I've searched the manual but am unable to find a light on the dash which is a large yellow triangle with a snowflake inside. It flashed on once yesterday for a brief moment with a "ding" sound. Have not seen it before. I have the Auto temp activated and the AC is activated when I have the Auto setting on.

Trying the AC all by itself, it works fine, so I have no idea what that quick flash and ding might have meant.

It means it's cold outside and watch for ice.

Are you serious??.....

Using your info, I did a search for "ice warning" in the PDF manual and found the following:

Outside temperature warning
When the displayed temperature sinks to
approx. +377/+36, a signal sounds and a
warning lamp lights up. There is an increased
risk of black ice.

Thank you.

Ya, my car just beeps at me and everytime I think, "Oh crap, what'd I do?". I think I'd much prefer the snowflake symbol.

Living in colorado...it goes off every morning.
Read your manual! It's telling you that the outside temp is close to freezing!

Ya, my car just beeps at me and everytime I think, "Oh crap, what'd I do?". I think I'd much prefer the snowflake symbol.


Yeah , me too. The ice warning chime kinda startles me .......and then I think it's the flat tire warning ......

Is it possible to have it alert you without the chime? I have a 335i Sedan here in Connecticut, and every time i start it, it chimes... and then i go down my hill and it gets warmer, and up a little more and it gets colder and chimes again. It chimes like every 10 minutes while im driving, since the temperatures have been fluctuating alot in CT this month.

It's very startling, every time I look to see if something bad has happened. My brother was trying to catch a little shut eye on the way back from a Christmas Party and it kept doing it every time we went from 37 to 39 to 37 and he kept looking over to see if something happened.

Hi, bumping this thread because I got the yellow snowflake warning light and *ding, ding* for the 1st time this morning. Skimmed through the manual and could not find the symbol in the list of warning/indicator lights in the back. Called the service dept. and left a voicemail. Should have come here first.

When the temperature hits 38 degrees, it will pop on that symbol indicating that the roads could possibly have ice on them. This is obviously your first BMW, since they have all done that since way back when.:cool

Anyone know if Porsche and Mercedes have this? After seeing it in a VW and Audi, and now the BMW, I'm wondering if it's just a German thing.

Anyone know if Porsche and Mercedes have this? After seeing it in a VW and Audi, and now the BMW, I'm wondering if it's just a German thing.

Well, it's a German thing, why don't they have an indicator light for "Beer Ahead?"

Had a similar thing my '97 e36. I am pretty sure it's been standard on BMW since way before that. I have to say, seeing it for the 1st time a week or so ago was not the happiest of times, I just hate winter and snow, so this was a reminder that it is on the way :(.

It's documented in the manual at the last few sections. I don't have the manual with me so I can't tell you the exact location.

This symbol is one of the first symbol displayed on the instrument panel when I was driving at 120 km / h along a highway on my way to work. The reason I remember is because it was 3 days after I got the car and I thought I blew one of the tires when I heard the warning tone.

Using your info, I did a search for "ice warning" in the PDF manual and found the following:

Outside temperature warning
When the displayed temperature sinks to
approx. +377/+36, a signal sounds and a
warning lamp lights up. There is an increased
risk of black ice.

Thank you.



pages 146 and 63 in the 328I owners manual:)

Manuals are for "dumb" people. "Smart" people come here and ask dumb questions that are clearly answered in the manual :rolleyes.

Is it possible to have it alert you without the chime? I have a 335i Sedan here in Connecticut, and every time i start it, it chimes... and then i go down my hill and it gets warmer, and up a little more and it gets colder and chimes again. It chimes like every 10 minutes while im driving, since the temperatures have been fluctuating alot in CT this month.

It's very startling, every time I look to see if something bad has happened. My brother was trying to catch a little shut eye on the way back from a Christmas Party and it kept doing it every time we went from 37 to 39 to 37 and he kept looking over to see if something happened.

:rofl
Welcome to CT. Is it really that big a deal, though? In another month it'll only ding once each morning and that's it.

