— A BMW tie-rod recall includes 3,800 model year 2019 BMW Z4 sDrive30i, 2019-2020 BMW 330i xDrive, M340i and M340i xDrive, 2020 BMW X3M and X4M and 2020 Toyota Supra vehicles.
BMW says rough road surfaces or high temperatures may damage and fracture the steering gear tie rods.
According to BMW, the tie-rod could be damaged in the area of the kink groove due to excessive bending, and it will be the kink groove that will break.
In December 2018, a broken tie-rod was noticed during a test drive, but engineers didn't find any problems with the test results of the busted components. BMW did determine the tie-rod was not properly unfastened during a repair of the damper and was inadvertently bent during this repair which led to the fracture.
BMW increased the radius of the tie rod’s kink groove to reduce stress and the modified tie-rod design was implemented into vehicle production in 2019.
But in November 2019, BMW was told about an incident involving a vehicle equipped with the earlier version of the tie-rod. The problem occurred outside the U.S. and was followed by more incidents outside the U.S.
The automaker didn't comment on any crash incidents, but BMW says no injuries have been reported.
The U.S. recall includes 2,779 BMW vehicles, and in Canada 1,018 vehicles are recalled.
BMW and Toyota dealers will replace the steering gear tie rods when the recall begins August 7, 2020.
Affected BMW owners may call 800-525-7417 and Toyota can be reached at 888-270-9371.
