The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives BMW of North America a 5-month extension to complete airbag repairs on some of its vehicles. NHTSA says BMW now has until May 31, 2020, to replace all defective PSDI-4 driver-side inflators from Takata. They were installed in 420,000 BMW vehicles, including 2002-06 3-series models, 2002-03 5-series models, and 2003-04 X5s. About 1.8 million Takata inflators in BMW vehicles are covered by the Takata recalls and need to be replaced. The extension only applies to vehicles with the PSDI-4 inflators.
The extension also pushes back deadlines this year for BMW’s ramp-up of replacement parts to supply recall demand at dealerships, including next week’s March 31 deadline aimed at providing parts to about 100,000 of the vehicles. That deadline is now Aug. 31.
Those 100,000 BMW cars are seen as being most at risk of an inflator rupture. The defected airbags could deploy with excessive force, rupture the inflator, spray shrapnel and result in injury or death. BMW told dealers it’s not aware of any ruptures that might have occurred in their cars.
BMW of North America is also preparing a financial aid package to help U.S. dealers weather a stop-sale order on about 840,000 cars and light trucks affected by the recall of Takata airbags.
NHTSA set deadlines for the 12 automakers to amass replacement supplies and complete the repairs, grouping vehicles into four risk-based groups. The March 31 deadline was set for the riskiest group which includes vehicles from the 2008 model year or prior that are located in hot, humid climates.
[Source: Automotive News]
