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

by Jack Baruth

Published: June 23rd, 2015

why did the airbags in this bmw x5 deploy without warning

“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.

#AccidentalDeployment #Airbags #BMW #Deploy #X5

Jack Baruth

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5 of 87 comments

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.

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- Exfordtech on Jun 24, 2015
  
  The decision making process for an airbag deployment (impact to triggering of crash sensors in a prescribed sequence to firing the bags) is measured in milliseconds. Unless your supplemental restraint control module is capable of predicting the future, in other words, seeing the crash before it occurs 3 to 4 seconds ahead of time, your wish won't be granted.
  
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- 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?!?)
  
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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!

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- 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.
  
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