wheel speed sensor caused scary problem

[tom_h]

This is just an "FYI" ...

About 3 mos ago, when traffic light turned green I applied throttle, the 2001 X5 started shuddering & jerking, and I had to apply half throttle just to jerk over to side of road. Then it stopped jerking & ran normally.

Either before or during that incident (can't recall), all 3 warning lights lit up yellow, and stayed "on" : ABS, DSC, Brake .

Later, simple attempts to clear lights didn't work, eg steering wheel full left to full right while engine running.

Car was running normally, even though all 3 warning lights illuminated -- we let it go & kept driving vehicle.

Three months later (last week) car was at the local BMW mechanic for door lock, CV boot, and some other issues. I asked him to check out the ABS, DSC, Brake lights.

As luck would have it, the car started shuddering & jerking when mechanic took it for test drive.

He traced problem to a front wheel speed sensor that was "hard" bad (ie, not intermittent) and "confusing" the ABS.

Sensor replaced, warning lights reset, so far so good.

I was shocked that a wheel speed sensor could cause such a semi-catastrophic fault.

Has anyone else experienced this?