Automatic Emergency Braking Problems of BMW X3

The automatic emergency braking system randomly applied itself while I was driving 40mph down a highway where there was no obstacle/animal of any kind. My vehicle braked hard and quickly and a red car image appeared in the dash simultaneously. Thankfully there were no other vehicles around me at the time. Prior to today, my vehicle has had regular maintenance and has had no issues. I have not yet brought his forward to a dealership, service center, police, insurance, etc.

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My wife was driving our 2025 BMW X3 in traffic and when the car in front braked suddenly. She tried to change lanes but clipped the car in front, resulting in nearly $22 thousand in damages. BMW's review of the car's "black box" purportedly shows that the forward collision mitigation system engaged, but only a split second prior to the crash, which my wife did not experience. BMW's review also purports that my wife did not brake, which she also disputes. Even more concerning is that the parts need to repair the car seem to be completely unavailable from BMW--the car has been sitting in a body shop for almost 2 months and BMW has "no eta" for the parts.

The car suddenly braked without warning, and the road was clear and no interference.

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My accident on [xxx] with my 2025 BMW X3 VIN [xxx] was avoidable and caused by either failure in design, or in execution in two BMW systems, I'll discuss rear emergency braking here. Pictures and videos (even one of the crash) can be downloaded here: [xxx] . I was driving the car in what I believe to be an assisted parking situation, but the car did not follow the assisted path. I've filled out a safety report on that already. According to page 172 of BMW’s 416 page manual, there is a rear collision mitigation function with audible, visual, and autonomous braking. The system provided no warning of any kind—not audible, visual, or any braking whatsoever to avoid this accident. My husband had installed a trailer hitch on this vehicle. That involved removal of the bumper fascia that houses some sensors that may be involved in rear autonomous braking. However, my husband reports that the fascia was removed and replaced without incident and in exactly the same location as it originally was. We never experienced any error codes of any kind from the vehicle at any time and these sensors were working during parking to note proximity to other vehicles. There is nothing in the owner's manual to indicate any issues with removing the bumper when installing a hitch. The trailer hitch was purchased from [xxx] and they have 2 videos regarding hitch installation on the 2025 BMW X3 and my husband says he installed it consistent with these videos, as well as the pdf from the hitch manufacturer. None note having to readjust the safety system after installation of the hitch. BMW has not specifically claimed that the trailer hitch was involved, but did note that it was installed. They are involved in assessing this accident. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

While driving away from a stop sign in clear bright daylight weather conditions, the car automatically instituted an emergency stop almost causing the car behind me to rear end my car. I am assuming that it was the "drive off safety feature" and after turning off that safety feature and had no repeat. To be clear, I actually have no idea what software system cause the emergency breaking but there were no obstructions, pedestrians or other things that should have triggered the stop.

While driving on a state highway in cruise mode, the vehicle displayed a “check control” message: •support from driver assistance restricted •you can continue driving. Driver assistance permanently restricted. •check control messages (1) suddenly, the car exited cruise mode. While this is designed as a safety feature, it should not disengage abruptly during driving, as it may lead to potential risks. This a second biggest issue with this vehicle within just a few months of purchase.

Problem: I recently had incidents when the rab (rear automatic brake) on the 2024 BMW x-3 vehicle did not work on multiple. The vehicle never stopped as I backed out of my parking space and almost hit a pedestrian while simply rolling in reverse. Afterwards my husband, who had a similar incident with his BMW 540i, tested the rab by perpendicularly slowly walking behind the car. He had to run out of the way when the vehicle was continuing to move when approximately 12” from me. I tested both vehicles, 540i & x-3, with the same results.   as a further test I placed a plastic figure that’s ordinarily used a warning to drivers of children playing in the area. Results while slowly backing was that the vehicle hit (bumped) the little green “man”. He previously did the same tests on 2024 540i, VIN [xxx] , with the exact same results. BMW of wesley chapel had no solution. We spoke with managers doonan and hernandez. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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Constant emergency braking when I’m not near another vehicle.

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Upon starting the vehicle, the electronic dashboard comes on, declares “reduced driver assistance” then about 15 seconds later, the entire dashboard goes dark and won’t come back on until the car has been shut down for several minutes. This sequence of events happens 95% of the time that I start the car. Upon restart, the dashboard will stay on about 40% of the time, the other 60% it shuts off again. While I can still see my speed in the heads up display, I have no idea how much gas I have, I can’t get any information from the dahsboard and I can’t use the cruise control. I’ve read about other owners of the 2021 BMW X3 m40i having this same issue however the dealership seems to have no idea and wants me to spend $1,000 in diagnostics to see if they can find the problem…. Then I would have to pay to have it fixed as well. This seems like a pretty big safety issue.

When driving on citi street at 40mph the vehicle randomly initiated the automatic emergency breaking system. The vehicle almost came to a complete stop in the middle of morning traffic. Almost had the vehicle behind me rear end me. The vehicle was taken to BMW dealer and a software update was performed. This is the second time that this has occurred. The vehicle will periodically still display collision warning light when nothing is even near the vehicle.

