BMW Joins The Laundry List Of Air Bag Recalls
BMW, the widely popular automobile manufacture, is considered by many to be the ultimate driving machine. It blends luxury and sport to accomplish the task at hand. The 3-Series tends to be their most economical of their line of cars. It comes with leather, power everything, and explosive passenger-side front air bags. BMW is facing yet another air bag related recall. Takata Corp., the maker of various auto parts, is the air bag manufacturer at the center of the recall. Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, and Toyota Motor Corp. are among the various other companies experiencing the same issues with the air bags supplied by Takata Corp. BMW is recalling 1.6m 3 Series between 2000 and 2006 model years.
They are treating this as a precautionary measure, as they have said they have not received any reports of issues in the models aforementioned. The Guardian reported that the company stated on Wednesday that it based the recall off the other automobile manufacturer recalls having the same brand air bag. The specific issue, to put it mildly, surrounds the Air bag inflators rupturing and causing shards to jettison out at a potential BMW owner and passenger. The automobile manufacturer is recalling all the vehicles equipped with the potentially faulty air bags, wherever they are sold. Last year, the same manufacturer’s product caused BMW to recall 42,080 vehicles. However, that recall only covered 2000 and 2003 models.
The 2014 BMW air bag recall, though similar to the 2013, does not include the 42,000 recalled last May. An investigation is already ongoing by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Takata Corp. The NHTSA has stated three owners of the listed automakers have sustained injuries from their airbags after being hit with pieces of metal from an exploding airbag. Those reports involve a 2005 Honda Civic, a 2003 Toyota Corolla, and a 2005 Mazda 6. The issues the NHTSA were aware of have been located in Florida and Puerto Rico. Although, their estimations is that 1.1m could be affected throughout the US.
The Guardian also reported that the agency stated:
“Based on the limited data available at this time, NHTSA supports efforts by automakers to address the immediate risk in areas that have consistently hot, humid conditions over extended periods of time”
At this point, Takata Corp. is deferring any inquiries to the automakers themselves, such as BMW. They have stated that they will cooperate with the NHTSA’s investigation and with customers regarding parts and technical questions. It is unclear how this will effect BMW from a financial or public relations standpoint, but for safety’s sake their proactive move is certainly forward thinking.
