AIR BAG WARNING LAMP ILLUMINATION

Air Bags
Air Bags:Side/Window

Summary

In March 2006, BMW reissued a service bulletin first issued in September 2003, to MINIdealers regarding the repair procedure for improper wire crimps in approximately 31,500 model year 2002 and 2003 MINICooper vehicles produced up to January 2003.the new service bulletin states that the warranty coverage for the issue (I.e., air bag warning lamp illumination with fault code for high resistance in side air bag/seat belt pretensioner circuit) is extended to 10 years or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first.BMW plans to send letters to owners during March 2006.the subject wire crimps are located under the front seats and are part of the main wiring harness that interface with the under-seat wiring harness connectors for side air bag and seat belt pretensioner modules.BMW stated that, although the subject crimps were improperly manufactured, the crimp connection is still sufficient for the restraint system to deploy when needed.according to BMW, the electrical resistance levels in the subject vehicles can exceed the threshold that illuminates the air bag warning lamp, but they do not exceed a much higher limit in which deployment of the restraints may no longer occur.ODI believes that there is lack of evidence at this time to conclude that the restraint systems may not deploy with the high resistance condition.the Agency believes that further expenditure of Agency resources does not appear to be warranted at this time.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that no safety-related defect exists.the Agency will monitor the issue and reserves the right to take future action if warranted by the circumstances.

Documents (13)

• OCC 1/10/2007 LETTER TO BMW GRANT CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT TO BMW 11/30/2006 LETTER TO OCC
• BMW 11/30/2006 LETTER TO OCC REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT
• OCC 11/07/2006 LETTER TO BMW GRANTED CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT TO BMW 10/05/2006 LETTER
• BMW 10/05/2006 LETTER TO OCC REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT
• OPENING RESUME APPROVED (BMW) AIRBAG WARNING LAMP ILLUMINIATION * 9/27/05 * P
• MFR IR RESPONSE LETTER
• IR TO MFR (BMW) AIRBAG WARNING LAMP ILLUMINATION -M.J.L. * 10/5/05 * P
• CLOSING RESUME APPROVED (BMW) AIR BAG WARNING LAMP ILLUMINATION -M.L. * 3/01/06 * P
• MFR IR RESPONSE LETTER
• BMW 11/30/2006 LETTER TO ODI
• BMW 11/28/2005 LETTER TO ODI
• MEMO 11/28/2005 TO TIS 1 CD BMW 11/28/2005 WITH ATTACHMENT
• BMW 3/1/2006 SERVICE BULLETIN

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