[Mamasgotkids]

I got a visit at my door today from the police (I think I died a little bit wondering who had died). They were trying to determine, a) did I own a red BMW? b) did I know where my husband was?

Thankfully he was reachable on his cell phone. The car was sitting where he left it at the park n ride, running...since about 7 am.

We have both key fobs in our possession, one at home with me, the other downtown at my husbands office. My husband knows the car was off and locked when he got on the bus this morning.

But when I showed up about 40 minutes ago at the park n ride, the car was locked, running and the radio on. Has anyone ever heard of the cars turning themselves on?

BMW says they can't get us in until May 28 (which is crap in my opinion). I'm not entirely sure I want to drive my own car tomorrow....

[Jamesons Viggen]

I might have heard something like this once before. It might have been an issue of Auto Stop Start or Comfort Access, I forget.

Was ASS enabled? The car might not have been off off, but in readiness stage due to the ASS.

[Mamasgotkids]

We do leave the ASS on because it doesn't bother us. I believe him when he said it was off because it wasn't simply get out of the car, and go, he had to get his bike off the top of the car. He would have noticed the car being on. Even with ASS, how would it have started up again though? I know I've had it in 'ASS ready' and tried to get out to get the mail (about two feet from the car because the mail key is on my key ring), and the car pretty much yells at me for it.

I'm wondering when the police will call me back and say it's on again.

[RoundelM3]

Yes, that sounds more like what the problem might have been. You pull into a parking lot with Auto Start-Stop enabled, the engine stops, put it in park/neutral and set the parking brake, get out and lock it. With the engine not running, it's easy to forget to push that engine stop button, especially if you're trying to catch that bus or train. May have started back up just before he got out of fob range.

[Jamesons Viggen]

Originally Posted by CoolDude196

+1
The user SomeRandomer123 had a similar issue. The car wasn't turned off, simply in 'ready' if I remember correctly

Yeah, he was the one I was thinking of!

[Mamasgotkids]

Thank you, I'll search for it. But if it's an ASS thing I don't think I'll be using that anymore...

It's also completely stupid that the car doesn't do something, and that it restarts again is insane. And that you can walk away with the key in ready mode (which I thought you couldn't do).

The only positive I can see is that it wasn't ME who did it!

[Jamesons Viggen]

Originally Posted by Mamasgotkids

Thank you, I'll search for it. But if it's an ASS thing I don't think I'll be using that anymore...

It's also completely stupid that the car doesn't do something, and that it restarts again is insane. And that you can walk away with the key in ready mode (which I thought you couldn't do).

The only positive I can see is that it wasn't ME who did it!

ASS can be coded OFF for free at your dealer. It will only come on when selecting ECO PRO and remembers to stay off if you turn it off after going from ECO PRO to another mode.

[CLittle]

This is strange since the engine should go from ready to off if the driver opens the door and unbuckles the seatbelt. Would it be possible that ASS took it to ready, husband opens door and unbuckles seatbelt first which car will turn engine to off, then he pushes the start stop button to turn off car but actually turned it back on? But seriously, who wouldn't be able to hear our car idling?...

[Mamasgotkids]

We argued with service and managed to get it looked at tomorrow. When my husband got back to the park n ride at 7 tonight, thankfully the car was off!

[Hayir]

ASS doesn`t start the car if the key is out of the car. I did try this couple times, left the car when it was at the ready position, when I came back it was turned off.

[Dan_335i]

Im assuming u had the 328i for a while now cause its 2012 and it happens now? next thing u no the car is going to drive away.

Originally Posted by Hayir

ASS doesn`t start the car if the key is out of the car. I did try this couple times, left the car when it was at the ready position, when I came back it was turned off.

turned off as in whole car is off or ASS was still off?

[Mamasgotkids]

We've had it since mid December. So 5 months. It had a software update I think in the last two to three months when we took it in because they left a transit spacer in the shock.

I'm starting to worry about this car!

[Hayir]

Originally Posted by Dan_335i

Im assuming u had the 328i for a while now cause its 2012 and it happens now? next thing u no the car is going to drive away.




turned off as in whole car is off or ASS was still off?

Turned off the car completely.

[Dinh335]

So much for ASS helping your fuel economy ... hope it gets resolved and your hubby deserves an ASS spanking if it was his fault.

[Boosted John]

we have had salesman here that thought they pressed the start/stop button but didn't press it hard enough i guess and the cars have been left running for hours. It is possible something like that happened.

[ric124]

Doesn't the car turn off from ready after you lock the car with the automatics? Mine does but its a 6spd manual. I don't hit the engine off button, once I park and put the car in neutral with foot off clutch car goes to ready, then i open the door and engine goes to off and when I lock the doors everything shuts down.

[elistan]

Originally Posted by Mamasgotkids

We argued with service and managed to get it looked at tomorrow. When my husband got back to the park n ride at 7 tonight, thankfully the car was off!

You're not the first one this has happened to. But it's a rare thing. There's no consensus on how it happens. People have tried to force it to happen but have been unable. My guess is it's some sort of bug in the car's programming that only shows up under certain circumstances, circumstances that are difficult to deliberately reproduce. Please let us know what the dealership comes back with. I suspect not much - they can fiddle with on, off, ready, etc., but unless there's a software update from the factory I doubt they can do much. I could very well be wrong though. So keep us informed!

This has never happened to our car, but there's no reason it couldn't.

[Mamasgotkids]

Originally Posted by elistan

You're not the first one this has happened to. But it's a rare thing. There's no consensus on how it happens. People have tried to force it to happen but have been unable. My guess is it's some sort of bug in the car's programming that only shows up under certain circumstances, circumstances that are difficult to deliberately reproduce. Please let us know what the dealership comes back with. I suspect not much - they can fiddle with on, off, ready, etc., but unless there's a software update from the factory I doubt they can do much. I could very well be wrong though. So keep us informed!

This has never happened to our car, but there's no reason it couldn't.

I'll let you know what they say. They have the car now. They kept trying to insist my husband left it fully on and running. My husband might not be able to find the dishwasher sometimes, but he's far from stupid. He would know if the car was running when he locked it. It's not like its a super silent Prius when it's running.
They probably won't be able to replicate it, but at least it's documented if it happens again.

[Mamasgotkids]

Originally Posted by Dinh335

So much for ASS helping your fuel economy ... hope it gets resolved and your hubby deserves an ASS spanking if it was his fault.

[jzheng02]

Even when the car is on ready, the car turns off as soon as I lock the car. Once I left the car running with ASS enabled when I ran back in the house to grab something. When I came back to the car, the car had turned off because the key was gone for too long.

[itwasepic]

It's A.S.S. I wish I knew all the nuances of A.S.S. One time, I too thought the engine was off but it actually wasn't. I figured it out 4 hours later.

My fix: went to the dealer and deactivated A.S.S. Haven't had an issue since.

[sr5959]

Although it's not a common occurrence (happens if you are very distracted when leaving the car) it is possible to leave the car running, lock it using the Comfort Access on the door handle. It doesn't turn itself off. I've had mine about 15 months; once I did this and car was left running for about 30mins while I was having coffee. It's annoying it should shut off when you lock the car from outside.