NHTSA Complaint #11415443 — 2006 BMW 330I

THE VEHICLE HAS AN UNEXPLAINED AND UNREPAIRABLE DEFECT RELATED TO THE MAIN AIRBAG CONTROL UNIT MODULE, BMW PART NUMBER 65779184432 (CURRENT VERSION); BELIEVE PART 65770394017 APPLIED TO MY VEHICLE AS-BUILT. THE CONTROL MODULE GENERATES INTERNAL CONTROL UNIT FAULT CODE 93D7. BOTH THE AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT AND SEATBELT LIGHT ARE CONTINUOUSLY ILLUMINATED. ACCORDING TO DEALER TECHNICIAN, THE CODE IS LOCKED IN AND CANNOT BE CLEARED. ADVICE PROVIDED WAS THAT THE UNIT CAN BE REPLACED AND THEN RECODED AT ESTIMATED COST OF APPROXIMATELY $2,000. IF A REPAIR CAN BE EFFECTUATED WITH AN UPDATED PART, THEN IT APPEARS THAT MY CAR AND PERHAPS ALL OTHER SIMILARLY AGED VEHICLES HAVE A DEFECTIVE MAIN AIRBAG CONTROL UNIT MODULE. A FAULTY AIRBAG MODULE WOULD BE A DEFECT IN A CRITICAL DEFECT IN A SAFETY SYSTEM'S PERFORMANCE THAT UNREASONABLY INCREASES RISK OF DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY IN AN ACCIDENT. THE FAULT THUS POSES A RISK TO MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY. FURTHER, BASED ON OPENLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION, IT APPEARS THAT NUMEROUS OTHER VEHICLES HAVE SIMILAR, POTENTIALLY DEFECTIVE, MAIN AIRBAG CONTROL MODULES. FINALLY, IT APPEARS THAT BMW UPDATED THIS PART APPROXIMATELY 15 TIMES IN A 6-YEAR PERIOD, WHICH IS ABOUT DOUBLE THE UPDATE FREQUENCY FOR COMPARABLE VEHICLE--NOTING THAT THIS IS BASED ONLY ON MY LIMITED REVIEW. REGARDLESS, THAT DATA SUGGEST THAT BMW HAS HAD SOME AWARENESS THAT THE AIRBAG CONTROL MODULE HAD PERFORMANCE DIFFICULTIES. THANK YOU.