2013 BMW X3 Vehicle Speed Control Problems

My wife was driving the car (her main, work car) with our 13 year old. She called me upset and told me that the car would barely move. This was disturbing. She was in heavy traffic. Also the car has been mostly reliable and we only have above 120k on the vehicle after almost 10 years. My wife slowly made it down busy Stocton Blvd. A few hundred feet and safely made it to a business parking lot. I came ASAP. (20min later). There was a message from the car - "Drive Train malfunction " it looked very serious. (Note: My wife is about the best, skillful and careful driver I know. Especially for a person originally from foreign country (China). I gave my wife and child my car and took over the situation. The car would only putt along at 5 mph. So with my emergency flashers on I...

Vehicle indicated a drivetrain malfunction. It was determined by the dealer that the system that failed was TIMING VALVETRONIC MOTOR. The vehicle stalled as I was making a left hand turn off of a busy highway, putting myself and oncoming traffic at serious risk of collision. Oncoming vehicles were able to slow until I was able to maneuver the vehicle out of the lane of oncoming traffic. The dealer confirmed that they "found the vehicle stalling and not running correctly. Performed vehicle test. Found faults for valvetronic motor. Set multiple additional faults for mixture and air mass. Valvetronic is failing and should be replaced." The vehicle component was inspected by the dealer who sold me the car. There were no warning lights nor other indicators of component failure prior to the vehicle stalling on the highway. This is the second time this vehicle has stalled in dangerous situations. The first...

The system that failed was the TIMING CHAIN AND CHAIN TENSIONER. The vehicle stalled while I was driving on the interstate. Immediately, I had no power and had to maneuver the vehicle to the emergency lane, placing me and other drivers in extreme danger. The problem was inspected, confirmed and repaired by the vehicle dealer. Prior to stalling, there were no warning lights to indicate a problem. The lights did come on simultaneously with the engine failure.

LAST WEEK WHEN IN CITY TRAFFIC, I DEPRESSED THE BRAKE TO SLOW DOWN, THEN LIFTED MY FOOT OFF THE BRAKE. MY CAR LURCHED FORWARD AND I IMMEDIATELY BRAKED AGAIN TO SLOW DOWN AND STOP. THIS WAS NOT NORMAL, HAD NOT HAPPENED BEFORE, AND I DECIDED TO MENTION IT DURING MY NEXT VISIT TO BMW SERVICE. LAST SATURDAY, FEB. 17, I WAS DRIVING 20 -25 MPH IN A NEIGHBORHOOD, APPROACHING A RED LIGHT ON RIVER RD, BETHESDA. THERE WAS ONE CAR AT THE LIGHT. I BRAKED TO SLOW DOWN, AND REALIZED THAT THE CAR WAS NOT SLOWING DOWN, BRAKED AGAIN AND IT LURCHED FORWARD AND ACCELERATED. I SAW THE SPEED THE SPEEDOMETER MOVING BETWEEN 20-25, AND THE TACHOMETER VARYING WILDLY BETWEEN 1.5 - 2.5. I PRESSED VERY HARD ON THE BRAKE, WHICH WAS HARDER TO PRESS DOWN THAN EVER BEFORE, PRESSED THE PARK BUTTON AND FINALLY GOT THE CAR TO GO...

I WAS DRIVING DOWN THE INTERSTATE AT 75MPH AND PUT THE CAR INTO SPORT MODE, IT SUDDENLY WENT FROM 2000 RPM CRUISING TO 6000 RPM AND BACK TO ZERO. THE CAR HAD LOST COMPLETE POWER. I PUSHED THE GAS AND NOTHING HAPPENED; LUCKILY I WAS ABLE TO COAST TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND PULL OVER. I TRIED TO RESTART THE CAR BUT NOTHING HAPPENED. THE RADIO, AIR, AND WINDOWS STILL WORKED BUT NOTHING ELSE. I HAD AAA TOW THE CAR TO THE CLOSEST BMW DEALERSHIP. THE BMW DEALERSHIP CALLED ME TO ASK IF I HAD A DEAD BATTERY; I TOLD THEM BATTERIES DO NOT DIE DRIVING DOWN THE INTERSTATE. BMW THEN CALLED ME BACK TO TELL ME THAT THE ENGINE SEIZED AND IT WAS TOTAL FAILURE, BUT THEY COULD NOT TELL ME ANYTHING SPECIFIC WHEN I ASKED. THEY SAID I COULD PAY $6,000 IN LABOR TO HAVE A...

SHIFTING IS ERRATIC, ESPECIALLY ACCELERATING FROM A STOP. BOTH WIFE AND MYSELF NOTICED THIS ON SEPARATE OCCASIONS DRIVING BY OURSELVES. DEALER SAYS THERE ARE NO CODES AND IT DRIVES LIKE ALL OTHER X3'S. IT DOES NOT DRIVE LIKE OTHER X3'S AS WE WERE GIVEN A NEW X3 AS A LOANER.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 BMW X3. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 65 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED. THE CONTACT MANEUVERED TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. THE CONTACT ALSO STATED THAT THE CHASSIS STABILIZATION, DRIVE TRAIN MALFUNCTION, AND CHECK ENGINE WARNING INDICATORS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL MODULE FAILED AND HAD TO BE REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 31,475.

