[moldcad]

In my 46 years of driving experience this has been the first time I damaged my car while slowly reversing... I fell pray to how the iDrive "aids" are programmed. I was in a crammed parking lot, and had to reverse before being able to move forward; I engaged R and started slowly when the camera picture got replaced with the silly warning caused by my driver's door not being fully closed. Of course the car went to P, so not a big deal at this stage - I shut the door properly and immediately started reversing again, being sure the warning screen would disappear and reveal my camera view instantly and automatically... But it didn't, and the next thing I felt was a slight boom! Even though I was reversing extremely slowly, I was unlucky in that the vehicle behind me was a high truck so I touched it with my tailgate rather the the bumper! The result you can see on the picture attached...So please always keep in mind that:

- the other (warning) screen kept obscuring my camera view for much too long after I eliminated the source of the warning

- for a reason I cannot comprehend, the "warning conditions" not only obscured reversing camera screen, but turned off the distance control beeps - effectively rendering me blind and deaf

Beware!

Piotr

[ORIGIN M.]

So it was caused by your door being opened while moving.

Interesting, and good to know.

[Rayscott]

Ouch, sorry to see that but thanks for the warning.

[Beartato]

It's called mirrors.

[XutvJet]

I guess it's good to know all of this, but reliance on these aids is not a good driving practice. You really should look behind you when backing out. The camera, the sensors, and your side mirrors are simply aids. Secondly, BMW is trying to keep you safe by warning you that your door was open. Once you closed the door, then you should wait until the backup screen is fully viewable. It sounds to me like a little patience and a quick look behind the shoulder would have negated this accident.

[RoundelM3]

Does your car not have the park-distance option where it beeps if you get too close to something and shows a diagram on the iDrive screen? If not, then looking at the mirrors would be a recommended way to back up instead of relying solely on the camera(s).

[breezygirl]

Originally Posted by roundel335

Does your car not have the park-distance option where it beeps if you get too close to something and shows a diagram on the iDrive screen? If not, then looking at the mirrors would be a recommended way to back up instead of relying solely on the camera(s).

He says the warning turned off both backup camera screen & the beeps. Best to look over your shoulder. Ouch!

[RoundelM3]

My car has neither of those options, and I've yet to have a problem backing up. Wife's newer car has both options, but we still look in the mirrors. Guess that's what we are used to, having learned to drive before there were such things - and cars were WAY bigger then than now.

[xantdieselx]

Agreed. The technology is great but has its limitations even when working as intended. I always double and triple check with my mirrors as well.

[RPM90]

A backup camera is included in sub $20K cars, but BMW doesn't include one in my $52K 340i. And, I will NOT pay BMW prices for such things, because I'm 51yrs old and have done just fine, thank you, without backup cameras and beeping warnings.

When you do pay for those extra items, then they NEED to work!
OP, your experience shouldn't have happened, and it sucks that it did.
You paid for technology that is supposed to increase your safety when backing up and/or parking, and it FAILED.

Granted, you should have had your door closed before moving, but WTF? Seems BMW can't design a system that can figure out that you are backing up with your door open, that then warns you that your door is open, while at the same time obscuring and shutting off the added technological aids that are supposed to help you NOT HIT something.

That's even more stooooopid that the f'ing ridiculous "driver modes" that get put into cars these days.
You should contact BMW NA and related your experience to them.
BMW likely won't help you, but they need to know what happened.
Also, open a case with the NHTSA. Your situation is a safety issue directly related to safety items, and thus warrants a report.

[omera60]

The OP is from Poland so...

[pikcachu]

One thing I've noticed is that sometimes there is some lag between the camera and sensors and reality. Like you already stopped but the camera keeps moving or you stopped but the beeping increases in intensity. Specially if the car just restarted or you just turned on the backup camera. Like if the processor wasn't fast enough to load

[airansun]

I very much appreciate the extra help of the camera and parking 'assistant', but they're extra; I still scan all the mirrors.

This is my first car with all this stuff and I can see how, over time, a person could become increasingly dependent on all of it. When I turn my head, distance lines don't appear in my vision the way they do on the camera.

