2020 BMW 3 Series Reliability Report

I am not sure this the the right form for filing my complaint. I was issued a recall letter in November about my car catching on fire. I have seen videos of other BMWs catching on fire. I am not sure if legally I can take it to a mechanic? What if something happens while it is at the mechanic? Legally do I have to take it to the dealership? What if it catches on fire and my neighbors property gets damaged? I have called and email BMW but no response. I need to take my BMW in for other issues but live out in the country, what are we suppose to do? It has been several months. They shouldn’t be allowed to do this. They should replace the vehicle or buy it back. It is dangerous.

On November 15th 2025, while driving at highway speed in my lane, the vehicle’s lane assist system applied a sudden and unexpected steering input. I did not command a lane change or steering correction. The steering input caused the vehicle to become unstable, rotate, and spin across the roadway, resulting in a collision with the highway barrier. Prior to the incident, the vehicle had repeatedly failed to install a BMW-issued lane assist software update despite multiple attempts following BMW’s published instructions. BMW dealership personnel were aware of the update failure. The lane assist system remained active and provided no warnings or limitations. Weather conditions changed rapidly due to a brief, unexpected ice storm lasting approximately ten minutes. The vehicle did not provide a warning, restriction, or automatic disengagement of the lane assist system under these conditions. The loss of control occurred immediately following an unexpected steering intervention by lane assist. The loss of control occurred immediately following the steering intervention.

The contact owns a 2020 BMW 330I. The contact stated while his wife was pulling into the yard, the engine overheated and the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the message "Engine Compartment Overheating" was displayed. The vehicle was towed to Billy's Imports Service, where the spark plug wires, the engine oil filter, the PCV system, the hoses, the injectors, the O-rings, and the valve cover gasket were replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The contact later received notification of BMW Campaign Number: 15Y150M, which the contact related to the failure. The manufacturer was contacted for reimbursement; however, the contact was advised that no assistance could be provided because the vehicle had exceeded the 150,000-mile limitation. The failure mileage was 156,894.

The drivers side front tie rod buckled while backing into a parking space at less than 5mph. This vehicle had pulled out of our home garage and driveway just 5 minutes prior to tie rod buckling. The car was fully operational with no steering issues. NO IMPACT had taken place in the time from garage cam video until vehicle was pulling into a parking space and steering was off for one tire. Vehicle could not steer correctly to be parked so we had it towed to Hafkemeyer Motors. Before the vehicle arrived they told us it sounded like a tie rod was broken, which is likely due to impact. NO IMPACT occurred. Upon inspection of the vehicle, two separate technicians agreed this vehicle has no signs of any impact. This tie rod appears to have buckled for no reason. They reported that 2018-2019 model years of this same vehicle had a tie rod defect which resulted in a recall and replacement. With no evidence of any impact, they recommended replacing the both front drivers and passenger side tie rods because they feared the same thing could happen to the other side. We have video of the vehicle leaving home 5 minutes before the buckle happened and the vehicle was operational with no steering issues at all. Mechanic took photos of the undercarriage of the vehicle to show buckled tie rod and lack of any evidence of impact to the vehicle. They also noted in their reporting system what was observed and replaced. We believe this recall may need to be expanded to include additional model years or vehicles with this same tie rod defect. This car has less than 50K miles and no crashes or impact. This tie rod should not have buckled like this. Show below are photos of both front tie rods as well as mechanic notes and receipt for work done. I cannot upload the video of the operational vehicle, but it can be viewed in my DropBox folder here: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)