2016 Bmw I3 - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2016 BMW I3 has not been rated for safety by the NHTSA. It comes equipped with standard electronic stability control but lacks forward collision warning and lane departure warning features. The car has received 26 complaints and has been subjected to 2 recalls. While the specific crash ratings are not available, potential buyers should take these factors into consideration when evaluating the overall safety of the BMW I3.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

26

Recall Count

2

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2016 BMW I3 5 HB RWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2016 BMW I3 5 HB RWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2016 BMW I3 5 HB RWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2016 BMW I3 5 HB RWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2015 Score 2016 Score 2017 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2015 Score 2016 Score 2017 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2015 Score 2016 Score 2017 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Complaints for the 2016 Bmw I3

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2016 bmw i3. the contact stated while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. additionally, the contact stated that after making a turn, the steering wheel failed to properly return to center. no warning lights were illuminated. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic however, the cause of the failure could not be duplicated. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 88,000."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2024-04-01
Complaint:
"previously reported a steering incident no. 11438343. dealer indidicated that there was a "bug in the software" and that the car would be entitled to a one time fix under extended warranty. dealership worked on the issue and completed the warranty repair on 11/28/2021 and i picked up the vehicle. upon starting the car, the steering felt "different". i turned right to exit the dealership and tried to straighten the car but the steering turned full left and i crossed into the opposite lane of traffic. i stopped, turned the wheel to center, let it go and it turned full left on its own. i shut the car off, restarted and steering was normal. drove back to the dealership for them to complete the repair. dealership reported that this has occurred once for them but they cannot get it to repeat so they are going to keep the car for a few days. i am concerned that they will consider this an out of warranty repair because they were clear that they would offer a "one time fix" for the known issue."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2023-04-10
Complaint:
"vehicle experiences periodic loss of "power steering". very difficult to steer or control. steering does not re-center making control difficult. steering is restored after shutting down the car for a few minutes. dealership cannot find any faults or codes."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2023-03-10
Complaint:
"power steering failure while in motion - operating the vehicle on public roadway - making it difficult and dangerous to navigate a turn. no warning lights appeared."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2022-11-03
Complaint:
"every 3 to 21 days, my steering pulls hard to the left. this occurs on flat roads on dry pavement. i have to pull the steering wheel hard to the right to keep the vehicle going straight at city driving speeds (0-35 mph). on one occasion this occurred while on the freeway driving at 70 mph. tire pressures are all within spec and tires are in great shape. after stopping and restarting the car, it sometimes will go away. in looking at the bmw recalls and technical notes, they have no solution to this problem and call it a software issue. this has happened to me at least 6 times."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2021-09-09
Complaint:
"the steering becomes heavy intermittently. sometimes like there is no steering assist. also wheel does not come back to center after turns. typically on colder days and driving at slow speed."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2020-06-12
Complaint:
"while driving straight on a two-lane paved city street at about 30 mph the steering became heavy and pulled strongly to the left. clear weather, moderate temperatures. i stopped the car after a half mile or so, shut it off completely then restarted it. the problem was gone. it has not yet reappeared. tire pressures were on the low side of normal. none were abnormally low and the tires were in good shape. cause is unknown. dealer had no idea what happened."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2020-12-09
Complaint:
"while driving on the road speed about 40-50 mph, steering wheel suddenly became stiff and very hard to turn. the wheel does not want to center. it happened randomly and can't be reproduce easily. it happened 3 times in the past w months. i feel it very dangerous when this happened while on the road. it fixed itself the next morning."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2020-10-07

Recalls for the 2016 Bmw I3

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"bmw of north america, llc (bmw) is recalling certain 2014-2018 bmw i3 electric and hybrid electric vehicles. unbelted, small adult, drivers may be at a higher risk of neck injury in the event of a frontal crash. these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) number 208, "occupant crash protection.""
Consequence:
During a frontal impact, unbelted, small adult, drivers could be at a higher risk of neck injury.
Remedy:

BMW will notify owners, and dealers will update the Driver air bag control unit software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin January 8, 2018. Owners may contact BMW customer service at the dedicated i3 recall number 1-855-269-3361.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > FRONTAL
Date of incident: 2017-11-16

BMW Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

BMW ranks 12 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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