Hey Guys, so I have an interesting twist on the infamous seat mat sensor issue. I have a 2004 530i and I am the second owner. The seat mat sensor on the passenger side failed back in 2007 while it was still under new car warranty. The sensor was fixed, but the reinforcement procedure done as part of the recall work was not done. The sensor has failed again and if I replace it I'm sure it will fail yet again. Unfortunately BMW has maintained that because the VIN is not included in the recall they cannot perform the recall work.

Doesn't it seem obvious that though the VIN is not covered my car suffers from the same engineering defect that prompted the recall? What would you guys do?

 

Since seat mat sensor is already replaced, I would've thought the new (replaced one) seat mat sensor would have warranty.

 

What makes you suspect the seat occupancy sensor. Did you pull the fault code(s)? "Passenger Restraint system failure" can mean anything including driver side faults. The driver is also considered a passenger as related to the SRS warnings.

 

Yes, I pulled the fault codes and its the same sensor that failed before... The stealership keeps telling me there's nothing they can do because there are no open recalls on my VIN. The replaced part only has a 2 year warranty, it failed again roughly 8 months after the warranty expired (of course).

 

Same problem happened with my 2004 545 last fall. I ended up calling corporate and complaining but that didn't get me anywhere. They wanted me to go to the BMW dealer and pay $260 to diagnose the problem and they might compensate me something if its the seat mat. Nothing guaranteed. I ended up going to my indy shop and getting it done for about $900. Yes, its $$$ but I could not take seeing that error code when I was driving. BMW should be ashamed of themselves with this bullshit recall when they know damn well that ALL the 2004 models have seat mat issues.

 

Agreed BarneyFife, especially since its a safety issue. You would think BMW would learn a lesson from Toyota... Frankly I expect more from them.