German cars are known to decline in reliability as they age, but we’ve never seen one exhibit a mechanical failure like this.
The Speed Academy YouTube channel published a short clip to Instagram in November showing what is perhaps the oddest electrical fault we’ve ever seen in a BMW. The video shows host Peter Tarach attempting to solve an issue with his E90-generation M3’s EDC button, responsible for controlling the stiffness of the dampers. All of a sudden, a strange pink smoke begins to emit from under the button.
“Well that’s a new one,” Tarach says. “I’ve never seen that happen.”
Tarach quickly shuts off the car, but not before we see more smoke pour its way into the cabin. The video’s comment section is unsurprisingly full of gold. “Typical BMW gender reveal,” one reads. “That’s the BMW strawberry diffuser scent test trial. $50 monthly sub if you want that all the time,” says another.
It’s unclear how this electrical short occurred or how it was eventually fixed, as Speed Academy doesn’t mention the weird failure in its latest update video on the M3. Commenters suggest the smoke could’ve been caused by a pinched wire or liquid inadvertently entering the center console. Either way, we hope Tarach avoided breathing that stuff in.