BMW recalls 120,000 cars over airbag issues

Reuters reports that BMW is recalling 120,000 cars in the United States of America due to an issue with defective Takata airbags. The same airbag issue was also reported by German paper Bild a week ago. According to the report, a spokesman for BMW said that the recall included the X5 and X6 models from the years 2006 to 2011.

Other automakers in the United States (eight of them) also announced a recall for more than 12 million U.S. vehicles. The reason was also the defective Takata air bags.

Takata, a Japanese manufacturer, agreed to declare as many as 40 million additional air bag inflators defective by 2019 in a move that will involve recalls by 17 automakers.

As it turns out, Takata inflators can explode in the airbag with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments. About 1.8 million Takata inflators in BMW vehicles are covered by the Takata recalls and need to be replaced. The extension only applies to vehicles with the PSDI-4 inflators.

BMW initially planned to ramp-up the replacement parts to supply recall demand at dealerships but this recall will surely push those plans backwards.