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How to open charging port

109K views 685 replies 157 participants last post by  ToitjieC 
#1 ·
I got today my new i4 eDrive 40, and I don’t know how to open the charging port. The hatchet won’t open.

The car is unlocked, and I push on the side as I saw the seller do when I tested it.

Why is mine not opening? Maybe it’s faulty?
 
#584 · (Edited)
Mine broke yesterday. Got the appointment next Tuesday.
Hope not to hear it's backordered for 1 month!
This is ridiculous, a luxury car with basic charging flap door! The most annoying thing is we can't be sure this is happening only for 1 time! I wish somebody could do something legally that forces BMW to implement an emergency release cable for this situation! 😔
 
#586 ·
Mine broke yesterday. Got the appointment next Tuesday.
Hope not to hear it's backordered for 1 month!
This is ridiculous, a luxury car with basic charging flap door! The most annoying thing is we can't be sure this is happening only for 1 time! I wish somebody could do something legally that forces BMW to implement an emergency release cable for this situation! 😔
When was your car built? I wonder if this is an ongoing issue or an early design flaw and yours managed to not fail as quickly as others. Alternatively is this still an issue that they have not resolved.
 
#585 ·
Would someone in the US who has had the problem be willing to file a report to the NHTSA? Report a Safety Problem | NHTSA If they do consider it a safety issue, that would lead to an investigation and eventual recall.
 
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#601 ·
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#587 ·
Mine broke last night. To make it more fun, it happened during a road trip with one of my kids for a tournament. 4 hours away from home, went to charge last night for the drive home today and charging flap wouldn't open. Called roadside "assistance," they told me to look for a release string inside the trunk, as "some i3 models have a release" when I tell him there's no string and remind him this is an i4, not an i3, he says "well, they're both EVs." He puts me on hold and talks to someone else who is "very familiar" with their EVs (as no techs are available since it's after hours on a Sat) and they have advised there is nothing to do but tow it to the nearest BMW dealer, which is closed until Monday.

I explain my situation, about 300 miles from home in far western Colorado, that I have to get home tomorrow and how will they help me get there if the car is towed to a local dealer? And then do I have to drive an 8-hour round trip to pick up the car when it's fixed?!? He says sorry, all he can do is have the car towed and then I have work with the dealer when they open on Monday to figure out logistics. Oh, he can get me an Uber up to 90 miles. Cool, so you're gonna drop me and my kid off on the side of I-70 in the middle of the mountains once we've hit 90 miles? Thanks BMW. I understand they may be limited in what they can do, but this felt like an extenuating circumstance. If it happened at home in the Denver area, it would be no big deal. Tow the car, uber to home/work, phone a friend, etc.

I amazingly found an auto part store still open at 8pm that had one bladder in stock, bought it, now the flap is really, really broken, but I was able to charge and made it back home tonight. If the dealer gives me crap tomorrow about breaking it open myself when roadside assistance said to have it towed, I will lose it. I cannot believe this is an actual known problem and they haven't done a recall. This car is less than 5 months old and I have lost all faith in taking it anywhere outside the metro area, which is a shame since it was really freaking fun to drive through the mountains.
 
#588 ·
This car is less than 5 months old and I have lost all faith in taking it anywhere outside the metro area
Just keep the bladder in the car if it ever happens again. Dealer should not give you problems unless there’s secondary damage (which there shouldn’t been since you opened it with a bladder).

We also know the replacement part is improved and, likely and hopefully, you’ll never have an issue again.
 
#589 ·
I unfortunately did not find the photo in this thread in the panicked search on my phone, and a "helpful" person in the auto part store parking lot saw me struggling to get it open - in his "helping" the metal cover popped off, so yes, there is secondary damage. At that point, I was in mama bear mode - going to do whatever it took to get my kid to his game in the morning and us home after. And, yes, freaking out a bit, as a 5'2" female alone in a place I don't know anyone, in a parking lot as it's getting dark, trying to pop open the freaking charging door, while calculating how much range I have left....it wasn't my finest moment. But what's done is done.

When I got home, I looked at the mechanism to the charging port in our X5 45e, which has never been a problem, and the difference is amazing. A completely different and sturdy design. I really struggle to see why BMW won't just proactively replace the terrible design they know is likely to fail. I get that it's my dumb luck that it happened when and where it did and not one of the hundreds of times I've charged at home.
 
#590 ·
I really struggle to see why BMW won't just proactively replace the terrible design they know is likely to fail.
I wonder about the same thing. They issue recalls for more “moot” issues and this seems to be more impacting.

