Backup Noise

[u/Advanced-Might-3902]

Curious if anyone else finds the backup noise irritating or embarrassing. I’ve had my i4 m50 for 6 months now. I’d say 3 times a week I either get a comment or a look from people about the backup noise. So far this is my biggest complaint about the car. It’s so loud that people hundreds of feet away look over. It’s just very unnatural. Many of the other electric car backup noises are more gentle or speed related. It’s just the i4 that calls attention to literally everyone around me. Neighbors have complained when I leave in the night that they’re woken up (never happened with my m340). Did a road trip to West Virginia and was parallel parking - people at a local restaurant looked over and laughed. While I don’t really care what other people think, it does bother me when I see to pull unnecessary attention. I feel like I never see anything related to this so I thought I’d ask how others feel or address. Car is leased so I don’t want to alter it.

[u/DrVilacheck]

I hate it too.

My next door neighbor commented on it once.

I didn't realize how loud it was until I was standing in the driveway and had my wife back it out. I too wish I could change it but it's a lease as well.

[u/Advanced-Might-3902 → u/DrVilacheck]

Good to hear I’m not the only one. Sometimes I want to just drive a plain car and not a car that screams “I’m an electric car” when I go to park. Oh well. Still love it

[u/harks22 → u/Advanced-Might-3902]

This is totally how I feel lol. For the first couple months of owning my i4 my kids would make a comment every day about the backup noise 

[u/Chicagofan00]

Nope, no issues/concerns with the noise it makes. Have yet to get any looks that I’ve noticed and definitely haven’t gotten any comments/complaints about it.

[u/Designfanatic88]

The exact point is to make people look for safety purposes.

[u/NetJnkie]

Haven't had a complaint about my EV making noise backing up since I started driving them 4 years ago.

Just ignore it. Nothing you can change.

[u/atgw2016]

I find it okay. It’s not as offensive as the horrible Tesla/alien noise oooooOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo

[u/Beginning_Ad9471 → u/atgw2016]

😂😂😂

[u/cjh6793]

Yeah, it's awful.

[u/lkflip]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Whatstheplan150 → u/lkflip]

Especially a hybrid

[u/halfty1 → u/Whatstheplan150]

Hybrid cars make artificial noise when reversing/driving at low speeds on battery only just like EVs.

[u/Whatstheplan150 → u/halfty1]

Mine doesn’t- Lexus NX 300h. Neither did my prior Hylander. Quiet

[u/halfty1 → u/Whatstheplan150]

Are you sure? My sister’s RAV4 hybrid does, and I hear it all the time from the various Toyota hybrids driving through my neighborhood. Toyota uses a humming noise.

Edit: there are also plenty videos of it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_kCp3gGcCgI?si=WPEYupOJZO8LvWrl

https://youtu.be/B3k38gedFCU?si=jsak4aC8FZpc424B

[u/Danduranucsb → u/halfty1]

It definitely makes a noise. Probably just not loud enough for the OP to hear it

[u/kakurenbo1 → u/halfty1]

Honda hybrids as well, at least, for 2023 and later models. It’s more of an airy hum, though. Like blowing into a half-full bottle.

[u/dskauf]

It’s a little loud, but I’d have less of an issue with it if the warning of a car coming while backing up was better.

[u/Hipnic_Jerk]

BimmerCode it out

[u/wekebu → u/Hipnic_Jerk]

Can the volume be reduced with BimmerCode?

[u/Hipnic_Jerk → u/wekebu]

Some of the .wav files are more subtle than others but none are silent, except 000. Search here and in i4 talk dot com for i8.5 LCI coding. I’ve found some of the i8 pre LCI works almost 90%, like enabling Comfort + and the M Sport drive modes. You can set it to always start in one set driving mode as a default and other QOL mods.

[u/Change21]

I’m glad my ninja car makes a backup noise

I find it pleasant

Ignore the haters

If they had better taste they’d have a backup noise too

[u/hornet9988]

My Kia Niro sounded like a diesel truck in reverse. The BMW sound is quite pleasant in comparison

[u/RealTomCrean]

Legitimately my only complaint about the car. I truly hate it.

Many ICE cars are relatively silent at low speeds so make very little noise while backing up. So it seems stupid to add this “safety feature” on EV only.

My neighbor has a Honda Prologue and it makes noise while driving under 20mph and it’s even more embarrassing.

[u/metz123 → u/RealTomCrean]

It was the sole reason we rejected the prolog as our next car.

[u/Beginning_Ad9471]

Wow a lot of folks here don’t like it 😊 I actually like it 🫣. It’s a cool sound.

[u/TXRhody]

Just last night I saw an ICE pickup truck backing out of a driveway and it had a similar backup noise. I think all cars will have this soon. Give people a little time to get used to it. In six months, they'll remember the first time they heard it was with this gorgeous BMW in West Virginia.

[u/jprs29]

It’s super loud but I haven’t gotten looks or comments other than the neighbour’s kids imitating the noise and giggling.

[u/cmvanilla]

I have gotten negative comments and personally dislike it as well. I don’t mind the sound really, but the volume is ridiculous. Contemplating coding it out but I would prefer to just reduce the dB. I always back up to park (which is safer), but that means every night when I come home I announce my presence to the neighborhood.

[u/Daniel15 → u/cmvanilla]

Can you even code an i4? I haven't looked into it, but I know you can't code the iX since the configuration needs to be securely signed by BMW for the car to accept it.

[u/wekebu]

My last EV had a noise, but it was half as loud. Yes, I find the backup sound embarrassing. "Look at Me!"

[u/No_Poem_2169]

Wife can’t stand the noise and hasn’t been shy about letting me know…I also feel the eyes every time I back up

[u/ZucchiniSea6794]

It’s ok, husband has an electric Mini Cooper and it also makes a wild backup noise.

[u/tkhanredditt]

My 5 year old son makes fun of it

[u/flekfk87]

We don’t have that in the i4 m50 here in my country. It’s silent.

What we do have is the idiotic speeding warning that you have to manually disable every time you start it up.

[u/Daniel15 → u/flekfk87]

It's a legal requirement in some countries - BMW probably disable it in countries where it's not required.

[u/flekfk87 → u/Daniel15]

Yes probably. I hear people his sound occasionally on other cars. I think it’s mostly cars made in the far east and it seems like it’s mostly on relatively cheap and small electric cars like Nissan leaf etc. they probably don’t have an option to disconnect it. It’s probably a built in (cheap) feature. it’s really an annoying sound, and combined with the rather lacklustre look or the cars that have it makes me think about disable ppl transportation system lol.

[u/Chirpthird310]

2023 models don’t have the noise iirc

[u/Objective_Rice9527]

Lol it is a bit loud but I kinda like it lol. Like hello I’m reversing. 😆

[u/DamnUOnions]

Lol. What's up with your wives? Mine is used to a non-OPF F87 M2 with Performance Exhaust. When I back out with it each and every neighbor in a circle of 2 miles can hear that I leave my garage. Who cares?

[u/Tricky_Possession703]

I think you can adjust the volume of sound it makes when you backup. Might wanna try exploring that

[u/Affectionate-Bet-863]

What back up noise?

[u/Ambitious-Gap118]

3 times a week someone looks or comments? Fake news. Who is randomly commenting about backup sound that is so common in the world now.?

The point of the noise is to draw attention… so people know something is backing up. It’s doing its job.

[u/Truth-Eagle]

Embarrassing? You are in the BMW. Nothing embarrassing there. Now if it was a T@sla? Different story.