The backup or reverse camera often helps the driver to see what is below their line of sight in the rearview mirror. However, the camera might often succumb to glitches, which could be frustrating and often lead to accidents.
When it comes to the rearview camera of your BMW, there could be a few possible reasons that are causing the camera to act up. By identifying some of these possible issues, you could get the camera to work once again. This would make it so that you don’t have to worry about driving a vehicle with a broken camera:
Corrupted Software
One of the first reasons that could be cause for concern with your backup camera is the software. The software is responsible for allowing the vehicle to access this camera when you put the car into reverse. However, you might often have some glitches that could be causing the camera to freeze or even reduce the shifting to the camera when the car is in reverse.
Settings Glitch
One of the issues of the backup camera has to do with the settings on the camera display. A BMW backup camera recall has occurred, in which many of the customers complained that the backup camera is too dark. Since you cannot manually adjust the brightness and contrast settings on your camera, the recall had to be done.
Your vehicle could be having the same fault, which means that having the dealership fix the problem would be the only way for you to see this issue be resolved.
Changing Camera Too Fast
One of the major issues that could occur is often due to the driver changing the camera too fast. The camera would often need some time to be fully in tune and work effectively. However, when you are making a three-point turn, for instance, you could be dealing with the camera rapidly changing from one to the other.
Unfortunately, this issue is only resolved by taking it slow and allowing the camera to settle in. It is one of the major issues with the rearview camera.
Battery About To Die
If you are on the fringe of the battery life of your vehicle, you could also be dealing with this issue. Once the battery starts dying on your vehicle, you would instantly see that it would regulate the power only to the most essential components of the vehicle. These would be the things like the center console and dashboard, as well as a few internal aspects.
If the battery is about to die, you should take the vehicle to the nearest battery shop and have it replaced to avoid it dying prematurely.
Trunk Not Closed Correctly
Another major issue that could often be cause for concern is when the trunk does not lock when it is closed. While this could be an issue with the trunk of the vehicle, the most common cause would be the driver has not made sure that it is closed. As part of the safety measures, the vehicle would constantly peep and the backup camera might not work.
Fortunately, this should not be such a massive issue and you simply need to get out of the vehicle and manually close the trunk correctly. Once you close the trunk and get inside the vehicle, everything should be back working as normal.
How To Troubleshoot BMW Backup Camera?
If you have done all the basic things and you still find that the backup camera is not working, there are a few things you should consider, which should allow you to troubleshoot the camera. This could help you reveal, which hidden issues could be causing the backup camera to fail:
1. Check For External Damage
The first thing you should do is walk around your vehicle. Once you can effectively walk around your vehicle, you should be able to see if there are any external damages present. Damaged hardware is one of the main causes of damage to these cameras and you should make sure that you have all of this efficiently covered.
2. Check For Dirty Lens
One of the other issues could be due to a dirty lens. The dirty lens cannot easily be spotted, but when you walk over to the camera, you can check to see if there is any mud or debris that could be blocking the camera. By washing the vehicle or simply wiping down the camera, you should be able to effectively fix this issue.
3. Check For Loose Connections
Diving a bit deeper into the problems with the BMW backup camera, we see the possibility of loose connections. However, you would need to have some technical skills and expertise to dissect whether or not the camera might be acting up. You can open up the rear of the vehicle and this will allow you to check the loose connections of the car.
Alternatively, you might want to visit your local dealership and mechanic to ensure that you have insight directly into the vehicle. They should be able to easily check if any loose connections are coming from things like the fusebox or any other part of the car.
4. Check The Instruction Manual
Another thing to consider is the instruction manual of the car. The instruction manual is something that comes with the camera and might even be separate for many vehicles. This means that you would need to see if any possible instructions on potential faults could arise inside your car. This would show you any real issues that are present.
However, some of these issues would recommend that you visit a dealership in an attempt to have the issues fixed.
Have The Dealership Assist You?
Depending on the severity of the problem, you might want to give some time for the dealership to have a look at what could be wrong inside the vehicle. The best bet would be to let your dealership take a look and see if they can spot any issues. Keep in mind that this would often be expensive and if required, you will need to pay up for the issue.