NHTSA Complaint #11486159 — 2017 BMW 540I

Passenger seat in 2017 BMW 5 series cars have a well known and not covered fault where in a loud chiming will go off requiring the passenger seatbelt to be buckled. This chime does not stop and continues until the seat belt is buckled. There is nothing in the passengers seat. The noise is very loud and distracting. It occurs at random including driving at highway speeds. Upon bringing this to my dealer's attention they informed me that a service to repair this safety issue would cost over $2,000. I believe this will result in an unnecessary loss of life due to people either a) people fully removing the (sometimes valid) notifications of a no seatbelt warning, or b) an owner becoming alarmed by the sudden and loud chimes, possibly not knowing how to prevent the sound, and causing an accident If required I have a video of the incident (which happens daily now) if required. These issues are well documented on the BMW G30 forums for the 2017 model year.