Sending Out an SOS - 2014 BMW i3 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Sending Out an SOS - 2014 BMW i3 Long-Term Road Test

What happens when you press the SOS button in a 2014 BMW i3? Does it call the authorities or eject you from the cockpit? Edmunds finds out.

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kirkhilles1

Interesting. Can't wait to see what the pictures look like (broken images right now).

stever

Pics are okay for me - maybe try restarting your browser or try a different one if you're still having issues.

daryleason

I wonder what BMW would do if you've exceeded your obligation with them and called for help. "Help, my car was forced off the road by a gang and it's now pinning me inside! Send the police!" Operator - "Sir, do you have a Visa or Mastercard available to renew your subscription? As soon as we've done that, we can get help to you immediately."

markedwards

Actually every BMW owner probably has pressed the button because to activate your account and initiate the BMW Assist service in the new vehicle, the dealer instructs you to press the button 24 hours after taking delivery.

kirkhilles1

So, how does the Remote Door Unlock function work with the SOS button? Do you break into your car and then press it to tell them to unlock your doors?

socal_eric

I like this a lot better than OnStar. If you're going to offer a feature to automatically notify emergency services in a crash then build it into the price of the vehicle. If the consumer wants convenience items like stolen vehicle tracking, trouble code information, specialized direction assistance, remote unlock, etc. then offer a shorter free trial period for those services and you can buy them as add-on items or as a convenience package. It bothers me when you buy a new GM vehicle and they advertise the safety aspect but you have to pay OnStar a ton of money after the first year and OnStar's advertising tries to guilt the consumer into paying for the bigger bundle of everything "to keep your family safe".

daryleason

kirkhilles1 said:

So, how does the Remote Door Unlock function work with the SOS button? Do you break into your car and then press it to tell them to unlock your doors?

It actually says in parenthesis that you call the customer service number and they'll unlock it for you. It actually doesn't have anything to do with the SOS button, but with the service. The way the article was written, it threw me off for a moment too.

allthingshonda

Why do Germans feel the need to over engineer something so simple. Do you really need a button within a button to do this? If I was in a real emergency and frantic I might not notice that the first button didn't call for help but only revealed another button.

tsdriver27

allthingshonda said:

Why do Germans feel the need to over engineer something so simple. Do you really need a button within a button to do this? If I was in a real emergency and frantic I might not notice that the first button didn't call for help but only revealed another button.

Perhaps to prevent accidental activation - like I alway do in my Mercedes when going for a map light switch, especially at night.