After recently being asked by US agency NHTSA to check airbags on older 3-series sold in high-humidity markets, BMW has now said it would replace passenger airbags on 1.6 million E46 3 Series vehicles produced between May 1999 and August 2006, extending a smaller recall campaign run in 2013.
“Potential problems with gas generators that may rupture in vehicles produced by our competitors using similar systems from the same supplier have become evident in rare cases,” the automaker said. “BMW is not aware of a case involving a BMW vehicle. The replacement campaign is a voluntary precautionary measure that aims at minimising the risk of faulty airbag activation.”
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After the supplier advised a production period during which potentially faulty gas generators were installed in passenger airbags, BMW last year recalled 240,000 E46 models.
“The supplier has now extended the production period,” BMW said.
“In order to ensure maximum safety of our customers, BMW has decided to replace the passenger airbags in the vehicles from the suggested production period, and additionally, as a voluntary precautionary measure, the passenger airbags in all 3 Series models (E46) of [that] generation equipped with this airbag module. The 240 000 E46 units already recalled worldwide last year are excluded from the current replacement campaign.”
BMW said it would contact owners and pay the replacement costs. The replacement will take about an hour.
