Today, our X3 activated the emergency braking system when there was nothing in front of us. This occurred after the stoplight turned green (we were the first car at the light) and we were accelerating up to speed (maybe 40 mph or so). Suddenly, the car beeped and showed the red flashing icon of a collision warning, it moved the seats up, tightened the belts, and slammed on the brakes. Fortunately for us, the car behind us was paying attention and we didn't get rear-ended, but it was very frightening. Once the system reacts, you can do nothing to stop it.
The collision warning setting in the car was set to Medium, and the car was quite clean as I checked the sensors and windshield for any dirt/dust. Has anyone else experienced this in their car? I have found a couple threads with other BMWs in which drivers experienced false positives:
https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1454733 (M2)
https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1403100 (5 series)
My vehicle has all the assistance packages (parking and driver) with adaptive cruise control, and things had worked flawlessly until today.
I think I will have to bring it into the dealer to get the sensors checked and possibly re-calibrated, but I'm left wondering if it is an issue with the collision sensing algorithm itself.
EDIT: Here is a link to the intersection that caused the false positive. I was in the left-most lane going south on Leesburg Pike.
https://goo.gl/maps/Mt5T7n5vsTE2