This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Ion Oct 27, 2020 while driving my vehicle accompanied by my wife, on a local street in the vicinity of lake zurich, il, a 'drivetrain malfunction' message flashed on the dashboard and the vehicle went into park mode. I could not get the engine to restart and had it towed to the nearby BMW service center. The next day, the service associate sent me an estimate, informing that there was a catastrophic engine failure. Both the engine and the turbocharger need to be replaced with the cost for such amounting to some $18000 + taxes! the vehicle only has 73000 miles and I was told by the service associate that I happened to be just unlucky that this happened and it was not due to anything I had done (or omitted to do by way of routine maintenance). Looking at all such similar complaints for the 2013 model year for BMW X3, there is obviously a design issue with the engine and associated components. I am also particularly thankful it happened on a side street before I got on to the highway. This is a huge safety issue and BMW must be held to account for not issuing a recall or changing their service procedures to mitigate the effects of the problem.
Twice now while driving the car it just completely stopped. No warning at all. Just came to a complete stop as I was driving. There were no warning lights, just happened. The first time was on a busy road, the second was on a much less busy street close to my home. I had it fixed to the tune of over $3000 the first time a year and a half ago. Now my mechanic is telling me that it is the timing chain and oil pump drive and that will be a very expensive fix. I am beside myself. If this had happened on a busy highway, lord knows what would have happened but it could've been something very catastrophic and horrific. I am a single mother and a widow and with the pandemic, I was out of work for many months. I do not know what I am going to do but I cannot afford to fix this car for several thousands of dollars.
My 2013 X3 just dead on me in middle of highway, on my way to work, without and ahead notice, it was just not even 30 seconds sign of "oil pressure low" then check engine light on, car was shaking, it totally lost the power, I called road service to tow it to dealership. When I called the BMW service center, the girl just told me to clam down, doesn't need be upset. I was super upset, never expect to drive a car suddenly dead in middle of highway, it could easily get me killed, or cause seriously car accident. It was happened last may (2019), at mileage 88K, two options: Trade it in for $2K or fix it $11,500 with replace new engine. I end paid it all from my own pocket. It is just one year later, the warning sign on for " drivetrain malfunction, drive moderately, maximum drivetrain output not available" sent it to dealership, I was told the turbo need replace, quote for $5500... how could BMW sold those poor designed crap to their customer, the issues just one after another, very disappointed, such shame on BMW, I would not buy any BMW anymore
I have a 2013 BMW X3 with 100,110km on it. On October 15, I was driving normally, and I got a message on my dash saying there was a 'drivetrain malfunction'. after a few minutes, the message went away and low engine oil pressure warning and the check engine light came on. The vehicle slow down and came to a stop and at the end locked to parking position by itself. I had to get my vehicle towed to a mechanic who diagnose and confirm it is timing chain failing and said that this issue is a known problem with this model of BMW vehicle. I called BMW Canada the following morning and was told to get it checked out by performance BMW which is nearby dealership. The dealership told me the diagnose result of oil pump chain guides broke and timing chain failure and also told me that my vehicle's warranty expired a few months ago. Because of the pandemic, I almost never drove this car so if I drove normally, this issue would have come up much sooner, probably before the warranty expired. I would like to request an extension of my warranty to cover this issue as I read online that it is a very common issue with this vehicle model (because of the plastic frame for the timing chain and oil pump chain). When it's a common issue, BMW should make a recall! somebody might get killed sooner or later if the engine fail happen on busy trafic highway!!!!
- St. Catharines, OH, USA
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Routine oil change and mechanic advised imminent timing chain failure because of engine whining (87280 miles). Service manager recommended not driving the car because of likely engine failure. After timing chain replacement, drivetrain malfunction light came on repeatedly while driving at various elevations and speeds. Took to dealer who advised noisy turbo wastegate likely problem (88,919 miles). Timing chain defect well known to BMW but only warranteed for 70,000 miles is disingenuous. Engine failure on a car averaging 12.5K miles a year with less than 100K with known engine defects is fruadulent at a minimum.
