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What 106 owners told NHTSA about the 2020 BMW X3

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (106)Crash / fire / injury (8)Electrical system (33)Engine (24)Transmission & drivetrain (13)Airbags (8)Body & structure (8)Fuel system (6)Lights (4)Backup camera & sensors (3)Driver assistance (3)Brakes (2)

3 of 106 complaints match · Electrical system · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Jun 1, 2026Electrical systemEngineFire

The contact owns a 2020 BMW X3. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle and turning the engine off, approximately 10 minutes later a burning rubber odor was present inside the cablin of the vehicle and smoke was present coming from under the hood. The contact opened the hood discovered flames coming from the engine. The fire and police departments were called to the scene and the fire was extinguished the flame. During the incident the vehicle destroyed and later lowed away. A fire and police report was taken. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not yet determined. The manufacturer was notified of the incident. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact was informed that the VIN was not included in the NHTSA Campaign Number: ( ). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced that same failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 65,000.

NHTSA ODI 11741213

Aug 11, 2025Electrical systemCrash

The contact owned a 2020 BMW X3. The contact stated that while her husband was driving 10-15 MPH in a parking lot and attempting to make a turn, the brake pedal was depressed, but the pedal travelled down to the floor, and the vehicle failed to respond. Additionally, the steering wheel seized, and the accelerator pedal was depressed, but the pedal travelled down to the floorboard, and the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the vehicle became inoperable, causing the front driver's side bumper and door of the vehicle to crash into the rear-end of an unoccupied parked vehicle, and then the front end of the vehicle crashed into the side of another occupied parked vehicle. All the air bags of the vehicle deployed. There were no injuries sustained. A police report was filed. The police report confirmed that the impacts occurred a few moments before the contact received failure notifications on the vehicle mobile app. The vehicle remained inoperable and was towed to Spitler's Collision, where it was deemed a total loss. The Chevrolet dealer where the vehicle was purchased was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and sent engineers who inspected the vehicle at Spitler's Collision 8 months later. The manufacturer later informed the contact that the collisions occurred because the driver did not turn away from the other vehicles and did not depress the brake pedal as needed, which the contact stated was the description of the failure. No further assistance was provided. The manufacturer and the auto finance company deemed the vehicle a total loss. The failure mileage was 67,540.

NHTSA ODI 11679881

Oct 15, 2024Electrical systemBody & structureSpeed controlCrash

The accident happened at Noon on [XXX] at the Amazon Fresh/Post office parking lot’s far right exit lane facing [XXX] The address is [XXX] . We were leaving the parking lot and I stopped at the exit lane with 2 cars in front of us. After the first car exited, the second car, a black Ford Explorer, moved forward. I released the brake slightly but my foot was still on the brake pedal. At this moment, my car suddenly accelerated and quickly approached the Explorer. I immediately pressed the brake pedal hard but was unable to stop my car and hit the back of the Explorer. The Explorer was forced out in front of the stop sign but the driver was able to turn right to park at the roadside. With my foot still firmly on the brake pedal, my car kept on accelerating into [XXX] , crossing 5 lanes of traffic until we hit the roadside curb of westbound [XXX] . The car then swerved left and hit a roadside tree, turning sideways into [XXX] middle turn lane. During this entire time, I did not press the accelerator and the car was violently shaking and jerking right and left. As the car slowed down, I was able to steer the car to the right eastbound lane of [XXX] , next to the parking lot near Bank of America’s ATM sign. After I got out of the car, I noticed the front and right sides of the body and tires were damaged including crushing, dents, and significant scratching. The problem I believe is as follows: 1.Sudden Unintended Acceleration and Control Circuit Malfunction. 2.Airbags did not deploy even though we hit a car, curb and tree. 3.Onboard Data Recorder should have the information needed. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11619886

Working with the data? Download all 106 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 10, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2020 BMW X3 verdict →