Recently we have gotten a lot of questions regarding Airbag warning lights on BMW’s. Here is a little more information about it:

NHTSA issues an airbag warning to 7.8 million cars impacted by the Takata airbags recall which affects certain Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors vehicles.

Takata informed the companies earlier this month that faulty inflators may have slipped through the cracks and been delivered to manufacturers because of faulty record-keeping.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urges owners of certain Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors vehicles to act immediately on recall notices to replace defective Takata airbags,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday, adding there should be particular urgency in areas of high humidity such as [...]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and BMW N.A. will be issuing a limited regional recall of select BMW e46 3 Series vehicles due to defective frontal airbags in Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

BMW e46 3 Series model year 2001-2005 325i, 325xi and 330xi, and 2001-2006 325Ci and 330Ci, currently registered in Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and equipped with Takata-brand airbag inflators.

What causes the defective frontal airbags?

The frontal airbags made by Takata contain a faulty propellant and can deploy irregularly, and/or rupture with metal fragments striking occupants. Some reports speculate that the airbag failure may be linked to high humidity areas/regions.

BMW is recalling about 156,000 vehicles equipped with 6-cylinder engines because a defect could cause stalling or engine damage, the automaker said in a news release Thursday. The action comes almost two years after the automaker began fixing the same models in China, according to a report the automaker filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

BMW said “in very rare cases the bolts holding the variable camshaft timing (Vanos) unit housing may become loose or, in extreme cases, break.” In such cases, the driver would be alerted by a check-engine warning light. Power to the engine could be reduced and “if ignored, the problem can become progressively worse, eventually leading to no-start conditions, stalling and engine damage.” Vanos is BMW’s variable-valve timing technology.