NHTSA Complaint #11506205 — 2022 BMW X3

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.