BMW X3 Complaints

271 consumer complaints on file.

#11541760August 30, 2023
STEERING
Both front end tie-rods had to be replaced at 28000 miles. They were making a loud popping noise when steering the vehicle on uneven pavement. The bushings on the tie-rods were worn out and could have failed at any time, resulting in a complete loss of steering control. The vehicle has not been in any accidents or received any damage to wheels and/or tires from hitting any curbs or potholes. In my opinion, this is a dangerous condition which warrants additional investigation. The repair / replacement was performed at the auto dealership where the vehicle was purchased new in April 2021.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11537884August 11, 2023
STRUCTURE:BODY, SERVICE BRAKES, SUSPENSION
I was driving down the street from my home and I slowed down turned right and my car was out of control I steered to the curb. I got out and saw that the tire had blown-up and a large piece of the tire which was cut in half was on the ground. I couldn’t drive the car I called a tow truck driver who was there within 30 min he towed my car to BMW. It hasn’t been fully inspected I am waiting for USAA to inspect with Spectrum collision. Several people from the collision company have said it may be a tire failure.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534701July 26, 2023
POWER TRAIN
Severe clunk while in reverse probably coming from rear differential
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534242July 25, 2023
POWER TRAIN
Rear differential bolt failure: Failure has not happened yet, but will happen eventually with enough mileage as seen with many other BMW X3M vehicles. Problem is with the rear differential bolt. The bolt is prone to shearing or snapping, noises may be heard from differential up until failure occurs at some point. Once this occurs it can wreak havoc on the differential and associated parts and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage if you are outside of the warranty period. The bolt needs to be stronger or something needs to be added to the bolt area to lessen the movement of the differential under power. If bolt is to snap on the road this will cause safety issues as you will lose power and potentially break many things on vehicle that could cause road debris and also require you to pull over immediately. Problem can't be reproduced as it's a single bolt that can fail at any time. No inspections have taken place, no warning lights or problems before hand. However, some may hear noises in the rear differential under power.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11530911July 7, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, STRUCTURE:BODY
Sensor for forward collision warning failed to work and I was involved in an accident.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11526962June 14, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
The clips that hold the KAFAS camera system are faulty and easily break. The KAFAS unit gets exceptionally hot and damages the clips causing the unit to go out of alignment and then cause all of the safety features to fail. The fact that you have to replace the whole windshield to repair two small plastic clips is an egregious mechanical design failure, waste of resource, and just insane design.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11525876June 7, 2023
POWER TRAIN
After taking off from a stop light, heard a loud bang and after taking it to the dealer it turns out to be a broken rear right axle and diff retaining bolt. My car is a 2022 MY with 20k miles on it. This was the first time I have done a "hard launch". The car is bone stock, with no modifications whatsoever and all maintenance and repairs done at the bmw dealership. I am going after a warranty claim as this should be covered.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11525698June 6, 2023
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2022 BMW X3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated while the accelerator pedal was depressed. The service vehicle warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that a message displayed on the instrument panel “Drivetrain Malfunction”. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the cause of the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 11,712.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11523917May 25, 2023
STRUCTURE:BODY
When a passenger front door is opened, it is possible for the person exiting the car to catch an upper arm in the metal opening and sustain an injury.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11522820May 19, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES
The break pads wore out on the car at around 16,000 miles. Generally brake pads are supposed to last 35,000 to 40,000 miles. My sister in law has a BMW 4 series and their cars brake pads wore out at around 15,000 miles. I'm sure there are thousands of other BMW owners who have been experiencing this same issue When the dealership was confronted they admitted that BMW has changed to a different "softer" type of brake pads and they are regularly seeing that This should be considered as a defect and the cars recalled because BMW knowingly changed their brake pads to save money and has been installing cheap brake pads that don't even last 1/2 of what regular brake pads last BMW knowingly did this because before their service included the brake pads to be changed within 3 years or 36,000 miles. They removed the brake pads as part of the service included within the 36,000 and started selling additional warranty for the brake pads This would confirm that they knew the new brake pads that they were going to be installing were cheaply made and they were going to have a lot of people coming in to get them changed within the service time period of 36,000, so they removed that as being included and starting selling additional warranty for that. The NHTSA should have minimum standards for car parts across the board, so that BMW doesn't take advantage of their customers and install cheap parts so they can make more money We have leased/owned BMW's for 15+ years and have never had this issue. Since this was done on purpose by BMW, there should be a recall issued for the defective brake pads that they have been installing