[moldcad]

Thanks guys for such a lot of comments. Interestingly though, only one of them was critical about how stupid iDrive works (by displaying door open warning forever after they had been closed, while obscuring camera screen and turning off PDC beeps) - most of them were patronizing me for not looking back or using my rear view mirrors Really - if I took advise from some of you and reported this incident to BMW, that's exactly what they would have answered! But you - my M235i fellow owners - should know better than that, especially that at the very beginning of my message I did say that in my 46 years of driving (cars which didn't have those aids), I never ever hit anything while reversing...Heck - I never hit anything at all, ever!

It's not my ego being hurt with all this patronizing, but really you should have refrained from comments like this. I'm very well aware one shouldn't trust those modern aids completely, and that has been the very reason to tell my story here: to warn you my fellow forum members, so that you know about this scandalous iDrive "quirk" and avoid damaging your beloved cars. Cheers

Piotr

PS. You can imagine how painful it is for me to even look at this dent in my cherished M235i's tailgate. But I realize how any of you my stupidity critiques would feel if he fell pray of a similar technology misbehavior, and knocked down a child rather than another vehicle. So I'll just repeat what I finished my OP with: beware!

[Icy J]

Originally Posted by moldcad

I shut the door properly and immediately started reversing again, being sure the warning screen would disappear and reveal my camera view instantly and automatically... But it didn't, and the next thing I felt was a slight boom!

Sorry to hear, but if you were really this close to hitting the truck, would the PDC not have been going apeshit beforehand, which should've indicated that you were very close? My reversing camera has occasionally gone MIA and when that happens I don't blame the technology (it comes back after a car restart), use my mirrors and look instead, and if I forget well that's my fault

[moldcad]

Again: where did I say it wasn't my fault?

Piotr

[Icy J]

Originally Posted by moldcad

Again: where did I say it wasn't my fault?

Piotr

Originally Posted by moldcad

In my 46 years of driving experience this has been the first time I damaged my car while slowly reversing... I fell pray to how the iDrive "aids" are programmed.

- for a reason I cannot comprehend, the "warning conditions" not only obscured reversing camera screen, but turned off the distance control beeps - effectively rendering me blind and deaf

Beware!

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, and if that's the case then please forgive me - but your post gives me the impression you're saying 'I'm really experienced but the technology managed to screw me over'. You're certainly not blind nor deaf without the reversing camera and PDC (unless you're legally blind and deaf in which case I apologise).

Interestingly though, only one of them was critical about how stupid iDrive works (by displaying door open warning forever after they had been closed, while obscuring camera screen and turning off PDC beeps) - most of them were patronizing me for not looking back or using my rear view mirrors

but really you should have refrained from comments like this

You seem particularly dismayed that people are questioning that you didn't use your mirrors or check physically before continuing to reverse instead of jumping to agree that the system is flawed, which makes me inclined to think you want the focus and blame to be on the temporary lack of the reversing camera when this could easily have been avoided by checking beforehand.

Maybe I should rephrase. I do agree that this might be a problem with the system. I disagree with the way you present it - as something that you have no control over and will fuck you over if it happens. If you had hit a child, I'm not so sure you would be on here going on about how your reversing camera wasn't active instead of how you should always make sure everything is clear before moving regardless of what the technology is saying.


Anyway, take everything with a grain of salt. Not like I perfectly check everything around the car before moving either lol

[Kiwi]

The car always says don't 100% believe what you see and if your not sure you must get out of the car and check.
What I have done is back out of the garage to soon as the garage door was not fully up so took the shark fin off the top of the car.

[breezygirl]

Reading the OP's additional comments there is still a lot of blame being put on BMW's technology.

As the OP even says in his title they are simply "aids", I'm not seeing how the technology actually failed. I see a couple driver errors and the final mistake of immediately backing up and the assumption that the camera and sensors would be on instantly. If you are going to fully rely on the technology and not look in the mirrors or shoulder check then best you make sure it's actually working first.

Shaming the forum members for simply pointing out how this all could of been avoided & the comment about us falling prey possibly to a similar "technology failure" and hitting a child seemed to be a bit dramatic and guilt tripping.

