This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Poor instrument gauge visibility under shade or overcast. Unable to see gauge markings during the day because there is no back lighting. BMW changed the instrument gauges in the 2018 model due to this issue but did offer any changes for the 2017 generation.
The instrument cluster gauges (speed and RPM) are very difficult to read under both bright sunny conditions, and dark shadow conditions (in a tunnel, or in shade). Wearing sunglasses? forget seeing them at all. I find it a safety issue when I have to glance down at the gauges longer than necessary and take my eyes off the road, and squint to decipher what speed I'm going. The only way to help this (but not completely) is to turn on the parking lights which turns on the backlight. At dusk or at night it reads fine, but in daylight sun or shade it makes no difference. I find it to be a serious design and safety flaw and dangerous. Please investigate to see if this can be remedied by the manufacturer either by a software update, or cluster modification. Thank you
Poor visibility of gauge cluster in low light conditions. Makes reading the tachometer and speedometer near impossible in certain light conditions/situations. The 2018 models have a new gauge that solves this issue. I think it is a safety issue and the pre-2018 cars should be recalled to have this new cluster installed by BMW.
Instrument cluster (speedometer, tachometer) has no lighting during daylight hours. It is a dark screen much of the day and I am unable to clearly and quickly see the important gauges there, as described. BMW provides no way (back lighting, etc) to make this area visible during daylight hours. This is a safety issue.
- Lutz, FL, USA
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Daytime gauge lighting is very dim. It is hard to read speedometer to tell your speed very unsafe. Have asked dealer and BMW to no avail. I have owned 8 BMW cars and never had this problem.
The instrument panel does not have sufficient brightness and contrast. It is very difficult, sometimes impossible, to see the speedometer and tachometer readings in certain daytime lighting conditions.
When driving, the upper half of the instrument panel containing the speedometer and tachometer is completely unreadable under dark conditions such as going under a bridge or in areas with tree coverage overhead.
Instrument cluster can't be read under daylight conditions. The speedometer and RPM are really dim and I have to look more than once to make sure of my current speed etc. Bad lighting equals hazard and distraction on my part which may cause an accident.
Please look at the attached pic. The speedometer/gauges cluster looks dark in garage, tunnels, cloudy conditions, under tree cover. There is no illumination during the daytime. You can't even read the speedometer or rpms at a glance which is a safety hazard. I almost crashed multiple times trying to read the speedometer and fuel gauges. The console light wheel knob is already turned all the way up. I checked all the options already and there is nothing there to control the gauges cluster illumination. I have contacted BMW numerous times and they have ignored all of my inquiries. This is really disappointing from BMW. A 60K car shouldn't have this problem. When driving through a garage or tree cover or cloudy conditions you can't read the speed you're going. This is a major safety hazard. There are posts regarding this on official BMW forums. Please have BMW perform recalls or fix this.
Backlighting on instrument cluster gauges does not meet sufficient contrast requirements. It's even worse when driving through shaded areas. Tachometer and speedometer appear completely dark and unreadable. This could be an accessibility issue where certain drivers could have difficulty reading the gauge dials due to improper contrast.
During certain daytime conditions, such as a cloudy day or under shade, the instrument cluster for speed, RPM, etc., can not be read. This problem is made worse with sunglasses.
The backlighting for the tachometer and speedometer becomes completely unreadable under soft daylight situations. An example of this would be driving through a wooded area in full daylight. It appears that this issue is created be two issues. First, the color of the background and lettering on the gauges themselves do not create enough contrasting. Second, the ambient light sensor does not appear to pick up when this situation is happening and engage the backlighting for the console. This issue makes it very hard, or impossible, to determine speed at a quick glance and could require more time looking at the gauges than usual, distracting from watching the road.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Portland, OR, USA