The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) politely asked BMW and four other automakers in the U.S. to expand its recall involving potentially defective driver-side airbags, and BMW politely agreed—eventually. The last company to agree to the recall, BMW added 140,000 vehicles, mostly 2004–2006 3 Series made between January 2004 and August 2006.
In July 2014, BMW recalled 1,600,000 cars worldwide to replace front passenger-side airbags made by Takata. That recall involved 3 Series cars made between May 1999 and August 2006. BMW had also already recalled the driver-side airbags in 11,000 BMWs in high-humidity states.
BMW is cooperating with the NHTSA even though none of the reported cases of defective airbags that caused the massive worldwide recalls happened in BMWs. Five deaths and 50 injuries have been linked to the Takata airbags. All five fatalities involved Hondas. Four of those were in the United States. Most, but not all of the effective exploding airbag inflators have happened in hot, humid climates.
In the U.S., 17,000,000 vehicles from Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Mazda and BMW have been recalled. Estimates of total airbag recalls worldwide are as high as 24,000,000 vehicles.—Scott Blazey
Click here to find out if your specific BMW is involved in the recall.
[Photo courtesy of BMW AG.]
