Nicholas R.

When using Car Play with any recent BMW models, i.e. 2022 M550i, Car Play fails and it drops the device from Bluetooth, and in some cases, you will have to shutdown/restart the car to bring the device back online.

So… When on a two-way call in Car Play and you add a third person and conference this person into the call, the call continues to work perfectly fine. However, if someone else tries to call you, the call doesn't make it through and from the caller's perspective, it appears you are sent straight to voicemail and/or the call is rejected. It immediately shows on the car's display screen that a call is missed. This goes on probably 2-3-4 more times until that person just thinks they're being completely ignored. Trust me, my wife doesn't like it. While still on that same conference call in Car Play mode, I then attempt to call that person back and my device is dropped from Car Play all together; forcing me now to continue that call in handheld mode. I also had that same person call me back while on that same conference call and the call went through when not connected to BMW Car Play. This is no good in many states where handsfree is required and the law.

I noticed this 2-3 weeks after purchasing my beautiful 2022 M550i and brought it to the attention of the dealership, and I was ridiculed and told I was doing something wrong.

I then tried the same in a Prius and it worked fine. I also tried a Ford Explorer, Jaguar F-Pace, Mercedes S-500, and a Lexus. No issues at all. I then called BMW and got into it with their customer advocacy team and was told there were no issues. I finally went back to the same dealership and we tried 2 more brand new BMWs from the show floor. We tried an M-5 and an X-3. They all showed the same problem. I finally received a text message from my Sales Person telling me that the issue was known within BMW and that they were not going to do anything about it because no one else is complaining.

My real reason for wanting this to work is because I wanted a semi high performance vehicle that looked good and was powerful on the road. I'm also in high-end technical sales and with being more and more remote in the post-pandemic era, customers want to be more virtual than ever.

The fact that BMW acknowledges the problem and doesn't care to fix it is embarrassing when compared to a 20k used Toyota Prius where Car Play works perfectly fine and with no issues. The issue was so prevalent that I hardly drove the car (12k miles in less than 19 months) and just this past week I sold it back to the dealership. The car is truly an awesome and fun car to drive, but for a 90k+ vehicle all in, I expected it to perform better.

The car was my office on the road and it was a disappointment. Shame on you BMW! If a Prius can do it, so can you. The issue is software related and it can be fixed. Your total lack of customer service and complacent ways in that your cars are great, which they are, and not wanting to fix is a shame. With current high inflation and a slower economy, all consumers should be aware of what they will encounter when buying a new BMW.