BMW To Recall 230K Vehicles Due To Takata Air Bags Possibly Installed

Feb 04, 2017 09:15 PM EST | JP Olvido

BMW is recalling over 230,000 of its vehicles. The recall is due to potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators installed on the German car manufacturer's cars and SUVs.

BMW recalls 230,000 cars and SUVs. There hasn't been any confirmation that the company's vehicles have Takata air bags installed in them but the company is taking no chances and has issued an immediate recall for safety reasons. The car manufacturer originally has air bags from a different manufacturer installed but is concerned that the airbags may have been replaced with ones manufactured by Takata. The recall covers 3 Series cars from 2000 to 2002, 2001 to 2002 5 series vehicles, and X5 SUVs from 2001 to 2003.

Takata air bag inflators can be potentially dangerous as they can explode with too much force and expel shrapnel causing injury and even death. The cause of the exploding airbags has been discovered to be excessive moist. There have been at least 16 deaths and more than 180 injuries linked to Takata air bags exploding upon deployment.

The German car manufacturer wrote in government documents that they had known about the problem in November last year after one customer had asked about who manufactured the air bags of their 3 Series vehicles. The company had discovered that around 14,600 Takata air bags were shipped to the United States to be used as replacements between 2002 and 2015.

To date, the company has not determined which cars have Takata air bags installed in them. However, they decided to issue the recall as a precaution. The decision to issue the recall was made last January 19, 2017.

One other car manufacturer that issued a recall due to faulty Takata air bags is Ford. Ford's recall covers over 816,000 vehicles with 654,695 in the US and another 161,174 in Canada.

BMW dealerships will inspect vehicles to replace air bags in vehicles manufactured by Takata. The company will start notifying owners this coming March 15, 2017.

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