I'm so sorry this happened to you. It pains me to see it 😭 I sometimes use the backup assistant, but I have my foot firmly on the brake pedal and only allow it to go VERY slowly.

I hope they fix your car soon. If they replace the headlight, please ask to keep the old one! I'd gladly take it off your hand later if you don't want it! I've always wanted to tinker with the laser headlight

 

oh man that sucks! thats a gorgeous i4 also.....hope you get it back to 100% soon
I have tried backup assist a couple times, it hasnt hit anything but at times its has spun the steering wheel wildly fast in confusion, to the point where I just take over...

 

You’ll get it back in no time @gsbaker and it will look like new, sorry this happened to you!

Note the following documented system limit for back-up assistant:
“Certain road characteristics, such as gradients, inclines or slippery road surface”.

Your driveway looks like a steep incline, I wouldn’t trust the system there.

 

That hurts to look at. So sorry to see your car in this shape. I have been wary about the backup and self parking so choose to not use them.

 

Ouch, it pains me to see the damage.

I too have noticed the path is slightly off at times. I've got a bit of a curve up the driveway to hit the end garage door. If I drive in too close to the edge of the driveway, it'll put the outside front tire off in the grass when backing up. The front tends to swing wide to keep the back where it needs to be I think.

Well I guess backup assist does not perfectly recall the steering movement, so beware.

The manual warns us to watch traffic conditions, but does not warn that the assist does not accurately retrace the steering.

 

Ouch that's going to be expensive. Guessing at least 10K mainly due to the headlight. I'm guessing they can't just repair the front lens and will require a whole replacement ~2K just for the part.

 

Damn, that is really painful to see
Hope they get you sorted out by the time you're back.

 

Aw, so sorry to see your beautiful Sunset damaged. Hopefully it will be good as new soon.

 

Oh, geez, George! So sorry to see this, mate! I feel almost like it happened to me. Do let us know how this plays out?

 

I still have no estimate after 16 days.

I even waited to report this to the forum until I had the estimate, but it has been too long, so I have told you all.

Talking of repairs, I should as BMW for a listvof headlight part numbers for that headlight.

 

Yeah very sad to see this

 

The low light capability of the cameras on this car is truly appalling.
I use the backup assistant pretty frequently and on occasion I have backed up with a bit more speed than perhaps is strictly necessary and it will put up a message "Car has deviated from recorded path". But it pops this up very pretty quietly. It would be very easy to miss and not realize right away that the car isn't controlling the backup.
My theory is that the car can only turn the steering wheel so fast and if you make some big steering inputs on the way in, you need to back out slowly enough that the car can spin the steering wheel fast enough to keep it on track.

 

I agree with low light while backing up. Back up lights are not worthy of a BMW.

 

Thank you all!

Your advice makes sense in hindsight.

I believe the light element was not itself broken, just the cover and a reflector, so I hope to retain the original laser light.

I sent my car to the shop recommended by my friendly bmw dealer (Asheville BMW). The shop warned me they would not look at it for three weeks, and insurance doesn't yet have an estimate.

I will be leaving town for six weeks, so I will wait for it.

 

Hopefully you leaving for 6 weeks will reduce the anxiety of waiting 3 weeks just to look at it sucks. Either way, have a safe trip, and I hope you come back to your car in perfect condition again!

 

If you can, try to store it at 50% SoC.

 

I had 78% when this happened, so starting from there.

 

Do the proximity warnings always chime when you go in and out of your driveway, @gsbaker, or do you have the sensitivity turned way down?

I can imagine the car getting a little out of whack when backing itself, but mine beeps like mad and even PDC stops during auto-back-up for me. It seems like that little curb you have should have given some kind of return for the sensors?

 

Do the proximity warnings always chime when you go in and out of your driveway, @gsbaker, or do you have the sensitivity turned way down?

I can imagine the car getting a little out of whack when backing itself, but mine beeps like mad and even PDC stops during auto-back-up for me. It seems like that little curb you have should have given some kind of return for the sensors?

I have the sensitivity fairly and it always sounds alarm in the garage door frame, sometimes even forces me to back out manually by stopping itself.

Here there are tree branches that don't seem to trigger a warning. Perhaps too diffuse.

 

I couldn't say for sure but I don't believe the cameras are involved in the backup assistant. My comment about their low light performance was just a general comment to say that if the cameras were better he might have caught the mistake in time.
I am under the same impression as you that it just plays the steering wheel motions backwards. My point was that if you drive forward slowly and spin the steering wheel quickly, then when you are backing out it is possible to backup at a faster speed than the steering wheel motor can spin the wheel. If you are moving backwards faster than you did when you were driving forward the wheel will have to spin faster to keep up, but there has to been a max speed it can spin the wheel.
I've only had the warning come up twice I think and both times I was in a hurry and backing up at a brisk pace.

 

I know the collision detection is definitely active during the automatic backing. If I back out of my garage too fast, sometimes it will hang up and emergency stop for my weather strip.

 

Yes mine will stop for the side of the garage if I go too fast. But I think that's all ultrasonic sensor based not cameras but not sure.

 

Last Friday I got my repair estimate from StateFarm. It is a long list with a total of some $6700.

Reading down the list I first spotted replacement headlamp with no laserlight and no shadowline.

What the hell? One black light and one silver? It will look like the Little Rascals' dog Petey. Plus the highbeams may not focus at night.

Looking some more I found that the adjuster is also relieving me of my comfort assist and ambient on the replacement door, and my parking assist on the new bumper.

I contacted the body shop about this and they explained that if I don't have an OEM in the rider then StateFarm can substitute other parts.

I told the shop to order the original parts an I will pay the difference for them.

It is something to check on your policies before you get a surprise.

I asked my agent to look into my coverage, whether I am missing it.

 

I understood that they could substitute non-oem parts, but I had no idea that included removing features.

 

I complained to my agent about the loss of features and will try to get more money, but since the shop needs to order parts, I was proactive about getting oem.

Understandable.

The adjuster made a point about listing the features lost, so I couldn't take a chance

So the adjuster said in effect, we are not going to make you whole?

 

Understandable.

So the adjuster said in effect, we are not going to make you whole?

Exactly.

 

If I have missed it I apologize, but are you willing to say who your insurance company is?

 

Great news!