Anyone know if Porsche and Mercedes have this? After seeing it in a VW and Audi, and now the BMW, I'm wondering if it's just a German thing.

my 1986 325 had this feature also. it is to warn you that there is the potential for freezing road conditions based upon the outside temp. it can be annoying as you drive in and out of borderline freezing zones.

the "pilsner ahead" warning is only available in europe.

I think we need a "Slut Ahead" warning. Something like a triangle with this in it: :bj

I think we need a "Slut Ahead" warning. Something like a triangle with this in it: :bj

that option is only available in france.

that option is only available in france.

Then it'd be going off every 500meters or so.

LOL

Love that .gif

I'm going to use it shamelessly elsewhere.

in your owner's manual. Somewhere. It comes on when the outside ambient temp. is about 37 degrees F. which is also the temp. at which precip. can freeze on roadways. It is on all bmw's, and I don't think you can turn it off.

I've searched the manual but am unable to find a light on the dash which is a large yellow triangle with a snowflake inside. It flashed on once yesterday for a brief moment with a "ding" sound. Have not seen it before. I have the Auto temp activated and the AC is activated when I have the Auto setting on.

Trying the AC all by itself, it works fine, so I have no idea what that quick flash and ding might have meant.
Aren't these cars great! They can even detect when it's snowing out. Awesome.

I have an E55 and it just tells me ICE on the instrument cluster. I haven't had to opportunity to see it on the 335 yet. I feel as if the car talks too much! It jabbers about for everything. Later on it is going to jabber about going to fast on the road....(triangle light goes on) "You are going to fast, please slow down!"

I have an E55 and it just tells me ICE on the instrument cluster. I haven't had to opportunity to see it on the 335 yet. I feel as if the car talks too much! It jabbers about for everything. Later on it is going to jabber about going to fast on the road....(triangle light goes on) "You are going to fast, please slow down!"

Hello "TTBMW":

It is not on my 335, but the wife's X5 has the ability to sound an alarm if a preset speed is exceeded.

Here in New Hampshire, my ice warning has been going off every morning lately.
This morning it was 28 degrees F and I turned on the seat heater for the first time this year.

My "01" Lexus GS-300 had the ice warning feature and so did my previous"01" Caddy Deville.

Al. Wise

Hello "TTBMW":

It is not on my 335, but the wife's X5 has the ability to sound an alarm if a preset speed is exceeded.
Do you have iDrive on the 335 and X5? I believe this is only available with iDrive, but I could be wrong.

Yea I got the snowflake in triangle in Va recently. Did not know what the heck was going on. I go to work very early, came on in dark, owners manual was in trunk of course. Have to admit my first thought was a problem with the climate control. Decided to continue driving to work assuming it was not the end of the world. I am glad to know the temp was less than 37 deg F.

Also, if you have the convertible, when it warms up to 90 degrees an outline of a girl in a bikini appears warning you to keep a look out for BABES! :alright


Hee hee, seriously, the snowflake is part of my daily routine here, too. It is surprising that you can't turn it off (firmware hack, anyone?). I wonder if in all of history this has saved anybody from crashing? It just reminds me to make sure I have my heavy coat for the long walk from the parking lot.. :mad

Do you have iDrive on the 335 and X5? I believe this is only available with iDrive, but I could be wrong.

Hello "mryakan":

No iDrive. She can access it through the radio interface. Not that it does any good. When I set it to 120 mph, she had no problem ignoring the warning on her last trip to Pueblo, Co.

Have to admit my first thought was a problem with the climate control.

First time I saw it I thought the same thing.

Now it goes off every day, and I've learned to ignore it.

Have to admit my first thought was a problem with the climate control.

First time I saw it I thought the same thing.

Now it goes off every day, and I've learned to ignore it.

Yea, I have too and instructed my wife to ignore. Does not go off every day in VA.

Yea, I have too and instructed my wife to ignore. Does not go off every day in VA.
lol, not the greatest advice IMO. On a dry day, yeah maybe it is not so useful, but believe me it could save your life on a damp or wet day when the temps drop suddenly in the evening. You don't want to take that off ramp thinking you are fine and then hit a black ice patch. That warning lets you know to be careful. Yeah it is redundant when the temps are stuck in the negative, but sometimes here we have days when the temps drop as much as 10 or even 20 C (that is 40F!!!! :eyecrazy) between daytime high and evening, and that sometimes happened on a day when it rained all day then the roads become ice rinks in an instance at night. It is nice to have something to remind you that ice could be forming.
If people want to start complaining about redundant warnings, why not complaining about the seatbelt warning. It comes on when you turn on the car if you hadn't put your seatbelt on yet. It doesn't bother me since it goes off as soon as I put my seatbelt on, as we all do right? well I have a feeling some will still complain!

