A man says his BMW accelerated on its own and caused a crash. Yet he claims the dealership later told him it couldn’t find anything mechanically or electrically wrong with the car.
Nibby (@nibbingk) says he bought the used 2024 BMW 330e from a local Toyota dealership last year with about 37,000 miles on it. The car had previously been used as a rental.
Not long after buying it, he says he spotted something odd.
While revving the car in a parking lot, Nibby says the engine kept revving after he took his foot off the accelerator, behavior he later captured on video.
At the time, he didn’t think much of it.
“It being new to me and in park didn't raise any red flags,” he told Motor1.
That changed on June 2.
Nibby says he was sitting in a center turn lane waiting to make a left. Once traffic cleared, he accelerated into the lane.
“When I released, it was continuing to accelerate,” he said.
Nibby says he slammed on the brakes and felt the ABS vibrating under his foot, but the car kept moving. He hit a curb and then rear-ended an SUV. No one was hurt, he says, and his insurance covered the repairs.
What Does BMW Driver Think Caused The Crash?
After the crash, Nibby remembered the revving he had noticed when he first bought the car. He says he was able to recreate it and record the video that eventually went viral.
“According to BMW, there is nothing wrong with this car, even tho it caused a crash,” he wrote in the text overlay of the clip.
In the video, Nibby sits in the parked BMW and presses the accelerator. After he takes his foot off the gas, the engine continues to rev for several seconds. The sound only stops after he turns the car off.
Once the crash repairs were finished, Nibby says the car was towed about 150 miles to the nearest BMW dealership for an inspection.
He says BMW kept the car for about a month before telling him it found no mechanical or electrical problem and that the case was closed.
Nibby then drove to the dealership himself and waited about two hours to speak with his service adviser. He showed the adviser the video, and says the adviser agreed that what he was seeing was a problem.
But Nibby says BMW later gave him the same answer: The case was closed and no fault had been found.
He is now driving a rental, but says BMW is no longer covering it because the investigation is over. Nibby says he doesn’t feel comfortable driving the 330e again after the crash.
“I’m not going to risk driving a car that has already caused a crash,” he told Motor1.
He says lawyers he contacted declined to take the case, which he suspects is because no one was injured.
“Posting this video was a last-ditch effort,” Nibby said.
As of this writing, his video has more than 4.7 million views.
What Can Cause Unintended Acceleration?
A car continuing to accelerate after the driver lifts their foot off the gas pedal is worth taking seriously, but viewers don’t get enough information from Nibby’s video alone to understand why his BMW was doing it.
Federal safety rules are built on the idea that the throttle should return to idle when the driver stops pressing the accelerator. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says its accelerator-control standard requires a vehicle’s throttle to return toward idle after the driver removes their foot.
When drivers report unintended acceleration, though, there isn’t one explanation that fits every case.
NHTSA has investigated the issue extensively over the years, and its research has identified issues like a stuck pedal, a floor mat or other object trapping the pedal, and problems with mechanical throttle components, among other causes.
The agency also distinguishes between a vehicle actually accelerating under a large throttle opening and other behavior that can look alarming, such as a high engine idle, surging, or transmission hesitations. Figuring out which one happened requires more than hearing the engine rev in a parked car.
Nibby’s clip shows the engine continuing to rev after he takes his foot off the accelerator, but it doesn’t show what the pedal was doing mechanically, what the vehicle’s computers recorded, or what happened during the crash.
That said, drivers who believe their vehicle has a safety defect can also report it directly to NHTSA, so BMW closing its own investigation doesn’t prevent Nibby from reporting what happened to federal safety regulators.
Nibby also pointed Motor1 to a 2023 Bimmerpost thread from another BMW 330e owner who described a similar experience. That driver said a 2023 330e began accelerating while stopped at a red light, continued advancing despite braking, and ultimately hit the vehicle ahead. The poster later said BMW and the driver’s insurer were looking into the incident. The forum account is anecdotal and does not establish a more extensive defect, but it shows that at least one other 330e owner publicly described unintended acceleration years before Nibby’s crash.
Some commenters speculated that what Nibby was hearing could be turbo lag. But that term usually refers to the brief delay between pressing the accelerator and a turbocharged engine delivering more power. Garrett Motion, which makes turbochargers, identifies several possible causes of turbo lag but doesn’t explain why an engine would keep revving after the driver lifts off the gas.
Gallery: BMW 3 Series 50 Years Amelia Island
Viewers Express Alarm
Viewers had a pretty strong reaction to Nibby’s video. “This is genuinely terrifying because these cars are fast too,” one person wrote.
Another commenter, who identified themselves as a mechanic, was even more direct.
“Mechanic here, mechanic out,” they said.
“I’d be scared to drive that mf,” a third viewer added.
“Oh hell nahhhhhh,” commented a fourth.
Some initially wondered whether the revving had a more ordinary explanation: turbo lag.
“It’s called turbo lag bruh….ohhhhhhhh yeah no that’s really bad,” one viewer wrote.
A number of commenters also started talking about what he should do next after BMW told him it couldn’t find anything mechanically or electrically wrong with the car.
One person who identified themselves as a lawyer suggested he speak with a product-liability attorney.
“As a lawyer myself, if you can prove that you’ve never modified the car in any way, you could most likely win a large lawsuit against BMW for this,” they wrote. “Look for a products liability lawyer. You can arrange to have them work for you on a contingency fee basis—meaning you don’t pay any money upfront, but they will take a preset cut from the money you win. Best of luck.”
Another viewer speculated that his insurance company could eventually go after BMW.
“Your insurance is about to sue BMW,” they said.
