Blind spot monitoring

[Ridelow]

Hi.. just a question about the blind spot monitoring. I can see that i have a triangle in each mirror, but they dont light up or do anything else.

is there any way to activate them or is it just a dummy triangle there?

Still learning about the car.. its a 2017 model

[daytonaviolet]

Originally Posted by Ridelow

Hi.. just a question about the blind spot monitoring. I can see that i have a triangle in each mirror, but they dont light up or do anything else.

is there any way to activate them or is it just a dummy triangle there?

Still learning about the car.. its a 2017 model

i would first check the bmw vin decoder to see if your car comes with this option, S5AGA Lanechange Warning. i believe BSM is part of this

[gqgambler]

If you do have it its in the iDrive settings or push the logo (overhead outline of SUV with lighted circle around it) beneath the hazards on the center console.

[EuroCarFan]

I had the same question as the OP. I've turned the Active Blind Spot warning to ON using that button under the hazard lights button but I've never noticed the triangle warning lights in the side mirrors come on. Maybe I just didn't see it or does it only come on if the car senses I'm about to change lanes and there's a car in the blind spot area?

The onboard owners manual did say that if the turn signals are engaged and there's a car in the blind spot area then the steering wheel will vibrate and the triangle warning lights will flash but shouldn't those lights come already come on when it senses something before "reacting" to what my car's about to do?

Guess I'll pay attention closely tomorrow to see what happens.

[ekological]

I believe the triangles illuminating or not is also speed-dependent.

Originally Posted by EuroCarFan

I had the same question as the OP. I've turned the Active Blind Spot warning to ON using that button under the hazard lights button but I've never noticed the triangle warning lights in the side mirrors come on. Maybe I just didn't see it or does it only come on if the car senses I'm about to change lanes and there's a car in the blind spot area?

The onboard owners manual did say that if the turn signals are engaged and there's a car in the blind spot area then the steering wheel will vibrate and the triangle warning lights will flash but shouldn't those lights come already come on when it senses something before "reacting" to what my car's about to do?

Guess I'll pay attention closely tomorrow to see what happens.

[mike in o.c.]

The triangle is not very bright during the daytime. It shows up better at night. Wish they had installed it in the side mirror instead.

[EuroCarFan]

Originally Posted by ekological

I believe the triangles illuminating or not is also speed-dependent.

Yeah the system says it's not active till 30mph+ which seems odd.

[KCTiger]

Not sure if this is by design or not but I have found that the warning is more likely to activate when another car is overtaking you, as opposed to overtaking another car. Regardless, I feel they only come on about half the time. Unfortunately because of this I don't rely on them much.

[gqgambler]

It is indeed speed dependent and works when a car is overtaking you only.

[ekological]

Originally Posted by gqgambler

It is indeed speed dependent and works when a car is overtaking you only.

Which explains why I rarely see it!

[EuroCarFan]

Just went for a drive and finally noticed the triangle lights come on. It came on once when I was overtaking cars out of about a dozen times that I was checking. And it did come on when other cars overtook me.

The weird thing is that when I start up the car, the option was off and I had to manually turn it on even though I turned it on last night. Shouldn't it always be on or stay on if it was set that way?

Also don't understand the logic in the 30mph requirement.

[gqgambler]

Originally Posted by EuroCarFan

Just went for a drive and finally noticed the triangle lights come on. It came on once when I was overtaking cars out of about a dozen times that I was checking. And it did come on when other cars overtook me.

The weird thing is that when I start up the car, the option was off and I had to manually turn it on even though I turned it on last night. Shouldn't it always be on or stay on if it was set that way?

Also don't understand the logic in the 30mph requirement.

It should hold your settings unless you used a different key. Also make sure the second key is far away from the car as sometimes it can pick up the settings.

Most blind spot systems have a speed setting so it knows that you are driving on a road with moving cars which is what blind spot detection was designed for. Not as valuable in a parking lot with slow moving cars or on single lane suburban roads with 25mph speed limits and no passing.

[gqgambler]

BTW there are 2 settings:
1. Green circle illumination- all systems active (frontal collision warning, pedestrian warning, lane departure warning, active blind spot detection)
2. Red circle illumination- individual setting where you can have any combination of the 4 safety features turned on