[kamek]

Originally Posted by edcrane

To me the vibration certainly feels less pronounced than, say, driving over rumble strips, but is still pretty noticeable. Don’t know how bad your roads are, but if they are glass-like and still give you more feedback, you may have an issue.

I'd expect it to at least vibrate enough so that it's noticeable -- maybe something similar to a cell phone. My mom has a CRV with this feature and you very distinctly feel a vibration when holding the wheel. Even on the highest setting for me, I have to be consciously thinking about trying to feel the vibration in order to get the slightest hint of it.

[edcrane]

Originally Posted by kamek

I'd expect it to at least vibrate enough so that it's noticeable -- maybe something similar to a cell phone. My mom has a CRV with this feature and you very distinctly feel a vibration when holding the wheel. Even on the highest setting for me, I have to be consciously thinking about trying to feel the vibration in order to get the slightest hint of it.

Definitely should give more feedback than that. Think you have an issue you should raise with dealer.

[kamek]

Originally Posted by edcrane

Definitely should give more feedback than that. Think you have an issue you should raise with dealer.

Maybe they'll classify it as a steering wheel defect and replace it with the M wheel when available... or at least one can dream

[steven619]

They finally got the correct part and replaced it ... sill not good.
Vibrate may now mean audible.
However, we were given a 2018 X3 on a recent visit and that one did vibrate and you can feel it. Add to that fact other 2018 X3 vehicles have written to say it works fine.

If I change from soft to medium to hard in the control menu there is no difference. Again, indicating that there is something more to this issue.

Since you can hear it vibrate more than feel it, that to me would indicate that the part is not transferring the vibration to the wheel. Either the part has an issue or the dealership is not able to fix it and are just going through the process.

I may have to take it to another dealer though that is problematic as the next one is 90 minutes away.

I've been going to the same dealer for 10 years and for the most part they have been great. The only difference is a new owner ( group), new service manager, and new service tech. Then again, maybe that is the difference.

[383vett]

I turned this feature off on the way back home after buying the car. Don't need it. Don't miss it.

[Slalom]

I had it on my GT. It worked well. On my X3, other than a sound, it is not noticeable. I have it turned up to the max. I will add it to my list of defects.

[EllisGJ]

I have the same problem with my 2018 540i. There is no vibration that I can detect when the warning function is set to "light" or "medium." When set to strong, it's barely perceptible and easily confused with road surface feedback. My dealer largely agrees with my observations, but has no solution. BMW customer relations told me the function is working as intended. Apparently other 2018 cars at the dealership exhibit similar behavior.

Some drivers may not value this function, but I do. I find it hard to believe that safety engineers would want the function to be barely perceptible even at the "strong" setting.

I wonder if an earlier model year part could be installed.

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by EllisGJ

I have the same problem with my 2018 540i. There is no vibration that I can detect when the warning function is set to "light" or "medium." When set to strong, it's barely perceptible and easily confused with road surface feedback. My dealer largely agrees with my observations, but has no solution. BMW customer relations told me the function is working as intended. Apparently other 2018 cars at the dealership exhibit similar behavior.

Some drivers may not value this function, but I do. I find it hard to believe that safety engineers would want the function to be barely perceptible even at the "strong" setting.

I wonder if an earlier model year part could be installed.

Actually, what BMW will do is a) "take the feedback", b) go back to the previous part number in 2019 and later model years and c) up the price by $1000, since every feature on a BMW costs at least that.

[Slalom]

I turned off the lane keeping assist and turned the warning function to the maximum. I can feel it, but it is not nearly as strong as it was on my GT. I wonder if this is an encouragement to use the lane keeping assistant.

[kozzi]

Originally Posted by Slalom

I turned off the lane keeping assist and turned the warning function to the maximum. I can feel it, but it is not nearly as strong as it was on my GT. I wonder if this is an encouragement to use the lane keeping assistant.

The steering vibration in our M40i is very noticeable but I am starting to have different issues. A major concern for me with this technology is that if you don't use your signal to change lanes, the Lane Departure System tries to keep your SAV in lane. Not very good IMO if you need to make a quick maneuver out of lane to avoid an upcoming situation. You can feel the vibration as the steering wheel stiffens to try and keep you in lane. I'm going to play around with the settings a bit more but I'm heading in your direction that "OFF" is better for me.

[steven619]

It's an odd feeling when the car pushes you back to your lane if you forget to use your turn signal. The first few times it caught me off guard but now I'm used to it and just turn a little harder. My guess is that collision mitigation would turn that off as it does the other " your about to crash " features on. I hope never to have that kick in but if it does I'll post about it.

