What 37 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 BMW 5 Series Hybrid Sedan Phev

Dear NTSB Team, I am writing to formally report a serious safety incident involving my 2019 BMW 530E, which occurred last night on [XXX] in Danville, CA. My vehicle was parked in my friend’s private driveway, with the parking brake engaged and the gear selector set to Park. I was chatting with my friend who was in the passenger seat . My feet were on the floorboard, my seat belt was on and the engine was idling to provide heat as it was a cold night. Suddenly, about 10 minutes into our conversation, my car accelerated forward with speed, hit my friend’s garage door and then reversed with the same speed and stopped in the middle of the street. This happened within the span of a few seconds at most. I think that I applied the brakes while the car was reversing with speed and I remember the car not slowing down but then it coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street. There were deep skid marks on the driveway, my friend’s garage door was damaged, my friend’s Tesla X was damaged with impact to the rear bumper, this parked Tesla had moved forward and crashed in the wall of the garage and a garage cabinet door dislodged and fell on the hood of this Tesla. My friends parked Toyota Prius also had bumper damage. The garage drywall sustained cracks as well. The force from these unexpected accelerations and impact has left me and my friend with aches and pains in the back, shoulder, knees, hands, head and neck; thankfully, we did not suffer more severe injuries. I am gravely concerned about the potential for this defect to cause a catastrophic accident. Had there been pedestrians, pets or another vehicle in the path of my rapidly reversing vehicle, it could have led to serious injuries or even fatalities. I called my car insurance company, local police and I will notify the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and BMW of North America. I am hoping for a comprehensive investigation into what appears to be a dangerous electronic or software malfunction. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11642943

I went to start my vehicle one morning and the cars DSC light and Steering lights were on. The steering wheel had loss of power as the electronic steering went out. A got a group of warning messages. Warnings include: Cont. driving possible: Chassis stabilization, Increased Steering effort: Drive carefully to the closet service station, Driving Assistance support reduced, Pedestrian Warning was disabled, Frontal Collision warning disabled, Cruise Control disabled, Heads up display disabled. I also bought a 2017 BMW 540i car from a dealer and within the 2nd day the vehicle had the same problem while trying to park the car had the same problems. I took it to a BMW service center and the estimate was $7400. I was able to return the car because it was within the 5 day window for returns.

NHTSA ODI 11576492

The contact owns a 2019 BMW 530I. The contact stated that the vehicle's automatic breaking system would suddenly activate without warning or with a loud screeching alarm type noise before it occurs. The automatic breaking system would also fail to activate when coming close to items and or other vehicles where the automatic breaking system should have caused the vehicle to come to a stop. The failures occur intermittently. The contact contacted the dealer who had not repaired the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue The approximate failure mileage was 31,000.

NHTSA ODI 11418859

VEHICLE WAS TRAVELLING AT 50 MPH, CLEAR DRY WEATHER, NO TRAFFIC IN FRONT OR IN REAR AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE BRAKING SYSTEM ACTIVATED WITHOUT CAUSE

NHTSA ODI 11415742