The BMW front facing kafas camera system is prone to failure in the BMW X3. The plastic piece that holds the camera module in place has small plastic tabs that attach it to the windshield. These tabs are prone to breaking. Once the tabs break the front camera system is no longer in alignment and all front safety systems will be disabled. This puts the occupants of the vehicle in danger as all front facing safety systems will be disabled. The dealers do not want to warranty these failures as they try to pass it off as the fault of the owner. The first dealership rejected my issue saying that since my vehicle has a modified suspension that the camera is not able to calibrate which is incorrect. The second dealer I took it to saw the problem was the failed plastic mount but since my front windshield is aftermarket uv rejecting film it must have been damaged by the individual that installed it. This is not the case since the film did not extend behind the plastic pieces covering the electronics. In order to get this issue fixed I to pay out of pocket $2000 even though my vehicle is still under warranty. This issue has been reported by several people on various BMW forums.

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Sensor for forward collision warning failed to work and I was involved in an accident.

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Mount for BMW kafas camera melts/deforms in the heat (normal exposure). This causes the camera to become uncalibrated and disables pedestrian avoidance braking as well as lane keep assist. I am unsure what other functions are unavailable. After 2+ months of waiting for a new part, the BMW dealer nor BMW na could not give a timeline on when the windshield/mount would be available for replacement. This means that the safety features that were advertised and paid for by the owner are unavailable to the owner for an indeterminate amount of time. Forum participants indicate that this is a common problem with this model with some owners experiencing multiple failures of this safety system in a short period of time during summer months.

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.

As I was pulling into my assigned parking spot in my building complex. Both me and my 6yr old daughter were in the vehicle. As I was pulling into my parking spot and went to brake and put my vehicle in park- my brakes locked, gave out and the vehicle continued to proceed forward. As it proceeded forwarded, I immediately kept trying to brake- but because the vehicle is all wheel drive it accelerated forward pushing through the concrete parking bumper guard located on the floor of the parking spot. Because of the acceleration, the vehicle crashed into the storage units connected to the building structure. I immediately tried reversing and forced the car into park without braking. Thankfully my daughter was still in her car seat. It was terrifying and we were in so much panic and scared. My neighbors came to our rescue- because I was distraught knowing that we had literally just come off of the highway and that could have happened at any point with my child in the car. My insurance is able to cover the damages - but, the auto repairs do not consist of checking the brakes/malfunction. I cannot see myself staying with this vehicle and putting the safety of myself and daughter in jeopardy. I am praying that BMW takes the necessary measures to assist in addressing this.

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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?.

X3 started locking up the brakes, it seems that every time you pressed the breaks the calipers will engage and would not release them, making the vehicle completely stop or force you to accelerate to move the vehicle forward by force and get out of the moving traffic. No error codes came up at all or warning lights on the dashboard. The only way to resolve the issue was to turn the vehicle off and start again after a few minutes. The same issue occurs if you use the auto hold function, the vehicle will automatically engage the emergency breaks and you lose complete control of the vehicle, until the car is turned off to reset. The calipers were replaced and drained the brake fluids as a measure since no error codes were detected. Problem persisted and it got worse, making it very unsafe to continue to drive the vehicle. Fields BMW in winter park florida, confirmed the problem as the dsc hydro unit failure, although no error codes or warnings still and shared that they had several BMW's come in with the same issue and no error codes detected. 4k for the part only and in back order in germany for 2 months. I contacted BMW corporate to discuss the problem. It seems BMW corporate is aware of the issues with the hydro unit in some models, but not on my model, it seems to me that this is not only a major BMW design failure but a safety problem with the vehicle I believe needs to be addressed by the company.

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Aeb triggers with no car in front of me. Dealer service rep tells me her x5 does it too, that the sensor is mounted too low and a pothole can set it off. Advised to set to "late. " did it again. Was raining last time and car went into minor skid. (driver behind me wasn't amused). Has happened twice.

My car has been at the BMW dealership twice for these incidents. The incidents have happened a total of 4 times. The first time, I was driving about 45 miles per hour along the city street, woodruff Ave in long beach. It was a sunny day and there were no other cars around me when the car suddenly starts beeping and dash blinks and then car slams on brakes automatically until it comes to a stop. I am not sure what caused the problem but I think it may be the sensors for the automatic collision braking system. The second time I was going about 15 mph coming up to a right turn in the right turn lane of a city street. There was a car in the left lane that was stopped at the traffic light. My car then sounds the alarm, flashes the warning and slams on the brakes to a stop. My business partner was in the car with me during this time. The third time was October 16, 2020 when I was driving on a city street and there was a car stopped about 30 feet ahead. I was slowing down when the car sounded the alarm, flashed on the screen the warning (which I took a pic of) and the brakes applied automatically and the car stopped. The fourth and last time, the car did not apply the brakes but the warning systems came on and the dash flashed. I took the car again to BMW and BMW north America sent out a field engineer. They have the car from October 23, 2020 to November 18, 2020 at which time they said they could not find anything wrong with my car.