BMW joins the list of car manufacturers, which includes Honda and Toyota, who had to recall vehicles due to faulty airbags.
The German automaker is pulling back 1.6 million vehicles globally to replace the side airbag made by Japanese manufacturer Takata Corporation. Takata has seen over 12 million vehicles recalled over the past five years for related airbag issues. Also affected by the regional recall were Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Ford and FIAT Chrysler Automobiles.
The concern is that the airbag inflators could break apart during deployment and injure the passenger.
The recall affects the 3 Series vehicles produced between May 1999 and August 2006.
This recall comes from a recommendation by the U.S. safety regulators as a precautionary measure. It is an extension of last year’s recall of 240,000 vehicles for the same issue. Officials say that cars that have already been repaired do not need to be brought in.
BMW spokesman Dave Buchko said that this recall is strictly a precaution because BMW feels that the right thing to do is to bring in all the affected cars to have the airbags replaced.
BMW is not aware of any accidents or injuries caused by this issue in its vehicles.
