tarek307

I've read too many threads about this PASSENGER RESTRAINT SYSTEM MALFUNCTION, SOMETHING WITH THE SEAT CUSHION!

, and there are so many conflicting answers, i went to my BMW dealer and he said there was no campaign or recall!

IF YOU ARE *****OUT OF WARRANTY****** What do you do? is there really some recall or not?

HAS ANYONE ***OUT OF WARRANTY*** gotten this fixed by the dealer? i know if your warrantied your fine but i'm talking about OUT OF WARRANTY PEOPLE!

its a $1500 fix if there really is no recall its so annoying on the idrive screen!

qtrxist

Well im located here in CA, USA and there is a recall (i heard). i went for 90,000mi service and i asked about the recall. i was told by my SA that NOT ALL e60 are affected. unfortunately mine wasn't one that is covered and fortunately i have an extended warranty on mine til 100,000.

i just paid my deductible on my warranty and they took care of it. try to find out what VIN #s are affected. sad part is that even if you get the malfunction/airbag error that doesnt mean your covered by the recall. it GOES BY VIN.

hope this helps.

bleudyno

I'm with you on this one man. I had this same problem about a month ago and i had to fix it for $1300 at Long Beach BMW. My service advisor check to see if there was a recall on my car and it didn't so i ended up having to pay for it. They had a recall on this problem for a certain number of e60's but not all were included. I guess i was just unlucky. Stupid extended warranty people say they don't cover restraint system malfunctions. If you're buying a new car and the finance guy tries to sell you a extended warranty from Millenium, DO NOT get it.

You should try calling BMWNA and have them check you vin# to see if it is on the recall list. If not, you're going to have to fix it out of pocket. Sucks.

cleung

When this happened to me I checked with my dealer on the recall and they said yes there is a recall however it did not apply to all e60's. they said that if it did apply to you that you would get a letter telling you to go get it fixed. My car was not one of the recall vehicles but luckily I had warranty. They had to replace my sensor pad in my seat cushion because it was cracked. about a month after that it happened again however this time they said nothing was wrong with the pad but they had to do a software update and that solved the problem.

tarek307

This is rediculous, it sounds like BMW should def do a full recall on these sensors!

CWS530

This is what I've seen: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26179745/ GL.

mk23169

There is a recall and they are sending out letters. I called BMW NA and they said theyve handed it off to NTSB who is finalizing the letters. They said it could take until feburary to get them. This sucks for me and anyone else who has this problem becuase the side airbag supposedly wont deploy in an accident and they are taking their sweet time. I also dont want to front the 1300 bucks and they be reimbursed in case my car isnt covered, even though i have the comfort seats and same year as the recall says. Hope this info helps.
Mike

Lawr

I spoke with someone at BMWNA and they said they're doing recalls right now on the x3 and x5 models, then will move onto the 5 series to see which cars need the recall. They are doing it in waves so as not to flood the dealerships with cars, which is understandable. He said that if anything, you can go and get the problem fixed and pay for it and if your car is in the recall you will be reimbursed. Now this is the part that you say you don't want to front the money, HOWEVER, if you think about it, even if your car isn't included in the recall, you still should get it fixed right? Them covering it or not, you will need to fix it in case of an accident.

stylezzza

I spoke with BMWNA about the passanger airbag malfunction issue a couple days ago, they said that it is under warranty but NOT for all vehicles, they also told me that if both of my lights are illuminated...the passanger airbag on-off and the airbag warning lamp, that I didn't need to wait for my letter to get it fixed. They called my local bmw dealership and spoke with the manager and the next day the manager called me to schedule a appointment I guess I was lucky lol

danr960

I just asked about this last week and did not get any responses here. There sure is some confusion on this, the government web site is a little generic which might be part of the problem. My car doesn't seem to qualify for this recall.

I see this a problem that will continue to grow for BMW, because the defect is based on how much the front passenger seat is used, so every one will sooner or later need to have this repaired if the front passenger seat gets any use. Everyone needs to complain to the NHTSA and file a formal complaint and include their VIN#: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallsearch.cfm

2006 - 550i - 61,000 miles


Here is government's info:

Vehicle Make / Model: Model Year(s):
BMW / 3 SERIES 2006
BMW / 5 SERIES 2004-2006
BMW / X3 2004-2006
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 08V384000
Summary:
BMW IS RECALLING 200,000 MY 2006 3 SERIES SPORT SEAT, MY 2004-2006 5 SERIES STANDARD AND SPORT SEAT, AND MY 2004-2006 X3 PASSENGER VEHICLES. DEPENDING ON THE MANNER AND FREQUENCY OF THE FRONT PASSENGER'S ENTRY AND EXIT, SMALL CRACKS HAVE DEVELOPED IN THE MAT. IF THIS OCCURS, THE FRONT PASSENGER AIR BAGS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE HEAD PROTECTION SYSTEM, WILL BE DEACTIVATED AND THE AIR BAG WARNING LAMP AS WELL AS THE PASSENGER AIR BAG "ON-OFF" LAMP WILL BE ILLUMINATED.
Consequence:
IN THIS SITUATION THE FRONT PASSENGER AIR BAGS WILL NOT DEPLOY EVEN IF A SUFFICIENTLY SEVERE ACCIDENT WOULD OCCUR AND OCCUPANT PROTECTION PROVIDED BY THE SYSTEM WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE.
Remedy:
DEALERS WILL REWORK THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT SENSOR MAT SO THAT EXTERNAL FORCE APPLICATION TO THE SEAT DOES NOT CAUSE A CRACK TO THE MAT. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING LATE SEPTEMBER 2008. BMW WILL ALSO EXTEND THE WARRANTY ON THESE VEHICLES TO 10 YEARS FROM FIRST REGISTRATION WITHOUT ANY MILEAGE LIMIT. OWNERS MAY CONTACT BMW AT 1-800-525-7417.
Notes:
BMW IS EXTENDING THE WARRANTY TO 10 YEARS FROM FIRST REGISTRATION WITHOUT ANY MILEAGE LIMIT TO THE FOLLOWING VEHICLES: MY 2006 6-SERIES, 3-SERIES (STANDARD SEAT), MY 2004-2005 Z4, MY 2004-2006 7-SERIES, MY 2006 X5, AND MY 2004-2006 5-SERIES (COMFORT SEAT). UNDER THE EXTENDED WARRANTY PROGRAM, THE OCCUPANT DETECTION MAT IN A VEHICLE THAT EXPERIENCES THIS SPECIFIC ISSUE WILL BE REPLACED AT NO CHARGE TO THE CUSTOMER. CUSTOMERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.