2013 BMW 320I — Complaint #1023173
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:POWER ASSIST:HYDRAULIC:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS filed November 21, 2013
NHTSA complaint #1023173 (ODI reference 10553277) concerns a 2013 BMW 320I and was filed on November 21, 2013. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 17, 2013. The report was geocoded to New Jersey based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, hydraulic:power assist:hydraulic:hoses, lines/piping, and fittings, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same BMW 320I cohort independently describe similar service brakes, hydraulic:power assist:hydraulic:hoses, lines/piping, and fittings failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2013 BMW 320I shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
RE: TCN-KDN21-40701 ON 9/17/13 I WAS INVOLVED IN A CAR ACCIDENT. I WAS UNABLE TO STOP MY CAR AS IT ROLLED DOWN A HILL - ALTHOUGH I APPLIED THE BRAKES. THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED AS I WAS LEAVING A DRIVEWAY WHICH IS POSITIONED ON A HILL. IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT A WARNING MESSAGE FLASHED ON MY SCREEN. I THEN HEARD A LOUD "POP" AND THEN A "GRINDING" NOISE. AS I APPLIED THE BRAKES THE CAR CONTINUED ROLLING DOWN THE HILL AND THE AIRBAG POPPED OUT - KNOCKING ME UNCONSCIOUS. I WAS UNABLE TO STOP THE CAR. WHEN MY CAR REACHED THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL, IT HIT THE BACK OF ANOTHER CAR AND THEN TRAVELED ACROSS THE HIGHWAY. IT'S A MIRACLE I WASN'T KILLED! IRONICALLY, THE MAKE/MODEL MODEL OF MY CAR WAS RECALLED THE WEEK AFTER MY ACCIDENT. (REFER TO NHTSA RECALL # 13V454000). BMW CHECKED MY CAR AFTER THE ACCIDENT AND CLAIMED THAT MY CAR PASSED WITH "FLYING COLORS". THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE CONSIDERING THAT THE CAUSE OF MY ACCIDENT WAS DUE TO MY INABILITY TO STOP THE CAR - YET THE C
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1023173 |
| ODI Number | 10553277 |
| Date Filed | November 21, 2013 |
| Failure Date | September 17, 2013 |
| VIN | WBA3C3C51DF |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.