Lighting prop? SA says all clear.

[RedRockin]

Ok, here is the situation:
Less than one week new 30i w/Tech, Prem, heated fr seats, and ipod/usb. Go to program garage openers. Enter vehicle thru passenger front door and reach over - put in key, hit ignition button and program garage opener. Hit ign button to shut down, pull key and exit. Lights (all, including headlights - on auto) stay on but I don't give it a thought as I know they go off soon. About three hours later I go back into garage for something and see ALL the lights still on - as I said, this is over three hours.

I look around the vehicle, open the passenger door and all the lights stay on. Go around and open driver door and all lights go off. Close the door and re-open and the interior lights go on as they should. Close the door and all fade off - as should. No lighting issues since.

A few days later I had to go down to dealer for something else and asked about this because I thought the vehicle is designed to protect the battery and shut systems down in a situation like this. And, I assumed I did something (perhaps it could have something to do with putting in key and turning on ign using passenger front door instead of driver door - only thing I could imagine where I could have contributed to prob). When I get it back, SA tells me they ran all system tests, recreated my circumstances (shy of re-programming garage opener) and all systems check out, all zones shut down in sequences as designed and they could not recreate the problem.

While I do not doubt they did as they say, I also know the issue happened for me exactly as described. So, I thought to post here and see if any of you have either experienced anything like this, heard of anything like this, or have any insights as to why this may have happened.

I am not overly concerned as nothing else has happened since but I do live 2 hours away from the dealer. I know I can always call BMW Assist for towing down to the dealer if REALLY necessary but that is a major inconvenience. So, if I can learn here about anything I can do to prevent, avoid, or even identify what happened...

T.I.A.

[Thunder22]

Can you recreate the problem? If not, I wouldn't worry about it.

[AzNMpower32]

Don't worry about it, but next time don't rely on the system to do something for you. The parking lights only consume a minimal amount of electricity; I've used the one-sided kerb lighting feature various times for around 3 hours with no consequence.

BMW keeps changing the sleep modes on various models, the feature that turns some but not necessarily all power off after a certain time period.

[montoya]

We just recieved our new 35D and I experienced the exact same thing. After programming something from the passenger seat, my wife comes back to tell me 15 minutes later that the lights on the car are still on. Sure enough, I duplicate it myself after a few minutes. It is, as you said, a problem of turning the ignition on when entering the passenger side door. Once you remove the key and exit through the passenger door, the lights stay on. If you open and close the driver's door they go off immediately.

So, software bug. Hey, this one is better than the few I have on my M3. The most annoying is that the MDCT shift lights automatically turn off after every drive. That is just sloppy QC testing on the firmware (I guess leaving the lights on the X5 is worse if you leave it that way overnight).

Oh well, these are complex pieces of hardware and software. I wonder how many lines of code exist in all the microprocessors embedded on the X5?

EDIT: Another annoying bug on my M3: Voice commands changed when the car was upgraded with a service advisory for the MDCT. Adding voice dialing names changed from 'store' to 'save'. Irritating as hell to figure out after listening to the voice prompt tell me a million times to repeat the number until I figured out that store was changed to save! Are these the same people that are programming the fly by wire systems on Airbus jets???

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by montoya

We just recieved our new 35D and I experienced the exact same thing. After programming something from the passenger seat, my wife comes back to tell me 15 minutes later that the lights on the car are still on. Sure enough, I duplicate it myself after a few minutes. It is, as you said, a problem of turning the ignition on when entering the passenger side door. Once you remove the key and exit through the passenger door, the lights stay on. If you open and close the driver's door they go off immediately.

So, software bug.

Looks like it may be programmed that way on purpose, to keep the interior light on until the driver exits. Of course, as noted, the vehicle is suppose to have a system to shut everything down after a period of time to save the battery. It would appear the programmer never anticipated the key being put in and out without anyone using the driver's door to get out.

[montoya]

Originally Posted by Penguin

Looks like it may be programmed that way on purpose, to keep the interior light on until the driver exits. Of course, as noted, the vehicle is suppose to have a system to shut everything down after a period of time to save the battery. It would appear the programmer never anticipated the key being put in and out without anyone using the driver's door to get out.

Like I said, it's just sloppy firmware testing.

[London Lad]

Originally Posted by montoya

Like I said, it's just sloppy firmware testing.

I disagree. We can all defeat firmware by doing weird things. Its hardly 'normal' to get in the passenger door, used the ignition key and then get out the passenger door all with no driver present.

[montoya]

Originally Posted by London Lad

I disagree. We can all defeat firmware by doing weird things. Its hardly 'normal' to get in the passenger door, used the ignition key and then get out the passenger door all with no driver present.

No, just like hardware, firmware must take into account all conditions and all user operations. It is hardly unusual to enter in the passenger side and turn on accessories for one reason or another.

For what we do in electrical controls in my business, all firmware needs to go through rigorous safety checking. I'm sure BMW has their own set of standards and regs they must pass as well. It is amazing that something so simple is overlooked- but that is why things are required to be tested.

We will have to disagree on this point.

[RedRockin]

Just want to chime back in to thank everyone for the contributions. I have been a bit of a woos kind of afraid to attempt to re-create, as Thunder suggested in post 2, because I do live 2 hours away from the dealer and if I should happen to re-create too well...

Then again, the SA had the vehicle for about 48 hours and told me that they did attempt to recreate the circumstances (shy of re-programming the garage opener) and the symptoms (lights staying on) did not recur. He explained that the car's programming (sleep mode - battery saver...) involves shutting down a few different systems in "zones" and some zones shut down at different time increments. He said all shut down exactly as designed.

So, perhaps it was all a fluke - then again montoya had the same experience.

Thanks again.

[Thunder22]

If it happens again, hopefully you'll be close to the dealer.

Good luck.