pennetta

Mine is a March build and they don't work.

Iceman

Are you sure, pennetta ?
They should work. Try to make an emergency braking in front of somebody you know who is standing on the sidewalk. They are only visible when the ABS is active, you can't see them when the car is parked.
If they really don't work, the dealer can activate them.
I haven'T checked mine, but I am pretty sure they are active. The next time my car is at my dealer I want to see the dealer settings myself... Then I'll know...

BMW530

Brake Force Display was standard in the US cars since last year.

You may have read in a previous post that I tested mine after getting the BFD activated. I got a friend of mine to stand at the side of the road to check and then we swapped places to confirm.

The BFD not only comes on when the ABS is active it also comes on when your braking hard I think at a rate of something like 5m/s. If you had a briefcase on your seat, you will have to break so hard that the briefcase goes flying forward from the seat.

I'm not too sure whether the dealer can tell you the settings on whether BFD is activated. My dealer couldn't. Its not a car memory function like daytime running lights. BFD is an internal rearlight software function.

andy545

good info mate!!

BMW530

Thanks andy545.

Here's the link to my post if anyone wants to read the history on how I eventually got BFD to be activated.
BFD Activation

pennetta

I had someone follow me and while on our cell phones I first tapped the brake lightly to give my friend a point of reference and then I pulled ahead and hit the brakes hard enough to squeal the tires. No difference.
We were looking for the roundish light, closer to the center of the car, to light under hard braking. Is that where the extra lights come on?
Also I am noticing that those that say their's work are not from the US.

BMW530

The roundish light (foglight) does not come on. You need to look at the whole red section of the rearlight cluster excluding the round foglight area.
So under normal braking half the red section lights up.
Under hard braking the whole red section lights up but not the round area.

Iceman

AFAIK you're right, and at first half the section lights up, then the other half lights up too, after a little delay, right ?

BMW530

Actually from what I saw there was no delay in the second set of lights appearing. The whole red section lit up at the same time.

Iceman

I have only seen it on the 3series so far, and there is a delay. So the 3series is a little different...