[Edc7891]

Hey guys, so unfortunately something really weird happened to my 2 day old mineral grey 328i sport line yesterday. I don't exactly know what happened or what was going on but did not find this anywhere on the internet or the manual...

I got into my car yesterday and closed the door. (i guess i didn't shut the door fully but the car didn't recognize this and everything was normal) i proceeded to go in reverse to pull out of my parking spot, i reversed for about 1 sec and the car suddenly jolted to a full stop and it automatically put itself in PARK... and this very loud grinding metal sound happened. Clueless and shocked, i continued to put the car in reverse again and it happened all AGAIN... then i noticed a little warning on the iDrive saying "To prevent vehicle rolling you should have your seatbelt on (In which i did not have on) and make sure the door was closed. So i put on my seatbelt on and checked if the door was closed (which it wasn't as well). Once i did those two things everything was normal again.

Is this normal? Why would my car fully stop itself so abruptly because i didn't close my door or put on my seatbelt? The funny thing is the car didn't say the door was open?!?

Anyways, i will call my dealership today and ask them but i have never heard a car doing that.. maybe there's something wrong with my car???

any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[CanadianDriver]

Originally Posted by timberland1

Is this normal? Why would my car fully stop itself so abruptly because i didn't close my door or put on my seatbelt? The funny thing is the car didn't say the door was open?!?

other forum members observed the same thing... it's a "safety feature" for the F30.

check with svache's coding thread to see if there's a way to override

[live4wknds]

The grinding metal sound you heard doesn't sound good (literally!). I've had a warning message for my back door not being closed all the way show on my dash. I'll have to see what happens if I leave the driver door ajar. Maybe.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by timberland1

Hey guys, so unfortunately something really weird happened to my 2 day old mineral grey 328i sport line yesterday. I don't exactly know what happened or what was going on but did not find this anywhere on the internet or the manual...

I got into my car yesterday and closed the door. (i guess i didn't shut the door fully but the car didn't recognize this and everything was normal) i proceeded to go in reverse to pull out of my parking spot, i reversed for about 1 sec and the car suddenly jolted to a full stop and it automatically put itself in PARK... and this very loud grinding metal sound happened. Clueless and shocked, i continued to put the car in reverse again and it happened all AGAIN... then i noticed a little warning on the iDrive saying "To prevent vehicle rolling you should have your seatbelt on (In which i did not have on) and make sure the door was closed. So i put on my seatbelt on and checked if the door was closed (which it wasn't as well). Once i did those two things everything was normal again.

Is this normal? Why would my car fully stop itself so abruptly because i didn't close my door or put on my seatbelt? The funny thing is the car didn't say the door was open?!?

Anyways, i will call my dealership today and ask them but i have never heard a car doing that.. maybe there's something wrong with my car???

any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

That is a poor execution of a "safety" feature.
Either the car knows it can be put in gear or it doesn't.
Allowing gear engagement only to slam itself into park and cause potential damage is one poorly executed safety feature.

Seems at some point the ECU realized the door may not have been completely closed. So what though, why slam into park? Makes no sense that BMW would design it that way. A chime with warning on the dash would be even better, and/or not allow the car to go past 10mph once in gear. That's much safer and keeps the mechanical whirly bits from chewing each other up.

Too many freaking control nannies in almost every aspect of modern cars.
A customer shouldn't have to "code" to get rid of some nonsense like this, IF this is what happened.
It's possible that the slam into park may have been coincidental to your door not being fully closed. I don't see how your seatbelt not being latched has anything to do with selecting a gear. That would be a new one if it is tied to being able to drive the car.

[huskercubfan]

Originally Posted by timberland1

Hey guys, so unfortunately something really weird happened to my 2 day old mineral grey 328i sport line yesterday. I don't exactly know what happened or what was going on but did not find this anywhere on the internet or the manual...

I got into my car yesterday and closed the door. (i guess i didn't shut the door fully but the car didn't recognize this and everything was normal) i proceeded to go in reverse to pull out of my parking spot, i reversed for about 1 sec and the car suddenly jolted to a full stop and it automatically put itself in PARK... and this very loud grinding metal sound happened. Clueless and shocked, i continued to put the car in reverse again and it happened all AGAIN... then i noticed a little warning on the iDrive saying "To prevent vehicle rolling you should have your seatbelt on (In which i did not have on) and make sure the door was closed. So i put on my seatbelt on and checked if the door was closed (which it wasn't as well). Once i did those two things everything was normal again.

Is this normal? Why would my car fully stop itself so abruptly because i didn't close my door or put on my seatbelt? The funny thing is the car didn't say the door was open?!?

Anyways, i will call my dealership today and ask them but i have never heard a car doing that.. maybe there's something wrong with my car???

any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I did a very similar thing and it made the same grinding noise. Although, I don't know if it put me in Park... I don't think it did.

[wai2sexy]

i tried backing out of a parking spot with the driver's side door open so i could watch the curb. car did the same thing where it reversed a bit and then automatically shifted into park. i put it into reverse a couple more times and the same thing happened. i do remember the warning message not really matching what was wrong (i.e. door open). i agree it's a really weird safety feature to have.