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11522586May 18, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The BMW X3 went in for a recall to reprogram the DME. After updating the DME software by BMW the DME was no longer talking to other modules. The BMW Assistant Service Manager said and I quote him "IT'S A KNOWN ISSUE WITHOUT A FIX". I ask for clarification and I was told that there were some 100 modules or so that are in the car and that they now no longer reliably talked with other modules as a result of the updating the DME recall software. I was given one example by BMW of possible implications to modules not talking to each other where BMW was not sure if the airbag was getting correct information. BMW when on to say they were not sure what exactly was and was not affected but they considered it now a safety issue. They have had our BMW X3 since February 7th, 2023 after numerous fix attempts. As of today that would be 101 days at the BMW service department. BMW also said there were other BMWs with the same issue. Bottom line BMW treated the issue as a safety issue. Again that safety issue was created by a failed updating the DME software module on a recall. There is a dashboard emissions warning light that appears when the hybrid battery is drained. BMW also indicated that they have no idea what the full extent of failed software update, has done. RECALL . PLEASE PERFORM OPEN RECALL FOR THE DME PROGRAMMING, B121221, ADDDED ON 11/14/2022 AT 4:15 BY [XXX] preformed service Acton 12 12 21. defect code 0012690500. labor ops 00 71 240. ···WARRANTY, INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11520483May 4, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES, ENGINE
I was slowly pulling into a parking space and as I applied pressure to the brakes, there was no response. In fact the car seemed to rev up and accelerate, jumping the curb and ramming a tree. I was able to steer away from the tree to avoid hitting the center of the front end, but smashing the left front. Even after hitting the tree the car did not slow and I’m trying to pump the brakes, there was no response… I kept going over a grassy area, across a sidewalk and back into the driveway in front of the building, finally the brakes engaged and the car came to a stop. I was then able to pull into another space safely out of the way. I was so lucky it was only 7:15 am and no pedestrians were around and no other vehicles. So I did not hit anyone and did not injure myself.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11518308April 21, 2023
ENGINE
Intermittent Check Engine Light with the Plug In Hybrid X3 30e since January 2023. Vehicle has been taken back to BMW 2 times and released back to me without permanent fix. Vehicle as of April 2023 is currently held at dealership for 3rd time still without fix. Each check engine light results in a trip back to the dealership service center because we wouldn't know what is the severity of the issue. My safety is put at risk because a normal drive suddenly becomes worrisome and interrupted at random times and we have to attempt to safely pull over to call roadside assistance. Currently in communication with local dealership and have reached out to BMW Customer Relations without response yet.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11518108April 20, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I have noticed that my vehicle seems to be lagging behind when driving at the poster speed limit. Other vehicles were catching up rapidly and stacking up behind me. I compared the indicated vehicle speed with two separate GPS devices and found the indicated speed was slower the the GPS indicated speed. At highway speed, 75 mph as indicated on the speedometer, the vehicle is traveling at 70 to 71 mph as reported be the GPS. I confirmed this by pacing another on vehicle with an accurate speedometer. I took my vehicle (2023 BMW X3 with 2218 miles on it) to the dealer for warranty service to address the issue for inaccurate speed reading on the speedometer. They provided me with a BMW service information bulletin (#B26 06 12 SI dated April 2012) which indicated that most speedometers have a tolerance of approximately 10% plus 2.5 mph, being necessary to compensate for negative tolerances in tire diameter and other outside factors. If a vehicle speedometer reads within that tolerance, no repairs should be attempted. This means that a vehicle traveling at highway speeds (75mph) as indicated on the vehicle’s speedometer, the vehicle could be actually traveling at 65 mph. While traveling at 65 mph in a 75 mph speed zone in legal, it is not really safe and leads to unsafe traffic slow downs and possibly road rage incidents. I questioned the impact of the “speed advance” on the total actual mileage the odometer, along with the computed MPG performance of the vehicle. Interesting enough, the service bulletin notes that the mileage does not incorporate any “advance tolerances” yet it obtains its information from the same source as the speedometer. A 10% “speed advance” (as identified) is unrealistic, unsafe, and unnecessary. Additionally, as related to tire diameter, as a tire wears and thus has a reduces circumference indicate speed becomes higher than actual speed, thus negating the need for the speedometer advance. I want an accurate speed reading while driving.