I just sure wish there was a way to shut up the chime. The annunciator message is so huge and so obvious that the chime is just overkill anyway...when driving through the hills with temperature inversions, the thing goes on and off multiple times.

My old Volvo 850 just turned a little orange light on beside the outside air temp gauge and it was a beautiful and helpful thing without alarming the passengers.

If anyone comes up with a hack to disable the chime for this message, please post.

Have to admit my first thought was a problem with the climate control.

First time I saw it I thought the same thing.

Now it goes off every day, and I've learned to ignore it.

+1 My Audi had the same thing. It is useless warning.

I had the same thing happen and was a bit concerned too but later read it in the manual as clarified above...I thought I had an A/C problem as the snowflake is so commonly used as an A/C icon...would have been better with a slightly different icon.

I had the same thing happen and was a bit concerned too but later read it in the manual as clarified above...I thought I had an A/C problem as the snowflake is so commonly used as an A/C icon...would have been better with a slightly different icon.
An ice cube icon maybe :D. Neah some might interpret it as time to get a scotch on the rocks.

When the weather gets to 37 and below i get the chime and symbol also. It only chimes 2 or 3 times and the symbol dissapears.My SA told me its letting you know that the conditions are right for the road to produce slippery or black ice conditions.Says the samething in the manual,just not worded exactely like that. its a feature that doesnt bother me at all as it only lasts 3 or 4 seconds and i know what it is.No big deal. BTW i foregot to mention. Last week i was driving down the road the day after a rainfall.It was around 45 degrees out and the road had dried up a good 95% already. I ran over a patch of wet leaves the width of the road and about 12 feet long when the symbol we are discussing popped up. I think its an excellent function,as it was letting me know to drive cautiously because of the chance of posibble black ice or wet dangerous road ahead. Thats almost a direct quote from the manual.Great function if you ask me. Even if you dont ask me. (LOL).

it's right in the manual. Mine went off for first time the other day and it took me about 30 seconds to find it. It's right in there with all the other dash electronic icon explanations.

Am I the only one who knew what it was without referring to the manual? Is it because I owned a BMW before or because I live closer to the Arctic?! :dunno

it's right in the manual. Mine went off for first time the other day and it took me about 30 seconds to find it. It's right in there with all the other dash electronic icon explanations.

I thought real men did not read manuals. We just screw up whatever product it is and pay someone to fix.

Wow..it just happened to me this week and I was wondering about that? The temperature down here did drop down to the 30's briefly in the morning and as I was heading to work I noticed the snowflake flash for a moment and thought it had something to do with the A/C. Cool....

These days when I see it, it feels like the car is rubbing it in. "Hey mryakan, see the snow out there, there is snow, snow buddy, and it's here to stay for a while" :mad.

Am I the only one who knew what it was without referring to the manual? Is it because I owned a BMW before or because I live closer to the Arctic?! :dunno

I am familiar with it but lucky for me I am sure you see if far more often.

I am used to it but when the chime goes off, I always get a "what's that?" from the passenger which then leads to my long-winded lecture on german engineering, BMW safety systems, and the hazards of black ice.

I am familiar with it but lucky for me I am sure you see if far more often.
Everytime I start the car these days, even when the car is still in the garage :(. I don't mind it, I mind the reason behind it (i.e the #$^%& cold). :mad


I am used to it but when the chime goes off, I always get a "what's that?" from the passenger which then leads to my long-winded lecture on german engineering, BMW safety systems, and the hazards of black ice.
hahaha, just say it is the icecream break reminder. I get those chimes all the time, maybe it's time to start another thread on this.

The snowflake thread most hit 50 posts before it can die!

The snowflake thread most hit 50 posts before it can die!
You mean "Must" ;). Here's 50. Done :D.