[EllisGJ]

Originally Posted by sor

...This can be adjusted via coding.

How would I go about finding someone who could do the coding you mention?

Thanks!

[sor]

Originally Posted by EllisGJ

How would I go about finding someone who could do the coding you mention?

Thanks!

I don't remember the actual setting off the top of my head, but I believe there's an array of values that adjust the vibration strength depending on speed. Almaretto might know. He may be able to do it or you can hit up bimmergeeks.net, I've used them before.

[kamek]

Is this still only affecting January builds?

[EllisGJ]

Originally Posted by sor

I don't remember the actual setting off the top of my head, but I believe there's an array of values that adjust the vibration strength depending on speed. Almaretto might know. He may be able to do it or you can hit up bimmergeeks.net, I've used them before.

Many thanks for the tip! I've sent a message and will post any news here.

[EllisGJ]

Originally Posted by kamek

Is this still only affecting January builds?

My 2018 540i was built in October 2017.

[Swampman]

Steering intervention can be configured on or off in iDrive. No coding necessary. I have mine set for med vibration if signal not used and no steering intervention. Good if you are tired and wandering a bit!

[sor]

Originally Posted by Swampman

Steering intervention can be configured on or off in iDrive. No coding necessary. I have mine set for med vibration if signal not used and no steering intervention. Good if you are tired and wandering a bit!

Coding is to adjust vibration strength. Some are saying the options in idrive are not aggressive enough. If you turn it up in idrive and still want more, you can code it.

You can adjust the ranges of all sorts of things via coding, like making the three heated seat settings a few degrees hotter or cooler.

[steven619]

Just an update .. the technical service engineer took our X3 for a drive along with a new one in the lot. Both the tech engineer and shop foreman agreed that there was virtually no vibration present. They do not know how to correct the issue yet. They have to pass it up the chain. It may be a supply chain issue or a design flaw.

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by steven619

Just an update .. the technical service engineer took our X3 for a drive along with a new one in the lot. Both the tech engineer and shop foreman agreed that there was virtually no vibration present. They do not know how to correct the issue yet. They have to pass it up the chain. It may be a supply chain issue or a design flaw.

Interesting that you got a BMW field service guy to agree with you. In my experience, they typically drink frequently from the "our engineering is perfect" fountain.

Other posters have mentioned this can be modified by coding but a quick search of Almaretto's latest XML cheat sheet on Github doesn't show any FDL coding available for this.

In any case, it if _is_ code-able then all your field engineer has to do is convince the dude in Munich that his initial settings are "wrong", customers don't like it and it should be changed.

Yeah, right.

[MotorMax]

My January X3 M40i also has rather weak vibration. I have it set to "Strong" (maximum) and it's pretty weak. This is the vibe/notice function, like if you turn on your blinker and a car is in the blind spot. The "Lane Correction", however, is far more assertive and will turn the car back into lane. It has some power to it, in the sense of turning the wheel.

It's the vibe/alert that is weak. I hear it more than feel it, which seems odd. I suspect, like others have said, that it's not correctly MOUNTED in the wheel, and the vibration is just noise instead of haptic feedback.

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by MotorMax

My January X3 M40i also has rather weak vibration. I have it set to "Strong" (maximum) and it's pretty weak. This is the vibe/notice function, like if you turn on your blinker and a car is in the blind spot. The "Lane Correction", however, is far more assertive and will turn the car back into lane. It has some power to it, in the sense of turning the wheel.

It's the vibe/alert that is weak. I hear it more than feel it, which seems odd. I suspect, like others have said, that it's not correctly MOUNTED in the wheel, and the vibration is just noise instead of haptic feedback.

My G01 is the third car I've had lane-departure warning in.

The first two are a 2012 Volvo XC60 (which the G01 replaced) and a 2012 335i.

In the Volvo, when you strayed from the line, the system alerted by making a loud Space Invaders "pong" sound. Say you were on the Bluetooth phone connection and the system misread a lane marker. You'd be interrupted by the volume level.

In my 2012 335i, the steering wheel vibrates (and that setting isn't adjustable in standard iDrive). It's noticeable but subtle.

I must say that after six years of using the prior two systems, I've come to appreciate the more reserved nature of the BMW approach. It's less in-your-face and by doing so becomes more of the "assistance" that BMW constantly labels these systems to be.

Just a counterpoint: I'm not in favor of more noise or vibration.

But then again, I also like ASS. :-)