I’m not sure if this meets the criteria for a “safety recall”, personally I think it should but it’s likely not so this is why no recall yet. There’s also the issue of supply chain that could explain why no recall was issued as of now.

Failure rates for sure are high enough given most dealers are aware of this issue, and you shouldn’t have to go to a forum, figure out this is a common issue and have a bladder in your car for just in case.

Hopefully your dealer won’t give you a hard time given the circumstances involved. When my charging flap was stuck, BMW Assist told me to call Electrify America (no joke). Subsequent calls to other individuals yielded better results but the outcome was always having this fixed at a dealer.
 
#600 ·
Got the car back after 2 days.
I'm not feeling any difference. Hopefully it's not the same part. SA had no clue about the updated part.
I'm not feeling the new smoothness in opening and closing the door. I actually feel the opposite. It's a little rough and I'm feeling more clicking when I'm closing the flap door.
Really missed the car. Hopefully it won't fail again and we won't be apart. Or we hear news about how BMW decides to really fix this issue!
 
#602 ·
Got the car back after 2 days.
I'm not feeling any difference. Hopefully it's not the same part. SA had no clue about the updated part.
I'm not feeling the new smoothness in opening and closing the door. I actually feel the opposite. It's a little rough and I'm feeling more clicking when I'm closing the flap door.
Really missed the car. Hopefully it won't fail again and we won't be apart. Or we hear news about how BMW decides to really fix this issue!
I agree, I feel like mine is less smooth than the older one.
 
#603 ·
Ugh went to plug in at home (mom's house in Portland) and flap wouldn't open. Was fine last night. I have to get back to Tacoma on Sunday night, so I'm guessing it'll have to stay with dealership from tomorrow for awhile from what I'm hearing, so will have to take one of my mom's other cars. But I have my 3 series in Tacoma so will drive that to work.

I'm hoping either they have that part you all are talking about and maybe just fix it right then and there.
 
#606 ·
You need one of these Air Wedges; per BMW, to open a stuck Charging Port Door.
Product Sleeve Peripheral Font Red
 
#609 ·
I miss my car and it hasn't been 48 hours lol

But will drive my mom's E class back up to Tacoma tonight and then my 3 series will get good run this week going to work.
 
#610 ·
Adding another one to the list. 6 months with the car. Charger flap failed just before a long drive. The thing that sucks about this situation is the ONLY time you figure out that the flap is not working is when you are low on power. Is there a video of someone using the air bladder to open the stuck lid. Given that the replacement part is the same thing that is on the car now (once it is fixed), we have to assume it will break again. $80K car made useless by a >$100 part. Fantastic. I love the car, but if this isn't really fixed, it's a lemon.
 
#613 ·
BMW has updated this part several times. now they don’t even consider the Q number to be the best way of identifying, it used to be like Q16 or higher. Now there is two letters on the back of the actual actuator itself that indicate if its the updated part. Old parts have BC and new updated parts have CD
 
#611 ·
So sorry - I got mine fixed over last week so they had the car for about a week. They told me iys happening to the hybrids as well.

By being the initial owners, we are going to suffer the first issues.
 
#612 ·
I know this will not or has not worked for everyone but FWIW... for the second time in 15k miles my charging flap would not open. I had just pulled into the garage with 39% SOC. I walk to the port, gently push, nothing. Gently push, still nothing. A few more gentle pushes, still nothing. I try the method that opened it several months ago. I get my phone out, and try sending lock, unlock commands a few times. No dice this time. I then try to unlock/lock using the fob. Still no joy. I get back in the car, hold the radio button for 60 seconds just for fun. Start the car, then shut off the car. Walked back to the port and voila.
 
#623 ·
Funny, but not exactly accurate. He has the air wedge and pry bars.

More to the point for someone who hopes to take delivery in 2-3 weeks. Is an air wedge sufficient, or are the pry bars also necessary?
 
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#624 ·
Is an air wedge sufficient, or are the pry bars also necessary?
Air wedge is all that is necessary (and is the BMW 'approved' method).

I'll make sure any future humour is fact checked before I post 😉
 
#631 ·
Woke up this morning to find I'm a new member of this club. Charging port door just won't open. No codes on screen, no errors anywhere, just the door won't open even though the car is fully unlocked, even if settings are to leave it unlocked regardless of the car's locked state. Anyway, seeing the very first post mentioning restarting the infotainment system, I figured I'd give that a go.
I also did one more thing, which I should've done separately for more accurate troubleshooting, and that was turn off Auto H, which was still on at that point.

Once everything came back up I went outside and lo and behold the flap opened again.

I've sent my service rep an email explaining the issue and then how I solved it. I don't now if anything will come of that, but it seems appropriate.
 
