[umbear15]

Hello all. First time poster.

I have a 2021 X3 M40i that has an odd issue. I cannot figure out what the cause is, but at random times it will switch from whatever driving mode I have it in and go to “comfort” mode. I always drive it in Sport Individual, but there are times when it switches to Comfort randomly. It has happened during normal driving and even right after startup.

I took it to the dealer and all they had to say was “keep your fingers away from the drive controls”

This issue has happened literally as I’m starring at the center monitor with my hands in my lap. I searched up online but the best I could find was someone having a similar issue, turned out to be their center console buttons. This happens to me about once or twice a month. Not enough to be too bothersome, but still a bit concerning, especially when I found out that these cars may switch to Comfort mode when it detects a fault in the drivetrain.

Anyone experience anything similar?

No dash lights nor errors pop up when it happens. I can tell it switches the modes based on the sound and throttle feel.

[KirbyBaker]

I've seen that happen on my '21 as well. Not very often, but it has happened a few times and my hands were nowhere near the buttons that control it.

[mcdanielvzw]

It happens on mine too. More so when I've first started a drive on a cold engine, even though it only takes 5 miles or less to warm up. I mainly notice because ASS picks up again when I'm at a light..... I'll code that off eventually.

[umbear15]

It sucks we have this problem, but I’m glad I’m not the only one!

[bouchy]

Couldn't it be because of erraneous button panel? Like the vibrations of the car to push the central button somehow. Or any dirt underneath the plastic? This "button" is actually quite big, it swings when pressed.

[mcdanielvzw]

Originally Posted by bouchy

Couldn't it be because of erraneous button panel? Like the vibrations of the car to push the central button somehow. Or any dirt underneath the plastic? This "button" is actually quite big, it swings when pressed.

It's possible. I know those panels (drive selection as well as the camera grouping behind it) are very clicky as a whole, but I'm not quite in the mood to take it apart to look for a needle in a haystack as it were lol.

[spangle1980]

My button panel failed but in a different way. The smacks of that failure. Perhaps every time you drive trying switch modes with the button. Even (in my case) pressing sport continually made it switch between comfort/eco pro even though I was pressing sport. If you get enough of a failure to replicate such behaviour and can record it (like I did) - WINNER.

Of course if it's not that at fault then the above is useless, but easy to try (but try and try again for many times just to be sure, to be sure).

[Chitown_vroom]

It sounds like it could be an intermittent electrical short, possibly from moisture or other corrosion below the cover.

[KowalskiBMW13]

Yes mine does this and I posted about it before on here. 2020 M40i. I drive with Everything off and in sport plus most of the time. Suddenly it will reset to all intelligent safety on and back to comfort mode. So I don’t necessarily believe it Is drive mode switch going bad. I believe it’s something deeper or software related.

[umbear15]

Originally Posted by KowalskiBMW13

Yes mine does this and I posted about it before on here. 2020 M40i. I drive with Everything off and in sport plus most of the time. Suddenly it will reset to all intelligent safety on and back to comfort mode. So I don’t necessarily believe it Is drive mode switch going bad. I believe it’s something deeper or software related.

What's even stranger is that I've tried driving it around in Eco mode. Guess what? It eventually switched to Comfort on its own.

Dealer won't believe me no matter what, so I guess I'll just live with it

[mcdanielvzw]

I wish I had a picture, but I need to check my wife's car this weekend so I'll try to get one then.

I drove my car last weekend and on acceleration some coffee (black, thankfully) spilled onto the drive mode switch area. After that I couldn't switch modes anymore and thought something was seriously fubar'ed.

When I got home I took everything apart, and noticed there was coffee *in between* the plastic layers of the ribbon cable for that switch. Seems the layers delaminate, so the traces can short out pretty easily. I cleaned it out with rubbing alcohol and everything works fine!

It was neither hard nor time consuming to fix. I'll have to drive more, but I think it addressed my phantom mode changes as well. It makes perfect sense how it could happen to me.