BMW To Customer: Aftermarket battery installation Cause Fires, Airbag Deployments
07-14-15, 11:59 PM
#1
Lexus Champion
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BMW To Customer: Aftermarket battery installation Cause Fires, Airbag Deployments
Last month, I shared the story of an unexpected double front airbag deployment in a BMW X5. In the twenty days since then, that car’s owner has been working with BMW NA, which conducted an independent examination of the car while it was in dealership custody. Yesterday he heard from a BMW consumer service representative, who told him that BMW has determined the reason for the deployment.
If this was Upworthy, or if we used the Upworthy Generator to create headlines, we’d have to title the article “What This BMW Representative Told A Father About His Airbag Deployment Will Break Your Heart. The Worst Part Is At 4:23 In The Call Record.”
If this was Upworthy, or if we used the Upworthy Generator to create headlines, we’d have to title the article “What This BMW Representative Told A Father About His Airbag Deployment Will Break Your Heart. The Worst Part Is At 4:23 In The Call Record.”
“The battery wasn’t installed correctly,” the rep states later on in the call, “which caused a short. The battery cable began to melt. There are two scenarios that could happen. Number one is your vehicle catches fire. Number two is there will be an airbag deployment. There was melted plastic throughout the cable.”
It turns out that there are two battery cables on the positive side of a BMW airbag. One of them has an explosive charge mounted on it. Supposedly, when the airbags deploy, this device “blows the connection” between the battery and the rest of the car to protect first responders. You can see pictures of this device on E90Post.
From TTAC:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...g-deployments/
Thats pretty lousy customer service. I hope it will get corrected once internet got to it. But blaming battery on airbag deployment is a new low.
07-15-15, 04:43 AM
#3
Lead Lap
They didn't blame the battery as much as the incorrectly installed battery ground on the aftermarket battery...which is to say its not a new low if they're right.
07-15-15, 06:35 AM
#4
Lexus Champion
07-15-15, 07:43 AM
#7
Lead Lap
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07-15-15, 04:41 PM
#8
Lexus Fanatic
typical BMW bull. I wouldnt buy one personally. Too much OCD. I can only imagine how much they are going to want for the repair considering they are screwing the owner............and another BMW owner becomes a Lexus guy. lol Heard this story a million times before. BMW never learns
07-15-15, 06:45 PM
#9
Perhaps the aftermarket battery was a different shape/size, therefore not allowing the cables to be installed correctly, and in turn causing a short. I've seen the battery compartment in my X5, and cluster of different tricky wires connected to it - and I certainly wouldn't trust a grease monkey at a local repair shop to replace it, much less with an aftermarket unit.
07-16-15, 11:37 AM
#11
Lexus Test Driver
The headline of this article is misleading.
BMW blamed the poor INSTALLATION not the aftermarket battery itself.
Also they noted that the car had an Airbag Light which was on for some time that the owner never serviced which could have prevented this incident.
Spending lots of time on the BMW forum, BMW NA takes care of their clients 99% of the time.
I can speak from personal experience my family and friends had as well...
Im sure if the battery was installed at a dealer - they would take full responsibility.
BMW blamed the poor INSTALLATION not the aftermarket battery itself.
Also they noted that the car had an Airbag Light which was on for some time that the owner never serviced which could have prevented this incident.
Spending lots of time on the BMW forum, BMW NA takes care of their clients 99% of the time.
I can speak from personal experience my family and friends had as well...
Im sure if the battery was installed at a dealer - they would take full responsibility.
Last edited by RNM GS3; 07-16-15 at 11:47 AM.
07-16-15, 11:45 AM
#12
Lexus Test Driver
typical BMW bull. I wouldnt buy one personally. Too much OCD. I can only imagine how much they are going to want for the repair considering they are screwing the owner............and another BMW owner becomes a Lexus guy. lol Heard this story a million times before. BMW never learns
Plenty of stories like that on BMW forums as well.....
07-16-15, 12:45 PM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
typo on my part on the spelling. But there are so many millions of those defective air bags that it is difficult to keep track of which vehicles use them and which don't.
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