Car has 89000 miles. At low speeds, it drives fine. On highway, "drive train malfunction" light appears during moderate-heavy acceleration. Today, on a crowded 4 lane highway at about 70mph, car lost all power, gas pedal was useless. I was barely able to limp to breakdown lane and speed dropped to about 15-20 mph by the time I could get there, through lots of honking and several near accidents. Extremely dangerous. I shut the car off for about 2 minutes, restarted it and it worked again. I travelled at about 55mph in right lane the next 15 miles home without issue. I was with my wife and 7 year old daughter. This is a very serious and dangerous issue to have with a car.
Car displayed sign drive-train malfunction/oil pressure low and within 30 seconds stopped. It went from 50 mph to zero in 30 seconds. I barely survived a major accident over a busy highway (rt 78 East bound in NJ). Later on BMW service center reported engine failed for unknown reason. I came to know there are multiple complaint against bmx X3 2013 similar model and many drivers like me barely survived a major accident. BMW is playing with our lives by not recalling this model. It is clearly a major manufacturing fault in this engine. There are multiple lawsuits on BMW but I do not hear any positive outcome. I can not believe no authority is taking any action on BMW for making faulty car like this and not holding them accountable.
Bought this vehicle in October, 2018 (72,685 miles). In October, 2019, vehicle stopped while driving, wouldn't restart or even go in neutral, mileage was only at 87,482. Autobahn dealership in ft worth, tx diagnosed timing chain defect which caused engine failure & we were charged $193.67 for the diagnosis and quoted $14,000 to replace the engine. BMW N.America would not help us at all on this. I have read that this N20 engine has failed (&timing chain) in hundreds of these cars. So this car is sitting in my driveway, I'm still making payments & insurance on this because we don't have the finances to replace this engine. Also my daughter was driving the car at the time & it could have caused a serious accident.
My car that has around 97000 miles suddenly stopped with a message 'drive train malfunctioned'. while searching on the internet the engine for this vehicle had lot of issues and lot of people experienced the same issue. With the number of issues this engine is having primarily due to the bad quality, I would like the manufacturer to do a recall and fix the engines that failed.
I was driving on highway 75 S near monroe, mi. I was going about 60 mph. I received a warning oil pressure low stop as soon as possible notification from my car. I could not stop for another few miles due to having no where to stop in the construction zone. My car died while pulling off the next exit ramp. I was stranded for hours and had to have a tow truck come get my car. The engine was determined to be shot. The failure occurred due to the timing chain guide braking into multiple pieces plugging the oil pump. This was caused by the engine coming out of time and causes the valves to slam into the pistons. This a known issue with the N20 BMW engine and it a safety hazard to anyone driving one. I paid over $7000 to replace the engine of my car.
I had 86,000 miles on my car. Engine failed while I was vacationing 700 miles from home, stranding me. Warning :"drive train malfunction" light came on, though car was running perfectly well. When "stop now to prevent engine damage" light appeared, I was fortunately going 25 mph and was able to coast into a parking lot and my car never ran again. Dealership diagnosis was "timing chain stretched", new engine needed. The $13,000 repair cost was about the value of the car, so I was forced to sell it for $3,000 to the first person interested, since I was not near the car and did not want to invest in a new engine, since I had already incurred thousands in repairs within the prior year. This car is terrible! I wish I had read all the terrible reviews before I was conned into purchasing it.
I was driving on the highway when many warning messages started to appear, check engine, check oil, battery, check coolant and some others and in a rapid succession. Car began to slow and powered off. I was unable to restart my car and had to have the car towed. Engine is completely dead. Quoted between 20K (BMW) to 8K (used shop) to repair. BMW has refused to replace the defective engine or provide any assistance in the matter.
As I was driving on the highway, I had an alert that said "drive train malfunction" and the vehicle began to slow down. I quickly had to take the upcoming exit. As I was trying to change gears, the car remained in neutral and continued to drive slow. I was able to safely pull over and stop the car. At that point, the vehicle did not turn back on.