#636 ·
Let me try to clarify:
  1. It was the painted part that wouldn't open. The part you click in to pop out, not the internal flaps that cover the actual AC and DC ports.
  2. I did try the "always open" setting, but it did nothing.
Resetting my infotainment (holding down the volume button till the system reboots) got it open again.
 
#638 ·
If it happens again, maybe go to the dealer. I couldn’t get my port opened. Turns out it is a common issue. The dealer opened it then changed out the magnetic closure as that’s known to be faulty (according to my dealer who had 6 come in within 2 days of my car).
 
#641 ·
Im a Genius at BMW myself and I just got my i4. Just had the same issue. It’s definitely not something that’s supposed to happen but for whatever reason, does randomly. What I did was first reboot the idrive (hood volume knob in until screen goes black then back on), then put the car in drive and go forward a few feet, then reverse, then just shut the car off and it worked like normal. So far haven’t had any issue.
 
#645 ·
Digging up this old thread because this is the latest thing to go wrong with my car. I cannot get the charging flap open. I have tried some of the tricks in this thread (though I'm not reading through 33 pages to see all the answers) and nothing has worked. So now I have a service appt scheduled for Wednesday morning. This car has been a mix of joy and real frustration to own, seems like it's always something...

Any new answers to this issue?
 
#647 ·
I did. when I stand outside the car and lock/unlock via the fob I can hear the mechanism is barely actuating. Before it was a longer, louder clicking sound now it's just a very faint, short clicking sound. I think the mechanism is stuck or broken and nothing is actually moving to unlock it. I saw some of the "forceful" tricks in here, but I'm not about to try and pry the port open. It's a 60k+ car, and it seems a lot of people are having this problem, so it seems to be somewhat common. I'm just going to take it in and tell them to replace all the parts. 🤬
 
#648 ·
I did. when I stand outside the car and lock/unlock via the fob I can hear the mechanism is barely actuating. Before it was a longer, louder clicking sound now it's just a very faint, short clicking sound.
Okay, yeah, that sounds like a fault in the mechanism, then. While I did experience an issue with the port not opening before, it turned out to have been a software issue, not hardware. It seems like service at your dealer's should sort it out.
 
#649 ·
Thanks, I don't want to sound like a whiner, but since November, I've had a tail light replaced due to water intrusion, the mysterious "drivetrain malfunction" (which thankfully turned out to only be a software problem, I think) and now the charging flap. Three issues in less than 10 months of owning this car, by far and away the priciest car I've ever owned. Not a good start. Plus the whole software updates that are not coming to the older iDrive system vs the newer version. I love EV's, but my next one ain't gonna be a bimmer.
 
#651 ·
LOL so today I tried the door again, and though it didn't work when I checked it after my drive to work, when I went to run a quick errand, NOW it works... I called BMW to ask what I should do and they recommended that I still bring it in so they can take a look at it. Kudos to them for not just blowing me off and telling me to wait and see if it happens again, but I don't know if this means they will end up replacing parts. I hope they do, because I obviously don't want it to happen again, next time when I'm on a road trip or something far from home and I'm at 15%.

One note about when this first happened, it was immediately after washing the car, so I don't know if water intruding into the area could have caused it to lock itself for some reason, though I doubt that. That would imply that if you are driving in wet conditions and stop to get a charge, the door might not unlock for you. I just think this is a case of faulty parts, as so many of you have already reported.
 
#652 ·
LOL so today I tried the door again, and though it didn't work when I checked it after my drive to work, when I went to run a quick errand, NOW it works... I called BMW to ask what I should do and they recommended that I still bring it in so they can take a look at it. Kudos to them for not just blowing me off and telling me to wait and see if it happens again, but I don't know if this means they will end up replacing parts. I hope they do, because I obviously don't want it to happen again, next time when I'm on a road trip or something far from home and I'm at 15%.

One note about when this first happened, it was immediately after washing the car, so I don't know if water intruding into the area could have caused it to lock itself for some reason, though I doubt that. That would imply that if you are driving in wet conditions and stop to get a charge, the door might not unlock for you. I just think this is a case of faulty parts, as so many of you have already reported.
Push for part replacement. This is a known issue and they should be able to replace it for you before it completely fails given you’ve had symptoms already.
 
#653 ·
Last update: They did indeed replace parts. SA told me there was a service bulletin for this issue, and the paperwork says "replaced charge door POT" whatever that is. So hopefully that is the end of this problem! Even got a free charge out of the deal so that was a nice surprise. Wonder why they never put gas in my previous ICE cars... 😆
 
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