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2019 BMW X3 — FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

1 injured · 2166286 · 2026-01-14

Vehicle

Make
BMW
Model
X3
Year
2019
Manufacturer
BMW of North America, LLC
Component
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Speed
45 mph

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
1
Fire
No
Crash
No
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

At some point in June 2025, between approximately 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., I was driving southbound on the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles, just south of the 134 interchange, at approximately 45 mph. Traffic was light, with no vehicles in front of me and no vehicles attempting to merge into my lane. Without warning, a bright red alert appeared on the dashboard of my 2019 BMW x3 and the vehicle suddenly applied full braking. The position of my arms at that moment caused an injury to my right elbow, which has remained painful since the incident. In January 2026, under nearly identical circumstances, the emergency warning appeared again. This time, the brakes did not engage. In July, I contacted BMW Corporate and service center regarding these incidents. I found their response dismissive, stating that “sometimes that happens.” A service center later informed me that this is a known issue referred to as “phantom braking.” Having experienced this firsthand, I believe this represents a serious safety concern. In addition to my injury, I could easily have been rear-ended at freeway speed. Despite acknowledging the issue, BMW Corporate requested that I sign an indemnity waiver in exchange for covering only the inspection cost. This response feels inappropriate, as their initial focus appeared to be limiting liability rather than addressing a known safety defect. Given that this is reportedly a known issue, I believe an inquiry is warranted into how often this has occurred and

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
11710937
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown