Luxury cars often evoke the image of flawless engineering and superior quality, however, they too are not immune to faults and defects. This was recently highlighted by the recall of select 2023 BMW 7-Series and i7 models. BMW of North America issued the recall after discovering a potential issue with the front passenger seat electronic control unit (ECU) software in certain vehicles.
The issue pertains to vehicles that have the Executive Lounge Seating Package. The seat’s ECU in these vehicles may not recognize the seat position, leading to an invalid seat position being communicated to the airbag and restraint system ECU. This will activate a failsafe mode and issue a warning to passengers. If the vehicle is involved in a crash while in this mode, the front passenger airbag, knee airbag, and active headrest will not deploy, posing an increased risk of injury.
The recall affects 305 BMW 760i xDrive models manufactured between July 5, 2022 and January 24, 2023 and 92 BMW i7 xDrive60 models manufactured between July 4, 2022 and January 24, 2023. BMW first became aware of the issue during a quality check at a vehicle assembly plant in November 2022 when a 735i was found with an airbag system warning message. After investigating the issue, BMW discovered a software coding error in the seat position ECU, leading them to issue the recall on January 27, 2023.
Owners of the impacted models will be notified starting March 28, 2023 and instructed to take their vehicles to an authorized dealer to have the issue resolved. The recall serves as a reminder that even the most expensive and luxurious cars are not immune to faults and defects.
