Why Did The Airbags In This BMW X5 Deploy Without Warning?

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

“I was pulling into a parking lot and I stopped so I could back into a spot. I had a friend of mine in the passenger seat. I backed into the spot, and was in a stopped position. I was in neutral (the vehicle is a manual 5 speed). My friend got out of the car, I had my door open as well. As my friend got out of the passenger side and was closing the door both airbags deployed.”

Not exactly what you’d expect, right?

Over the weekend, I got a tip about a BMW X5 that experienced an unintended double airbag deployment. I reached out to the owner to get more details. It’s a 2002 X5 3.0i with the rare manual transmission. He bought it with 76,000 miles and a clean CarFax; in the past three years he’s taken it all the way to 155,000 on the odometer.

He’s not the only person to experience this kind of issue: I was quickly able to find an instance of another no-impact deployment. Turns out, however, that it was a 2006 X5, which is the second generation of the model.

It’s easy to imagine any number of scenarios where a deployment like this could cause a major safety hazard; it’s a good thing it never happened when the X5 was testing at the Nurburgring, right? So far, BMW NA’s response has been to offer a free inspection. We’ll keep you posted on what happens next. In the meantime, if you have an X5, particularly one that is close to, or past, its tenth birthday, you might want to have the bags checked.

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Beastpilot Beastpilot on Jun 23, 2015

    I really do wish all my airbags gave me a warning before they went off. Even 3-4 seconds before would allow me to avoid almost all accidents.

    • See 1 previous
    • JimC2 JimC2 on Jun 24, 2015

      @Exfordtech Um, thank you Captain Obvious. (5-10 seconds warning would be even better. Just need to invent time travel... and when do I get my hoverboard?!?)

  • Baconator Baconator on Jun 24, 2015

    Gets me thinking about my track car, an '88 with its original airbags still in the dash. I can't imagine that these have an unlimited life span, and premature deployment is certainly a foreseeable failure mode!

    • MBella MBella on Jun 24, 2015

      Most track cars have theirs removed. Most owners manuals say they need replacement after 10 years, although nobody does, because it would be too expensive on an old car.

  • FreedMike Off topic, but folks, this site is not working well for me from a technical standpoint, and it doesn't matter if I'm using my phone, or my computer (on two different browsers). It locks up and makes it impossible to type anything in after a certain point. Anyone else having these issues?
  • Syke Kinda liked the '57, hated the '58. Then again, I hated the entire '58 GM line except for the Chevrolet. Which I liked better than the '57's. Still remember dad's '58 Impala hardtop, in the silver blue that was used as the main advertising color.
  • Dartdude The bottom line is that in the new America coming the elites don't want you and me to own cars. They are going to make building cars so expensive that the will only be for the very rich and connected. You will eat bugs and ride the bus and live in a 500sq-ft. apartment and like it. HUD wants to quit giving federal for any development for single family homes and don't be surprised that FHA aren't going to give loans for single family homes in the very near future.
  • Ravenuer The rear view of the Eldo coupe makes it look fat!
  • FreedMike This is before Cadillac styling went full scale nutty...and not particularly attractive, in my opinion.
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