I'm sure the OP feels very bad for what has happened and we all have made split second mistakes. Sorry if I sounded too harsh and I truly do feel very bad for the OP, may it be a lesson for all of us.

[Gabrola]

Originally Posted by pikcachu

One thing I've noticed is that sometimes there is some lag between the camera and sensors and reality. Like you already stopped but the camera keeps moving or you stopped but the beeping increases in intensity. Specially if the car just restarted or you just turned on the backup camera. Like if the processor wasn't fast enough to load

Same happens to me.

Originally Posted by moldcad

Thanks guys for such a lot of comments. Interestingly though, only one of them was critical about how stupid iDrive works (by displaying door open warning forever after they had been closed, while obscuring camera screen and turning off PDC beeps) - most of them were patronizing me for not looking back or using my rear view mirrors Really - if I took advise from some of you and reported this incident to BMW, that's exactly what they would have answered! But you - my M235i fellow owners - should know better than that, especially that at the very beginning of my message I did say that in my 46 years of driving (cars which didn't have those aids), I never ever hit anything while reversing...Heck - I never hit anything at all, ever!

It's not my ego being hurt with all this patronizing, but really you should have refrained from comments like this. I'm very well aware one shouldn't trust those modern aids completely, and that has been the very reason to tell my story here: to warn you my fellow forum members, so that you know about this scandalous iDrive "quirk" and avoid damaging your beloved cars. Cheers

Piotr

PS. You can imagine how painful it is for me to even look at this dent in my cherished M235i's tailgate. But I realize how any of you my stupidity critiques would feel if he fell pray of a similar technology misbehavior, and knocked down a child rather than another vehicle. So I'll just repeat what I finished my OP with: beware!

I feel you man. I won't be talking on behalf of everyone, but I'll personally admit that at times I rely on parking assistance way more than I should and you get more comfortable and less attentive than you should be. It's moments of least danger where one tends to be most careless.

There was one time I was backing into a garage parking space and there was this huge vent that was going out of the wall at trunk level and up into the ceiling (it did not continue into the ground and was not low enough to register with the PDC sensors). It was like 1 meter deep and I was just backing into it with just my eyes on the iDrive screen (didn't have camera at the time) to get it as close as possible to the wall until I looked over my shoulder and realized I was millimeters away from denting my trunk lid.

There was also another time where I usually back out of a parallel park in front of an apartment building I lived at for a month or so and during my entire stay no one parked behind me once. On my last day fate would have it that someone park behind me, and while I was backing up, the car behind me was far away from the curb enough that it was not visible in my side mirror and I was so focused on the side mirror as to not curb my wheel that I somehow forgot that there was a car behind me and my mind just filtered out all the PDC beeps until it was too late. Luckily I only popped off some tabs on my diffuser and no damage to the other car, but it was extremely embarrassing.

Finally, don't stress out over this. Thank god you're okay and at the end of the day your trunk lid will be fixed. It happens to the best of us, even this guy

[XutvJet]

Accidents happen but this was avoidable. Every driver should know not to proceed with driving until everything is working as it should. If it's broken, then you need to adjust accordingly. The OP decided to go ahead and back up even though he knew the driving aids weren't working as they should momentarily. There's nobody to blame but the driver here.

Lastly, the parking sensors and backup camera do have their limitations in terms of their viewing angles and scanning areas.

Again, they are driving aids and not a substitute for defensive driving by a human. This also why I'm not a fan of autonomous driving systems. They will have their limitations but humans will rely on them for all situations.

[msej449]

Talk about patronising!

I for one would like to thank the OP for taking the time and trouble to let the rest of us know about another annoying quirk of the iDrive.

I assumed that like all the other systems I've used, the BMW PDC remains in operation while I'm manoeuvring - rather than going offline for a few seconds to tell me something that is secondary to what I'm doing. It's just bad design.

The interminable time it spends rendering pointless chassis pictures every time I switch between drive modes is bad enough, but this is even more annoying.

So to the OP: Keep posting useful stuff like this - many thanks.

This info will be useful next time I'm parking my M-Lite: