National Highway Transportation Safety Administration investigation of BMW enters nex
 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the BMW Series 7 since August. In that time, it has found 16 crashes and 5 injuries related to vehicle roll-away from a transmission faltering. With such low auto loan rates, it is time to jump on that new car.



Started investigation



In August, the federal agency started to look to the Germany-based company’s 7-Series luxury sedans. BMW has been dealing with the investigation for a very long time. There were 50 United States grievances about the issue, which is what prompted the investigation.



Upgraded to an engineering evaluation



In order “to further assess the potential safety consequences of the alleged defect,” the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is moving on to do an analysis of the engineering in the automobile. It has already figured out that the issue was causing the injuries, and the analysis is getting closer to a recall.



Parked automobiles still roll



Roughly 122,000 BMW Series 7 automobiles, from model years 2002-2008, would be impacted, should a recall become a reality. The vehicles in question all have push-button stop-start switches, as well as electronic transmission controls. Under certain circumstances, a driver may leave from his or her vehicle, believing it is in park, when in reality, it is in neutral. If on a grade or slope, these vehicles could roll away, leading to potential property damage and injuries.



Not noted in driver’s guide



A small shifter is found on the steering column that is used to switch gears on the automatic transmission vehicles. BMW Explained that the car may really go into neutral when the start-stop button is pressed a few times while it is running or in reverse. This fact is not mentioned in the owner’s guide.



Another situation that could cause the car to move unknowingly into neutral is if it is running in park and the driver moves the shifter up and down.



Dave Butchko, BMW spokesperson, explained:



“BMW is fully cooperating with NHTSA on the engineering analysis.”





Recall coming in



Some Series 7 vehicles are being recalled with some other BMW and Rolls-Royce automobiles due to a faulty water pump in the turbocharger cooling systems. A fire could come from the problem. That is why the recall was started.