BMW Australia issues urgent airbag recall affecting more than 60,000 cars including 3 Series, X1 and X3

Today BMW Australia announced a major recall affecting more than 60,000 vehicles containing potentially deadly faulty airbags.

The recall was announced in two separate communications through government website vehiclerecalls.gov.au on Monday, July 26 and involves a faulty Takata airbag inflator that, in the event of an accident, could rupture and cause metal fragments to be fired towards occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

BMW is recalling 63,118 vehicles made from 2004 to 2017 with the potentially defective airbags.

In the first announcement BMW confirmed the affected models are the 1 Series hatch, 3 Series sedan and wagon, plus the X1 and X3 SUVs made from 2004-2014. The total number of these vehicles amounts to 15,482.

In the second announcement BMW said 47,536 'F Series' models made between 2009 and 2017 were affected. 

F Series is a codename denoting the generation of a model and its accompanying digits referring to the actual model. BMW did not say which individual models are affected but F Series covers most models built between 2009 to 2017 from sedans, coupes, wagons and hatches to SUVs. This includes the BMW 1 series, 2 Series and 3 Series sedans, hatches and wagons along with the X1, X2, X3, X4 and X5 SUVs.

A BMW Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide that the problem stems from the installation of an optional steering wheel containing the faulty airbag.

“This safety recall is to address the issue that some BMW vehicles may have a recalled airbag due to the installation of an optional steering wheel,” the spokesperson said. 

“These steering wheels were not fitted at the time of original manufacture, but during vehicle custodianship. All affected customers have or are being proactively notified to check and replace the airbag of their vehicle if necessary. There is no cost to the customer. In addition, BMW has developed an online tool where customers can check the status of their vehicle. This can be accessed via the following link: 

https://bmwrecallsteeringwheel.expertinquiry.com”

The Takata airbag recall is the largest automotive recall ever with more than 100 million vehicles affected globally across almost every brand that existed at the time.

The issue surfaced in 2008 when Honda announced the first recall following the discovery of faulty airbags. In Australia more than three million vehicles have been recalled due to faulty Takata airbag concerns with many vehicles still yet to have their airbags replaced.

If you are unsure if your vehicle is affected by the Takata airbag recall you can find out by contacting the vehicle manufacturer or by visiting vehiclerecalls.gov.au