BMW points ‘don’t drive’ order for 90,000 automobiles with Takata airbags

BMW has despatched out an vital “don’t drive” order that applies to about 90,000 automobiles constructed between the 2000 and 2006 mannequin years. The automobiles included within the marketing campaign have been a part of a recall associated to the Takata-made driver-side airbag inflator, however they have not been repaired but.

The listing of automobiles that ought to be parked till they have been repaired contains the E46-generation 3 Collection (pictured) constructed between 2002 and 2006, the E39-generation 5 Collection constructed from 2000 to 2003, and the E53-generation X5 constructed between 2000 and 2004. The M3 and M5 are a part of the marketing campaign as properly. BMW explains these automobiles have been included in earlier recall campaigns however did not get taken to a dealership for repairs.

All of those older fashions are geared up with a driver-side airbag inflator made by Takata that may ship shrapnel flying into the cabin — within the route of the entrance passengers — if triggered. BMW notes it has warned house owners about the issue a number of instances since 2016, and it provides that the issue turns into more and more severe because the half ages. “The danger of significant damage or dying will increase,” it wrote in an announcement.

“House owners of affected BMWs that haven’t had their autos inspected and repaired shouldn’t take into account them secure to drive,” it added.

BMW will once more attain out to motorists who personal a automotive that must be repaired within the coming weeks. It is going to contact them by way of e-mail in Could 2023 and by way of common mail in June 2023, and it’ll important lengths to make sure that all the automobiles nonetheless geared up with a Takata airbag inflator are repaired in a well timed method. Whereas drivers can take their automotive to a licensed dealership to get the recall carried out, the corporate can be dispatching technicians to the automotive’s location in order that they’ll carry out the restore on-site, or is providing to select up automobiles and return them when the restore is full.

The repair is free, the elements are available, and the job usually takes lower than an hour.

Should you’re undecided in case your older BMW’s airbag inflator has been changed, you’ll be able to go to BMW’s devoted recall web site, the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration’s web site, name the model’s buyer relations line at 1-866-835-8615, or get in contact with a dealership.

BMW is not the one firm that constructed automobiles with Takata-sourced airbag inflators: The half is chargeable for the biggest collection of remembers in American historical past. Roughly 67 million inflators have been recalled by 19 carmakers to this point, and the airbags have brought about over 30 deaths worldwide, together with 24 in the US. For its half, BMW notes that about 87% of its affected automobiles have already been repaired.