ON APRIL 5TH, 2015 AT 10:00AM. I DROVE MY CAR TO CHURCH (20 MIN DRIVE / 10 MILES @ 35-60MPH SPEED) WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS OR INDICATION OF ISSUES. AT 11:15AM I WAS IN ROUTE TO GO HOME TRAVELING ABOUT 35MPH. WHEN I REACHED A STOP LIGHT...MY CARS ECO-TECHNOLOGY KICKED IN, AND IT TURNED OFF. NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY ON ANY OTHER DAY EXCEPT THAT DAY. THE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON, THE ABD LIGHT CAME ON, AND ALERTS INDICATING MY TRANSMISSION WAS MALFUNCTIONING AND MY BRAKES WEREN'T WORKING. WHEN THE LIGHT TURNED GREEN, MY VEHICLE DID NOT TURN ON. IT SHUT OFF AND WOULD NOT RESTART. AFTER 5 MINUTES OF BEING IDLE IN THE MIDDLE OF ONGOING TRAFFIC AND ME PANIC-KINGLY PRESSING BUTTONS ON MY KEY AND ON THE DASH...MY CAR OUT OF NO WHERE... TURNED BACK ON. BUT MY CAR WAS LIKE IN A "SAFE MODE", I COULD NOT...

IN STOP AND GO TRAFFIC ON THE INTERSTATE I WAS BRAKING AFTER MOVING FORWARD A FEW FEET AND THE ENGINE STARTED RACING CAUSING THE CAR TO LURCH FORWARD (GIVEN I WAS ON THE BRAKE) UNTIL THE BRAKE WOULD NOT HOLD ANY LONGER AT WHICH POINT THE CAR ACCELERATED IN TRAFFIC DESPITE ME PUSHING EVEN HARDER ON THE BRAKE. THE BRAKE WAS COMPLETELY UNRESPONSIVE AT THIS POINT. I AVOIDED REAR ENDING THE CAR IN FRONT OF ME BY SWERVING AROUND HIM BUT COULD NOT AVOID THE VEHICLE FARTHER AHEAD IN TRAFFIC AND HIT THE RIGHT REAR OF A UHAUL STORAGE UNIT TOWED BY A VEHICLE AND THE BMW FLIPPED ONTO ITS RIGHT SIDE. MIRACULOUSLY, WE WALKED AWAY WITH ONLY MINOR CUTS, SCRAPES, AND BRUISES. SEAT RESTRAINTS AND AIRBAGS WORKED PERFECTLY WHICH IS THE ONLY KIND THING WE CAN NOW SAY DESPITE HAVING NO PRIOR ISSUES. WHETHER IT IS AN ONBOARD COMPUTER...

MY COMPLAINT IS SIMILAR TO THE FOLLOWING: QUOTE NHTSA ID NUMBER: 10546733 THE ISSUE IS WHEN YOU STEP ON THE BRAKE THE ENGINE RACES AND THE CAR CONTINUES TO MOVE FORWARD. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW HARD YOU PRESS ON THE BRAKE YOU STILL GO FORWARD. END QUOTE BRAKE AND ACCELERATOR PEDALS CAN BE ENGAGED SIMULTANEOUSLY, PARTICULARLY IN HARD BRAKING THIS 4D 4X4 XDRIVE 28I (AND NEVER HAPPENED WITH OUR THREE PREVIOUS BMWS, WHICH WERE SEDANS). BRAKE PEDAL APPLICATION TRAVEL CAN EASILY FALL UNDER THE DISTANCE TO THE FLOOR OF UNAPPLIED ACCELERATOR PEDAL. TRAVELING THAT DISTANCE THE ACCELERATOR CAN SIMULTANEOUSLY BE DEPRESSED. BMW FACTORY INSPECTION FOUND NOTHING OUT OF SPEC. I CAN ONLY CONCLUDE IT'S A DESIGN DEFICIENCY, A CONDITION TYPE BMW NEVER ADMITS, EVEN IF IT CORRECTS THE CONDITION LATER. *TR

THE ISSUES STARTED HAPPENING IN JULY 2013. IT PROGRESSED. THE ISSUE IS WHEN YOU STEP ON THE BRAKE THE ENGINE RACES AND THE CAR CONTINUES TO MOVE FORWARD. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW HARD YOU PRESS ON THE BRAKE YOU STILL GO FORWARD. THE CAR HAS BEEN IN THE DEALERSHIP 3 TIMES IN THE LAST MONTH, A TOTAL OF 13 DAYS AND THEY ARE COMING TO PICK IT UP AGAIN TODAY. YESTERDAY I SUFFERED THE MOST SCARY INCIDENT AS THE CAR WOULD NOT STOP UNTIL I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION AND WAS ALMOST HIT ON BOTH SIDES. *TR

ON THE FIRST OCCURRENCE I BRAKED SMOOTHLY AT A TRAFFIC LIGHT THAT WAS RED AS I APPROACHED. THE VEHICLE STOPPED AND THEN THE ENGINE REVVED AND LURCHED FORWARD SLOWLY 3 TO 4 TIMES TAKING ME THROUGH THE INTERSECTION AS I WAS PRESSING ON THE BRAKE. I COULD NOT STOP THE VEHICLE. ONCE THROUGH THE INTERSECTION I TOOK MY FOOT OFF THE BRAKE AND APPLIED THE GAS PEDAL AND DROVE TO A NEARBY PARKING LOT. WHEN I CAME OUT OF A STORE AFTER 45 MINUTES, I TESTED THE BRAKES BY DRIVING SLOWLY IN THE PARKING LOT AND APPLYING THE BRAKES SEVERAL TIMES. EACH TIME BUT ONE THE ENGINE REVVED WHILE I HAD MY FOOT DELIBERATELY ON THE BRAKES, NOT ON THE GAS OR GAS AND BRAKE. IF I REMOVED MY FOOT FROM THE BRAKE, THE REVVING STOPPED AND GAS OPERATED APPROPRIATELY. I DROVE HOME AND CALLED THE DEALER WHO HAD IT...