NHTSA Complaint #11555302 — 2014 BMW 328I

Fortunately, an incident has yet to occur, but the Front Passenger Air Bag Occupancy Sensor is faulty causing the deactivation of the air bag rendering any passenger at risk. BMW of North America has been contacted about this faulty sensor. Recall B651017 & 17V-428 have addressed this faulty sensor on many BMW models with replacement as the remedy…a stated (3) hour repair. My BMW model (328i - 62k miles) unfortunately, is not listed on the recall notice, but, nonetheless, is still a safety issue. Serious enough that on the Recall it states that no passenger should sit in the front passenger seat while this faulty condition exists and further recommends passengers sit in the rear seats! Regardless of warranty status and recall model omission, I have reached out to BMW of North America. First response was refusal of any repair assistance with a textbook definition of a car warranty. It was further reviewed by their Escalation Team and the response was an echo of the first. If this wasn’t a safety issue that wasn’t addressed on other models via a recall, I wouldn’t be writing this and would abide by the car warranty and take care of myself. Since this is a known issue by BMW, I feel this repair should be taken care of as it affects the safety of my family. It affects any future owner as well, which now leaves me a car that is basically unsafe to sell leaving me in double jeopardy. After researching costs for this repair, it seems the average is $1500-$2000 which I cannot afford. I have offered to pay for parts and some labor but the Escalation Team (Clay) has offered zero in assistance. I leave this correspondence on record in case of an unfortunate event that could’ve been easily rectified and avoided. Thank you for allowing me to explain my situation. Sincerely, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)