The BMW iX3’s Poor Welding Causes Battery System Failure

The BMW iX3, made exclusively in China has already, received a facelift after being recently released last year. And this is an exciting story to tell. Furthermore, its rear wheels are driven with only a single electric motor. So it doesn’t have an option of xDrive despite being a crossover. The BMW iX3 has a limited range and lacks AWD, leading to slow sales. Due to this, BMW changed its mind in planning to bring it to the United States.

As announced on December 24, between April 30 and August 27, BMW built 1,974 units for the local market this year. The BMW Brilliance joint venture has no other way but to recall this and notify owners of affected vehicles through several channels in the coming days.

The poor welding of its battery connector pin is the main culprit. There is a real risk due to the subpar quality of the welding. Specifically the deviations between the measured and actual values of temperature/voltage. The BMW iX3 will automatically enable a battery system failure protection mode if the preset safety value exceeds its deviation value.

When the battery cuts off, the iX3 can no longer use the electric crossover if that happens. To alert the driver, a warning message will appear on the screen. Owners are to drive the vehicle with caution in that time frame of the BMW iX3 as advised.  The driver must stop at a safe place and contact the dealer during the interruption of power while the vehicle is in motion.

The owner must not worry about any costs since the fix consists of replacing the battery terminals.

Currently, the iX3 is the smallest electric crossover of BMW. And along with the launch of the zero-emissions iX1 and the next-generation X1, the iX3 will also have its facelift. As expected, the new MINI Countryman and its EC equivalent will be mechanically related to the iX3.