A Positive Recall Action !

There are several thousand cars covering a range of makers travelling on Australian roads that are subjected to a faulty airbag recall.  Airbags manufactured by the Takata company are fitted to a wide range of cars and a fault gives them the capacity to shower metal fragments into the face of drivers and front seat passengers if they are activated.   This has been described as similar to being shot in the face with a shotgun and there have been both fatalities and serious injuries.

Despite the recall, many owners have ignored the warning while others have found a long delay in getting the free replacement fitted by the dealers in their car brand.  There seems to be a degree of complacency because not all of these airbags are faulty, but driving with one fitted is like playing a game of Russian roulette.

Now it seems a similar fault has been discovered in the airbags of one of the worlds prestige motoring marques.  BMW has not only issued a recall, but is telling the owners of the twelve thousand cars affected in Australia to stop driving immediately.

BMW advises that this fault is present in 12,663 of the 3 series models  sold between 1997 and 2,000.  A bulletin from BMW asks owners to urgently contact their local BMW dealership to organize a free vehicle inspection.  Vehicles will be either towed to the place of inspection or a mobile technician will do that inspection at the owners home.

If the car does have a faulty airbag BMW will arrange to have a loan or a rental car  or provide reimbursement for alternative transport costs.  BMW also suggests that it would be open to discussion on the faulty vehicle being purchased by BMW to avoid the owners becoming stranded.

This is a very new approach to the vexing question of car manufacturers responding to vehicle faults. Lesser manufacturers leave it to the owners to get the faulty vehicle to a service provider and suffer the delay in having the fault attended to until replacement parts become available.  One of the consequences is that long after the recall we still have many cars on the road with that fault not yet attended to.  It is probable that many may never be presented to have that fault fixed.

BMW is a prestige brand sold in the higher price range and this positive reaction to a developed fault will not go unnoticed.  A person who owns and drives a BMW gains status in the community and the fact that the marque takes safety seriously will certainly encourage sales.

It seems that the only way to get other brand recalls into dealer hands for correction will be to make this an inspection check item on annual " pink slip " vehicle roadworthy certification that must be produced before registration can be completed.