Owner-reported complaints naming the airbag system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming the air-bag system — deployment behaviour, inflators, sensors and warning lights. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2018 BMW M550I submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 10 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
I’m getting a passenger restraint system malfunction message on my infotainment. Says: “Passenger restraint system limited. Increased risk of injury in case of a collision. Continue wearing safety belt.” This is the second time this has occurred on this specific vehicle. First time was in 2021 and was repaired. Now it came up again.
Passenger restrain system mail function
Passenger restrained seatbelt signal. There is bulletin in google: SIB 72 04 17. There are recalls for this vehicle but dealer want accept it.
Vehicle reported a Passenger Restraint Failure intermittently and upon getting diagnosed is related to a faulty seat occupancy sensor. If this sensor can fail ~4yrs of ownership with < 30k miles driven and it is critical to passenger restraint, it would seem that this should be fixed by BMW. With quick search, the problem doesn't seem isolated: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Passenger restraint system malfunction. I took it to the dealership and was told it will cost $3785.91 to replace the passenger seat mat. Looking online, this problem appears to be widespread with many individual car owners complaining of the issue. Given that this is a life safety system and its apparent prevalence, it seems appropriate to consider this for a mandatory recall.
The passenger seat occupancy mat is faulty - same as in many other BMW models for which BMW has issued a 15 year warranty. The car chimes and states "fasten safety belt" for the passenger seat when the passenger seat is entirely empty. This error comes and goes, and stops when the belt is buckled.
The passenger restraint malfunction continues to alarm and the dealership states that it is a seat-pad sensor and want over $2000.00 to replace. From a number of BMW forums, it appears that this was a common problem with earlier models and a subsequent 15-year warranty extension was granted because of the safety concerns. My car is well cared for and has very few miles on it, so I truly believe that BMW needs to either recall this faulty SAFETY component or replace it free of charge. Please protect me and my family by holding BMW accountable.
Passenger Restraint Warning Light has been coming on off and on and now stays on all the time. Dealer has confirmed car needs to have the OC3 mat replaced at a very high price. Car is a 2018 BMW M550ix. Apparently this has been a common problem with the BMWs.
Passenger side sensor is faulty. BMW has issued Technical Service Bulletin to repair when found in warranty. The sensor will errantly warn airbag disable when person is not in seat.
My old 5 series 2017 had this same problem, now my 2018 m550i has the airbag problem. A warning light for no reason pops up saying “passenger restraint system malfunction” and turns off the passengers airbag, BMW will not fix it out of warranty and charges 3,000$. Many people are driving around without airbags in a new car because of this.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
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