What 78 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 BMW 5 Series Hybrid Sedan Phev

The passenger restraint system warning along with the airbag warning is displayed on the screen as a defect.

NHTSA ODI 11501672

- Passenger Airbag and passenger restrain system malfunction. - Malfunction of passenger airbag not deploying during accident even passenger seat is occupied with recommend weight. - Issues has been reported to Dealer. In turn dealer responds to as "External Factors" with issue could be presence of moisture in the seat. - Passenger Airbag light illuminates - Warning was never consistent. After reporting to dealership warning stays permanent and advised to replace seat mat sensor. - This has been a know issue over a decade and 2017-2018 manufactured BMW 5 series (G30). - This is clearly a poor material and workmanship costing people life's.

NHTSA ODI 11495361

Vehicle reports "Passenger restraint system malfunction" upon startup, even when passenger is not in seat. Passenger airbag light turns on. In this state the vehicle defaults to deploying the passenger airbag no matter what, even if passenger weighs less than 45 lbs. BMW of North Scottsdale inspected and recommends replacing the passenger seat sensor mat for $3600, not covered outside of factory warranty.

NHTSA ODI 11488264

Passenger seat indicator light keeps going off intermittently. Dealer says its a seat pad issue. We identified it in 2018 but dealer was not able to fix it and it continually keeps happening and didn't do anything because dealer did not fix it at that time. Now dealer is re-diagonising it saying it is a different diagnostic code but we have seen the same issue since we got the car. After reasearching this, there was a recall in 2017 with similar issues. It is related to the sensor and if not properly working, the airbags may not deploy when needed. This appears to be a safety feature of the car so should be recalled like previous. Please investigate.

NHTSA ODI 11480988

Passenger Restraint System Malfunction. This is what randomly and constantly pops up. The fasten seat alert goes off the whole time I’m riding, although no one is in the passenger seat. I took it to the BMW service center twice and each time they keep my vehicles for hours, just to say they couldn’t duplicate the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11429174

Passenger restrain system malfunction where airbags will not deploy if car is in accident. this seems as an issue with BMWs and they had recall before on certain models and years, dealers do not want to process claims under manufacturing warranty to fix an issue even the car is still under manufacturing warranty. claiming that water could have been spilled seems very convenient not to fix this issues. i took my car to dealer and they ran diagnostic test and charge me $200 to tell me to turn heat in the seat because moisture, sound unfair. week after that same message came on i am not sure how it is legal for BMW dealers to clear code and send people home and tell them to turn heat in the seat and hopefully problem goes away. which it did not and there should be recall for this issue especially if airbags are concern.

NHTSA ODI 11418662

WHILE DRIVING MESSAGE WILL POP UP REGARDING PASSANGER'S SEAT BELT AND EVEN DRIVER WAS FASTEN THE SEAT BELT MESSAGE WILL POP UP IN THE SCREEN TO FASTEN THE SEAT BELT. IT WILL START AFTER 20 MINUTES OF DRIVING.

NHTSA ODI 11133641

FOR A FEW MONTHS NOW, MY CAR HAS BEEN THROWING A "PASSENGER RESTRAINT SYSTEM MALFUNCTION" ERROR. IT HAPPENS SPORADICALLY AND ONLY STAYS UP FOR BETWEEN 1 AND 5 MINUTES AT A TIME. IT WILL HAPPEN WHETHER THE CAR IS MOVING OR NOT, AND EVEN SOMETIMES AS SOON AS I TURN THE CAR ON. I HAVE BEEN SUBMITTING THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SINCE IT STARTED. I TRIED TO HAVE IT FIXED BY THOMPSON BMW, ONLY TO BE TOLD, LIKE THE OTHER USER WHO HAS THIS PROBLEM ON HERE, THAT THEY THINK MOISTURE IS THE CULPRIT. I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY RAIN OR ANY OTHER MOISTURE GET INTO THE CAR, AND EVEN IF IT DID, THIS WOULD BE A HUGE SAFETY RISK. THOMPSON REFUSED TO FIX IT AND SAID I WOULD HAVE TO COME OUT OF POCKET FOR THE SEAT, WHICH IS RIDICULOUS. I HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE SERVICE MANAGER, AND THE CAR IS SCHEDULED TO GO BACK TO THE SHOP SOON. I WILL UPDATE WITH ANY DEVELOPMENTS, BUT IT WOULD APPEAR THAT MINE IS NOT AN ISOLATED INDECENT.

NHTSA ODI 11110925

RECEIVED AN ERROR MESSAGE ON BMW 540I 2018, WITH 10600 MILES. PURCHASED AS FACTORY DEMO A LITTLE OVER A MONTH AGO. WILL BE TAKING IT TO SERVICE SOON. HOWEVER I UNDERSTAND THIS IS A LONG STANDING ISSUE WITH BMW-S THAT THE MANUFACTURER IS NOT CORRECTING OR ISSUING RECALLS.

NHTSA ODI 11109656

CAR ISSUED A SAFETY WARNING CONCERNING, "PASSENGER RESTRAINT SYSTEM MALFUNCTION" STATING THE PASSENGER RESTRAINT SYSTEM IS LIMITED. WARNING SHOWS UP WHEN PASSENGER SEAT EMPTY AND WHEN CAR IS STATIONARY OR MOVING. DEALERSHIP SERVICE CENTER VERIFIED VEHICLE HAD ERROR CODE BUT STATED THEY "BELIEVE" IT IS MOISTURE IN THE SENSOR AND INSTRUCTED ME TO REDIRECT AIR CONDITIONING TO FLOOR WHEN WARNING COMES ON SCREEN. CONCERNED ABOUT WHETHER THIS IS REALLY JUST A SENSOR PROBLEM THAT SHOULD BE IGNORED OR IF THERE IS ACTUALLY A SAFETY PROBLEM WITH THE RESTRAINT SYSTEM.

NHTSA ODI 11079206