[The X Men]

On some BMW, if the door is open, the car will engage the parking brakes, not sure if the case here.

[DrivenByE30]

Originally Posted by wai2sexy

i tried backing out of a parking spot with the driver's side door open so i could watch the curb. car did the same thing where it reversed a bit and then automatically shifted into park. i put it into reverse a couple more times and the same thing happened. i do remember the warning message not really matching what was wrong (i.e. door open). i agree it's a really weird safety feature to have.

that's why you get MT the freedom of not having a computer controlling you...

[chrisny]

This has been a feature on BMW's for a few years now, have to have the door closed fully. No idea why they haven't figured out a better way by now ( ie don't let it go into gear in the first place, rather than slamming into park). My '07 x5 did this, so they've had more than a little time to find a better way to implement this "feature."

Are there a lot of people in Europe falling out of their moving cars?

[sr5959]

Originally Posted by chrisny

This has been a feature on BMW's for a few years now, have to have the door closed fully. No idea why they haven't figured out a better way by now ( ie don't let it go into gear in the first place, rather than slamming into park). My '07 x5 did this, so they've had more than a little time to find a better way to implement this "feature."

Are there a lot of people in Europe falling out of their moving cars?

Reminds me of a college job I had parking cars for a casino in London; we always used to park Lamborghinis with the scissor door up or you couldn't see a damn thing while reversing!

[huskercubfan]

Another thing - my parents drive way is very steep and if I open my door even in park an error message is thrown saying that I should close the car door to prevent it from rolling.


Haha wtf

[SomeRandomer123]

This is an awful safety feature! Well it isn't a "safety" feature, that's bloody dangerous!! I would try it on my very soon to be 328i 8AT but don't want to if it slams it into Park!! No grinding noise is good.

So what about this scenario:
I'm on the motorway doing 80mph and another car hits my drivers door, damaging the sensor. DSC and I wrestle and succeed to control the car then it slams into Park, knackers the box, damages the engine, damages the drive shaft and differentials, locks the rear wheels so I lose control and have a horrible crash and damages or knackers me and my passengers!
I think I'm going to get straight on to BMW about this, it does concern me.
What about if the boot (trunk) is open?
Or bonnet (hood)?

[SomeRandomer123]

Originally Posted by wai2sexy

i tried backing out of a parking spot with the driver's side door open so i could watch the curb. car did the same thing where it reversed a bit and then automatically shifted into park. i put it into reverse a couple more times and the same thing happened. i do remember the warning message not really matching what was wrong (i.e. door open). i agree it's a really weird safety feature to have.

Did it make a grinding noise?

[svache]

What happened is indeed because the door was open, I have observed this quite a few times when I tried to go forward a little bit with the door open.. same thing occured with my '09 X5.

The sound is indeed a bit too loud if I understand correctly what you wrote, but I did also notice a couple of times there was some noise coming from below. It's just a thought but basically I think the car is going back into P while the gears might not be in optimal position (yet).

Originally Posted by CanadianDriver

check with svache's coding thread to see if there's a way to override

I haven't looked into it yet but will add it to my to-do list.. it would be nice to disable this feature

[svache]

Originally Posted by chrisny

Are there a lot of people in Europe falling out of their moving cars?

I think it's more safe to say that there was likely a lawsuit in the US that was the cause for this feature..

[aarslan]

Does anybody know what will happen if you accidentally press the park button while driving? Supposedly, it will not switch to park mode.

[svache]

Originally Posted by aarslan

Does anybody know what will happen if you accidentally press the park button while driving? Supposedly, it will not switch to park mode.

If you drive fast enough, it doesn't do anything but when you drive below a certain speed (reaaaaalllly slow) it will go into park, making you dive a bit and go back and forth for a bit (yes, I tried haha)

[aarslan]

Originally Posted by svache

If you drive fast enough, it doesn't do anything but when you drive below a certain speed (reaaaaalllly slow) it will go into park, making you dive a bit and go back and forth for a bit (yes, I tried haha)

I had also tried the real slow thing, just couldn't dare faster speeds.

[svache]

Originally Posted by aarslan

I had also tried the real slow thing, just couldn't dare faster speeds.

lol no worries, it wouldn't go into P if you go, let's say, 25 miles or km per hour

[Mrcarcrazy]

they are trying to protect us from ourselves....like many other features, they know that the avg driver is a moron....so don't be a moron, and hopefully the safety feature won't get you/your feelings hurt.

[Alpine F31]

Originally Posted by DrivenByE30

that's why you get MT the freedom of not having a computer controlling you...

Beat me to it.

[Elk]

Originally Posted by SomeRandomer123

So what about this scenario:
I'm on the motorway doing 80mph and another car hits my drivers door, damaging the sensor. DSC and I wrestle and succeed to control the car then it slams into Park, knackers the box, damages the engine, damages the drive shaft and differentials, locks the rear wheels so I lose control and have a horrible crash and damages or knackers me and my passengers!

You can rely on us. We will avenge your death.