I am on engine number 3 on my 2013 BMW X3. First engine locked up while repair shop was investigating why engine light was on. No recall or notices at that time for vehcle and over the 50K mile warranty. Cheapest repair was finding a used engine, $8,000 vs $14,000 for BMW to repair. Turns out this was a highly noted issue with N20 code. While in shop for replacement notice comes from BMW for extended mileage service (not a recall). After repair I submitted warrantly paperwork based on letter from BMW with receipts from dealership, only to be denied. 2 years later driving down interstate 85 in North Carolina summer with an infant and 3 year old engine stalled out and locked up. Took to mechanic to learn same issue as before happened still no recall - but there was a kit not for a different timing chain! I spent $6,000 this time to rebuild as the value for scrapping was minimal, mechanic which is a BMW specialist would not even consider buying for scrap due to this known issue. He also referred me to the class-action suits open for this. I have yet to receive a dime for the mfg defect. A known issue has been found, a fix has been released but no ownership of the defect by BMW.
My [xxx] now I'm going through something very different im buy a car in the year 2017 March 20 I spoke the sale manager representative about the car combination of my car his name is [xxx] everything was fine well my car has been damage since 2017 by the mechanic of the G0ggin BMW treasure coast 4429 S us hwy 1 ft pierce fl 34982, tei 429-8300...my car now serious damage don't knowi iwas going to start a motor so other mechanic tell me I have to replace engine I sign a 72 month contract information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
While BMW X3 was under warranty, we had drivetrain failure come on and repeatedly took to BMW sluggish but barely driveable. The dealer service never made substantial repairs under warranty. Finally my wife had a shutdown in the middle of I-90 and we insisted they take a closer look for which they charged us $3000 just out of warranty to get it back, claiming there was a cam deficiency. 6 months later, the X3 had a catastrophic shutdown again in middle of I-90 highway outside rockford il. Going 65 mph and nearly created an accident. Vehicle was pushed to roadside and towed to BMW dealer. BMW declare it unrepairable and out of 75,0000 mile extension for breakage of timing belt chain. Service manager admitted timing belt issue was evident during the 75,0000 period, however the dealer service indicated they are not able to warn consumers. BMW noam charges us $6900 to replace the engine. Bmws handling of a dangerous problem is fraudulent at best. They hide behind peripheral problems to address the big problem that causes catastrophic engine failure so as many 2013 X3 models may age past the 75,0000 timing belt chain limit and they won't be responsible for 100% of the engine replacement. They are creating a great risk to public safety.
On September 1, 2019, we ([xxx]) were traveling southwest on FM2322 (pace bend road), which is well travelled, at approximately 55 miles per hour in our 2013 BMW X3. The engine lost power and power steering but we were able to coast to the shoulder of the road. This road (FM2322) leads to lake travis and was well traveled, it being on a hot weekend day. At the time of this incident, BMW knew that the BMW X3's N20 engine (see multiple class action lawsuits starting in 2017) was prone to suffer catastrophic engine failure due to faulty materials used to manufacture the BMW's X3 N20 engine. To my knowledge we did not receive a notice or recall for the correction of the N20 engine defects. Redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I was driving my 2013 BMW X3 on I-280 freeway southbound around 11am 6/10/2020, all of sudden my car shows battery discharge resulted in lost of power, when the SUV was at 104,000 miles. Within 30 seconds, the drivetrain malfunction warning engaged. The car began shutting down while they were driving on the freeway. I was able to safely navigate across two lanes of merging traffic to get off the road before the engine died. The situation could have gone very differently with disastrous results, so I quickly maneuvered the vehicle and pulled over on the emergency parking line on the freeway
On 6/23/20, at approx., 6:15 am, my 2013 BMW X3 vehicle (approx. 68,000 miles) lost engine power as I was attempting to pull out from a busy and congested N/B 215 freeway (near the w/B 10 freeway exchange) in colton, California. Prior to losing engine power, and at about less than one minutes before, my vehicle's low oil light sensor had come on, then quickly changed to a drivetrain malfunction sensor -- warning me to drive moderately, but that was meaningless because my vehicle had already began to lose engine power. I slid to a slow stop into the emergency lane of the freeway after cutting off numerous vehicles behind me in an effort to make it off the freeway.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Mendota Heights, MN, USA