BMW and Rolls-Royce Recalls Cars in China

7. December 2016

Recently, BMW and its subsidiary Rolls-Royce launched a major recall of 33,600 cars. The reason for this was due to defective airbags. A programming error of the airbag sensor can prevent triggering of the airbags during front and/or rear-end collisions. The software error was caused by the airbag supplier who was responsible for manufacturing of the sensors.

The programming error could have already caused a death in China. However, there is no evidence that this is solely due to the non-deployment of the airbag. The vehicles affected by the recall include the BMW 7 series, the BMW 5 series GT, and the Rolls-Royce Ghost series manufactured between December 2011 and June 2012. Most of the affected vehicles are in circulation in China, in Germany, only about 2300 cars are affected by the recall.

BMW and Rolls Royce immediately informed vehicle owners of the recall. Typically, the programming error can be resolved in a workshop within three hours and it is free for the vehicle owner. The repairs are being stored in a database in order to ensure that the fault has been remedied for every affected vehicle.

The BMW spokesman assured that the problem has nothing to do with Takata’s problems, where millions of cars had to be recalled due to problems with the Takata airbags. There were several deaths associated with the Takata airbag failure.

To check if your vehicle is affected, you can contact your BMW dealer directly.

At the moment, airbags or airbag sensors are not yet included in the scope of the CCC certification, but must be tested in the course of the overall vehicle assessment.

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