BMW is recalling vehicles across its entire lineup of current-generation EVs in order to address a software glitch that can cause their drive motors to shut off unexpectedly. The company’s recall notification emphasized the fact that the glitch only impacts the drive motor itself, leaving the car’s braking and steering system operational despite the loss of power.
The recall campaign covers the 2022-2024 BMW i4, the 2025 i4 EDrive35 and EDrive40, the 2024 i5, the 2023-2024 i7 and the 2022-2024 iX. Altogether, the pool comprises nearly 71,000 sedans and SUVs. After identifying approximately 40 potential issues via previous warranty claims, BMW says the likely number of EVs on the road exhibiting a fault is less than 1%.
“In certain vehicle production configurations, the software may erroneously detect a double-isolation condition. As a fail-safe measure, this will cause a shutdown of the high-voltage system approximately 15-20 seconds after a warning message is displayed,” BMW’s recall notice said.
“Power assisted steering and braking are not affected,” it continued.
BMW says it was first alerted to the issue in 2021, but instances were so rare that its engineers were unable to isolate the cause. After more examples accumulated, BMW traced the issue to a fail-safe measure designed to protect against potential electrical shorts originating from the high-voltage system—the sort of gremlin that could cause damage to major components, injure occupants, or even start a fire.
Per BMW’s chronology, the fail-safe was likely being triggered by phantom electrical faults; while the company did not positively identify their source, the new software’s fail-safe mode should not trigger at random.
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Byron is a contributing writer and auto reviewer with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.
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