The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a recall on 2019 BMW i3, i3 with range extender and i8 models due to concerns that a faulty high-voltage control module could cause the vehicle to lose power.
The recall, which was initially submitted by BMW back in August, affects vehicles built between December of 2018 and late March of 2019. It specifically concerns something called the Electric Motor Electronics (EME) module and a defect that could lead to increased resistance inside the module. This would cause the module to shut off high-voltage power to the drive system, resulting in a loss of propulsion.
The good news is that the defect only affects the high-voltage system and all of the vehicle's 12-volt power systems should remain totally functional; critically these include the power steering system and the power brake booster.
BMW is busy cooking up a fix for the issue, which will likely be as simple as removing the old EME module and replacing it with a new one. This recall, like all recalls, will be performed for the owner free of cost.
Notices for owners of affected vehicles should start hitting mailboxes sometime around October 7.
