recall/

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...d+acceleration

[AP]

Another possibility to consider
Was it on an incline ?
Forget what bmw call it but if you are on a slip and take you foot off the brake , the car will hold it there but only temporarily. After I think it’s a couple of seconds, the brakes come off and it’s back to you just wondering if it might be that?

You don’t see anything in the dashboard , the car just does it in the background

[G30M]

[darkrom]

Originally Posted by G30M

it's happened to electric vehicles before

too easy with software glitches. not sure why we don't see this with gas engines (most also use software to control throttle, used to be a wire connected to the pedal)

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44575583/80000-nissan-leaf-evs-recall/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ev+unintended+acceleration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S62epvpsdx8

Usually in EVs they have a fully digital mechanism to switch gears etc correct? No actual physical stalks or levers to move etc?

[G30M]

Originally Posted by darkrom

Usually in EVs they have a fully digital mechanism to switch gears etc correct? No actual physical stalks or levers to move etc?

so is the G30 BMW i'm afraid. even the brake is digital. the only thing physically connected is the steering wheel.

[Chappers 71]

Originally Posted by G30M

so is the G30 BMW i'm afraid. even the brake is digital. the only thing physically connected is the steering wheel.

Old Skool

[darkrom]

Originally Posted by G30M

so is the G30 BMW i'm afraid. even the brake is digital. the only thing physically connected is the steering wheel.

But rather than push a button you need to move the gear selector which is still blocked by a physical switch locking you out from moving it. If he can’t push it between drive and neutral and reverse without that button now, how could it be broken?

[Chappers 71]

The OP has only made this 1 post & hasn't been online here since, if this had truly happened the way the post reads you’d expect the OP to at least check in to read the many responses…..

[bmw530e]

Originally Posted by Chappers 71

The OP has only made this 1 post & hasn't been online here since, if this had truly happened the way the post reads you’d expect the OP to at least check in to read the many responses…..

My father passed away and his funeral became my top priority. I am also not active on this site, I came here to try and get some opinions and see if this has happened to anyone else.

To address some of the other comments. The floor mat wasn't an issue and this is no insurance scam. We are working to try and get the black box checked out to see what really happened. This is one of the most crazy things I have ever had to deal with. I wasn't touching any pedal at all. My friend sitting with me, whose property was damaged, can vouch that nothing was touched. We were simply sitting in the car and it all of a sudden sped up and crashed. The kind of speed in which it launched couldn't have happened due to any fault on my part. I have looked at examples of EVs having unintended acceleration incidents, but though this car is a hybrid, I never charge the car, so I don't know how it could have been caused by the electric motor.

BMW has decided to get the diagnostics done. Once they figure out what happened we will know the exact cause.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by bmw530e

My father passed away and his funeral became my top priority. I am also not active on this site, I came here to try and get some opinions and see if this has happened to anyone else.

To address some of the other comments. The floor mat wasn't an issue and this is no insurance scam. We are working to try and get the black box checked out to see what really happened. This is one of the most crazy things I have ever had to deal with. I wasn't touching any pedal at all. My friend sitting with me, whose property was damaged, can vouch that nothing was touched. We were simply sitting in the car and it all of a sudden sped up and crashed. The kind of speed in which it launched couldn't have happened due to any fault on my part. I have looked at examples of EVs having unintended acceleration incidents, but though this car is a hybrid, I never charge the car, so I don't know how it could have been caused by the electric motor.

BMW has decided to get the diagnostics done. Once they figure out what happened we will know the exact cause.

PHEV is both an EV and a ICE sharing the same drive train, so it's basically an EV.

for example when you press the brake pedal, it's not connected to the brake, it's connected to a computer that decides whether to use the brakes or to use EV motor regen.

when you press the gas pedal, the computer decides whether to use the EV motor or to fire up the ICE.

the computer decides. what if the computer does whatever it wants?

(mind you my car is not a PHEV and yet the computer also controls the ICE and the brakes, it just doesn't have an EV component. everything is computer nowadays)

i hope you get the black box and see what it says.

[d4700]

Originally Posted by G30M

it's happened to electric vehicles before

too easy with software glitches. not sure why we don't see this with gas engines (most also use software to control throttle, used to be a wire connected to the pedal)

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...af-evs-recall/

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...d+acceleration

My hypothesis regarding unintended acceleration events being more prominent with EVs is that they are SO much quicker from a standstill than the gasoline-powered vehicles typically driven by folks who confuse the gas pedal for the brake pedal. Thus, the mishap unfolds well before the shock goes away and the consequences are much greater.

Mash the throttle in a Tesla and you'll hit 30mph before your mind registers what you've done. Do the same in a modern granny crossover and it'll hardly open the throttle plate in that same amount of time!

There's no difference in driver input. Gas cars have been using e-shifters for well over 15 years now and drive by wire for much longer. Fun fact, the G30 530e's gas pedal module is the same part # as the one in the E60 and E90!

And as far as I am aware there is still a physical connection to the brake hydraulics in the G30 as it does not use e-DSC like the G05, for example

[G30M]

Originally Posted by d4700

And as far as I am aware there is still a physical connection to the brake hydraulics in the G30 as it does not use e-DSC like the G05, for example

in the gas cars i think yes, but in the PHEV like a 530e, surely it has some form of DSCi - how else does the car decide whether to use regen application of the e-motor and when to switch to hydraulic brakes, when you press the brake pedal.

[d4700]

Originally Posted by G30M

in the gas cars i think yes, but in the PHEV like a 530e, surely it has some form of DSCi - how else does the car decide whether to use regen application of the e-motor and when to switch to hydraulic brakes, when you press the brake pedal.

Interestingly enough, BMW used a disconnected (i.e. "brake-by-wire") system in the E72 hybrid but never fully again until the G12 LCI and G05 when DSCi was put into production. All of their other hybrid cars (excluding the F15, which uses a BBW rear axle), including the G30, use physically connected brake systems.

Inputs from the DME, EME, and DSC determine the regen current allowed and thus the brake tension commanded by the DSC. That's why you feel that mushy spot in the pedal before the friction brakes kick in at speed with the non-DSCi hybrid cars, and when you're at a stop, that mushiness partly goes away (no regeneration at low speeds).

I've had some seat time in the G05 hybrid with DSCi and, although it feels a little bit "fake," it is leaps and bounds ahead of the physically connected brake system. The pedal is predictable and firm unlike the G30, which is mushy and inconsistent in its feel. And after reading the technical information on it, I have no concerns about its safety.