Defect Investigation Detail

BMW / 3 SERIES / 2001

Components - Details
NHTSA Action Number: EA02012 Vehicale/Equipment Name: BMW
Vehicale/Equipment Model: 3 SERIES Vehicale/Equipment Year: 2001
Component Name: AIR BAGS:SIDE/WINDOW Manufacturer's Name: BMW of North America, LLC
Date Opened: Jul, 15 2002 Date Closed: Jun, 24 2003
Subject: INADVERTENT SIDE-IMPACT AIR BAG DEPLOYME Summary: The subject vehicle's air bag electronic control module contains programmable logic for deploying the side-impact air bags.bmw revised the module several times over the span of the model years 1999 through 2002 (identified as mrs2.ca, mrs2.bb, mrs3, mrs3+ and mrs4).although model year 1999.5 vehicles with version mrs2.bb had 6.5% of the subject population, it accounted for 29% of the total reports received.the mrs2.bb exposure adjusted report rate was almost 4 times higher than other 3 series air bag module versions.in august 2002, bmw initiated a recall campaign for 20,500 model 323i and 328i vehicles with version mrs2.bb (nhtsa recall # 02v223000).in addition to experiencing a lower rate of non-crash deployments, most of the non-recalled vehicles also showed evidence of significant pothole/curb impact with some having additional undercarriage contact/scrape or suspension damage.see additional information