Am I the only one who hates BMW's turn signals?

[och]

I have 4 BMWs and I absolutely loathe their turn signals. In a normal car I can easily check if my turn signals are on or off by feeling the turn signal switch, but in BMWs it always returns to center, so I have to either look at the dash or listen for the clicking sounds. But that doesn't always work because when driving I like to bring the steering wheel all the way down, and being a taller person, the steering wheel blocks the upper portion of the instrument cluster where the blinkers are. And if I have music on, I can't hear the clicking. Am I alone in this?

[Shazz]

I used to find it annoying but I have gotten used to it now. I also found out clicking the same direction also cancels the indicator.

Eg. I'm turning right with my indicator on, if I click right again, it turns the indicator off.

Saves sometimes clicking left to turn it off and it ends up indicating left!

Also I have it set to 3 blinks so when I half depress the switch (ie. Not all the way down), it will blink 3 times and stop. Mainly used changing lanes.

[claasmi]

#firstworldproblems

[allinon72]

Code on turn signal notification on the HUD

[och]

Originally Posted by allinon72

Code on turn signal notification on the HUD

My x1 and m235 don't have HUDs. Tried coding it in the X5, but doesn't seem to work. Haven't tried on the x6m yet.

[och]

Originally Posted by Shazz

I used to find it annoying but I have gotten used to it now. I also found out clicking the same direction also cancels the indicator.

Eg. I'm turning right with my indicator on, if I click right again, it turns the indicator off.

Saves sometimes clicking left to turn it off and it ends up indicating left!

Yeah, but I'm never sure if it cancelled itself or not, since I can't see it. Often enough I click in the same direction thinking that my signals are still on, while in fact they were cancelled and I just turn them on again. Complete clusterpluck, and whoever designed it is a complete moron.

[och]

Originally Posted by Shazz

Also I have it set to 3 blinks so when I half depress the switch (ie. Not all the way down), it will blink 3 times and stop. Mainly used changing lanes.

In my Mercedes half depress returns the switch back to center and blinker only flashes 3 times, but if I completely depress the switch it doesn't return to the center. Makes perfect sense and very convenient.

[orangeglim]

Lexus turn signals are the same way now. Or, at least they were in the 2016 IS350 I drove before buying my M235i. I used to hate them, not anymore.

[och]

We need to start a petition with BMW to fix this crap.

https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/...signals-260840

[och]

Apparently someone even went as far as soldering two small LEDs, and installing them below the cluster in their BMW.

[tdott]

I prefer it

[swagon]

Originally Posted by och

I have 4 BMWs and I absolutely loathe their turn signals. In a normal car I can easily check if my turn signals are on or off by feeling the turn signal switch, but in BMWs it always returns to center, so I have to either look at the dash or listen for the clicking sounds. But that doesn't always work because when driving I like to bring the steering wheel all the way down, and being a taller person, the steering wheel blocks the upper portion of the instrument cluster where the blinkers are. And if I have music on, I can't hear the clicking. Am I alone in this?

By your description, your seating position is wrong, then. If you put your hands in the '9-3' position, they should be more or less at the same height as your shoulders. Doesn't matter if a person is short or tall. Here's how to do it the right way.

And you forget after a few seconds whether the turn signals are on/off? Weird.

Self-centering turn signals are better because, at least in my own experience, they require less hand movement to engage. One finger does it all. I prefer it this way and never have I thought the system is confusing.

FYI, BMW is now moving back to the old-style column stalks. G30 has them already.

[metrickid]

I have never ever encountered a situation where I don't know if my turn signals are on or not and I have been driving BMW for 20 years. You either slightly move the stalk to just get three blinks or you move it further to set it to repeat - but as it cancels itself as soon as the wheel is centered again it is almost impossible to even be in a situation where you have no idea if its on or not.

[rightrudder]

I prefer the old style, used on my E46. The new stalk is another case of BMW needlessly trying to reinvent the wheel. I've adapted to using my M240i's stalk, but the old school approach is so pure and simple.

I'm no Luddite; I appreciate a lot of the other technology BMW has incorporated, like keyless start, Comfort Access, etc., but I think on the stalk issue it was done because it was perceived to be higher tech.

[Unknown_Car]

Originally Posted by och

I have 4 BMWs and I absolutely loathe their turn signals. In a normal car I can easily check if my turn signals are on or off by feeling the turn signal switch, but in BMWs it always returns to center, so I have to either look at the dash or listen for the clicking sounds. But that doesn't always work because when driving I like to bring the steering wheel all the way down, and being a taller person, the steering wheel blocks the upper portion of the instrument cluster where the blinkers are. And if I have music on, I can't hear the clicking. Am I alone in this?

Are you sure you have 4 bmws? Because you should have gotten used to long time ago. And also after 3 blinks it turns off, so you don't even need to check if it's on.

[och]

Originally Posted by Roma_335i

Are you sure you have 4 bmws? Because you should have gotten used to long time ago. And also after 3 blinks it turns off, so you don't even need to check if it's on.

Four now, and two more in the past, and its not something that you can simply get used to when you have no visual or tactile way to tell whether your blinker is on or off.

Here's a scenario - I put my blinker on for lane change or merge on the highway, complete the merge, steering wheel returns to the center, but I'm not sure whether the blinkers got cancelled off or not. I have to peek my head down to look at the cluster, which is very frustrating. Many times I found myself turning blinkers back on when I thought I was cancelling them because they were already cancelled.

[NFiftyWon]

It took a while to get used to, but i like how i can tap it for 3 clicks to change lanes and not have to touch it again.

[och]

Originally Posted by NFiftyWon

It took a while to get used to, but i like how i can tap it for 3 clicks to change lanes and not have to touch it again.

Three clicks is fine, I actually have it programmed to 5 clicks, but full on turn signal design is just ass backwards. Like I said in my earlier post, MB implemented 3 clicks and full on signal properly.

[fbsm]

Since when do BMW drivers use turn signals?

[smrtypants44]

Doesn't the g30 go back to traditional turn signal function?

[expidia]

Haha totally agree. Its been a beef of mine since i bought the car back in feb. i just cant get used to the way they were designed. Most new cars operate where a light press last 3 sec the same way and i have no issues and we rent a lot of cars during a year.
Funny i was just showing my wife (who has an audi with no turn signal issue) that i must look like a schmuck to drivers behind me when i change lanes i hold it briefly and i think its blinking for 3 sec when i change lanes and the i look at the dash a few minutes later going down the highway and its still flashing. Especially at night with these real bright led's flashing at the drivers behind me. Then i of course over compensate and it looks like im changing to another lane but im only trying to shut the damn signal off. Good to know i can hit it in the same direction to cxl. Tough to get used to this after driving so many other new cars that work normally. Glad im not the only one and i was going to post this same question, but was dreading all the "mine work fine for me " responses.

[och]

Another thing, with traditional turn signal switches, I believe there is a mechanical feedback to confirm that turn signals self cancelled when steering wheel is returned to the center. No such thing with BMW's convoluted design.