Bmw 330e, Bmw X3, Bmw X5, Mini Countryman, model years 2020 to 2021. Filed by BMW of North America, LLC and reported to NHTSA on 18 August 2020. 713 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2021 330e and X5 xDrive45e, 2020-2021 X3 xDrive30e, and 2020 MINI Countryman SE ALL4 vehicles. Loose welding beads may form a conductive path between the hybrid battery cells which could lead to a short-circuit.
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 20V490 cover?
- BMW 330E, BMW X3, BMW X5, Mini Countryman, model years 2020-2021.
- What is wrong with them?
- BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2021 330e and X5 xDrive45e, 2020-2021 X3 xDrive30e, and 2020 MINI Countryman SE ALL4 vehicles. Loose welding beads may form a conductive path between the hybrid battery cells which could lead to a short-circuit.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- A short-circuited hybrid battery may increase the risk of a fire.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Not yet, on the wording NHTSA publishes today. BMW will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the battery modules, free of charge. BMW issued owners an interim notification on October 16, 2020.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “A short-circuited hybrid battery may increase the risk of a fire.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 20V490 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | BMW of North America, LLC |
| System at fault | Electrical System:12v/24v/48v Battery |
| Reported to NHTSA | 18 August 2020 |
| Model years | 2020-2021 |
| Vehicles named | BMW 330E, BMW X3, BMW X5, MINI COUNTRYMAN |
What the notice says today
The consequence
A short-circuited hybrid battery may increase the risk of a fire.
The remedy
BMW will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the battery modules, free of charge. BMW issued owners an interim notification on October 16, 2020. Although potentially affected BMW owners received interim owner notification letters, all potentially affected BMW owner vehicles have been remedied; therefore, BMW Final owner notification letters will not be necessary. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 1,836 notices in the record whose component field names electrical system. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 41 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- BMW 330e recalls: 9 US campaigns
- BMW X3 recalls: 47 US campaigns since 2016
- BMW X5 recalls: 47 US campaigns since 2016
- Mini Countryman recalls: 7 US campaigns
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 20V490, wording as read on 16 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/20v490/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other BMW notices we hold
- 26V525: 2022-2026 840i, 840i xDrive, 2021-2023 540i, 540i xDrive, M550i xDrive, and 2024-2026 750e xDrive
- 26V524: 2024-2026 X3 sDrive30i, X3 30 xDrive, and X3 M50 xDrive
- 26V478: 2024 S 1000 RR US, and 2020-2026 S 1000 RR motorcycles
- 26V441: 2018-2020 530e xDrive, 2017-2019 740Le xDrive, 2018-2020 530e iPerformance, 2016-2018 330e iPerformance
- 26V305: 2017-2018 C Evolution motorcycles
- 26V214: 2017-2025 K 1600 GT, GTL, B and 2018-2025 Grand America
- 26V115: one 2026 S 1000 RR motorcycle
- 26V096: 2025 M5 Sportswagon, 2025-2026 M5, 2024-2025 750e xDrive, 2025-2026 550e xDrive, 2023-2025 I7, 2023-2025 7 Series, 2024-2026 i5, and 5 Series
All 328 BMW campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 20V490 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
2a89b46e - Consequence
365f8264 - Remedy
7bc23745
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 20V490 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the BMW 330e, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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Owners of these cars
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