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11516916April 13, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Traveling on 2 lane road with no cars around, bright day, 2:30pm about 40mph. Emergency braking beeped twice and immediately slammed on the brakes. Not sure what it thought it saw- tree shadows? The feature was set to medium. If another car was behind us it would have slammed into us. 5th time in 2 years. The dealer just shrugs and says to not set it to high responsiveness. This is a bad defect.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11515636April 5, 2023
ENGINE
The check engine light is on. We have taken the vehicle to 2 different BMW dealerships and the problem persists. I have contacted BMW of North America and they have not responded. We are hesitant to drive this vehicle since it is unknown why the "check engine" light is on. Thank you.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11509735March 1, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, ENGINE
I have two major concerns 1) When I drive in the snow and engage "traction control" the brakes stop working properly - to the point that I had to stomp on the pedal with both feet to get them to kick in. It was truly terrifying. Another friend with a 2023 model X3 experienced the exact same thing. No warning signs appeared and my car only has 9000 miles. This just happened so I have no complained to the dealer yet. 2) When I leave my house and head down hill to the stop sign the transmission automatically kicks itself out of "Drive" into "Neutral." This is also dangerous as I pull away from the stop sign into the street i have no idea when I hit the gas nothing will happen and I've almost gotten T-boned by cars who find me stalled in the middle of the road. I had the dealer look at this and they could not duplicate it. Meanwhile I had a 2023 loaner car from them that did the exact same thing! They said there have been no recalls for this so I felt it should be reported too.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508835February 24, 2023
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I have Lane keep assist set to Early with Steering intervention. LKA would sometimes shut off by itself in the 45-60 mph highway speed range in sunny weather with clear road markings, and sometimes would stay on even when my speed decreases even to 35 mph instead of 40 mph. I understand if weather is bad, LKA might not work, but I am very confused, in broad daylight, what would cause the LKA to turn on or off and deactivate/activate at different speeds? I have the standard PDC with the "forward and rear corner sensors that trigger a warning beep at approximately a 2 ft. distance from the object." Is there any way to control the distance the parking distance control sensors activate automatically like in Merc? Since I don't have Active Park Distance Control (Option ZX1) which "automatically applies emergency braking when the reversing vehicle gets too close to an object behind or at the side of the vehicle when a collision is imminent at speeds below 3 mph," would the car still auto brake for me if I am backing up reverse in a parking garage if there is cross traffic alert or I am hitting object behind me?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506555February 10, 2023
STEERING
2022 BMW X3. CONSUMER STATED THAT THEIR VEHICLE WENT OUT OF CONTROL WHILE DRIVING.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506205February 8, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, POWER TRAIN
When the vehicle is moving at a speed of 4mph and lower, it is impossible to shift the vehicle from neutral to drive without applying the brakes. I was pulling out onto a 4 lane road from a side street when I accidentally bumped the transmission gear shifter into the "N" neutral position. When I realized this (I was only going 4 mph at the time) I tried to shift it back into drive but it would not work. The vehicle made a sound that I was doing something wrong. I tried to shift it again (vehicle was probably now moving around 3 mph) and it gave me that same warning sound but this time I looked at the instrumentation panel and saw that the warning text displayed on the panel said that I needed to apply the brakes before I could shift it from neutral to drive. When I applied the brakes the vehicle came to a complete stop because I was going only 3mph and at that point I could shift the vehicle into drive. I believe that if I had pulled out with cars coming at a high rate of speed that I could have been hit on the drivers side because I had come to a complete stop in the right hand lane of the roadway. I could only imagine what could have happened to an inexperienced driver because I somewhat panicked and I have over 35 years of driving experience. This safety issue was brought up to BMW through their customer service/satisfaction center. The representative that I spoke with said he would forward the concern to their "research and design" unit but didn't know if they would respond. I have not brought the issue up with the dealership where I purchased the vehicle because I notified BMW directly. I am concerned that this design fault will one day cause catastrophic injuries.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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