Front Air Bag Sensor Control problems of the 2011 BMW 328

Even after clearing the faults, I am continuing to get a warning of a passenger "restraint system malfunction. " best guess by BMW mechanic is that it's the front passenger seat occupancy sensor mat. I am told it's a "common BMW problem. " various chat room discussions confirm this. Some BMW models have had the warranty extended to cover this issue (by Bmwna) but not my particular model. This is a BMW-wide design flaw that affects the safety of the vehicle and BMW expects me to pay to fix their mistake.

The airbag sensor is broken on passenger side if not fixed it's is definitely a safety concern. Purchased used on 7/1/19 from a dealships and they do not want to incure the cost to fix it. If the passenger seatbelt is not buckled whether there's a passenger in the seat or not it will keep beeping until you put the seatbelt in the buckle.

Passenger restraint system error: when passengers sit in front passenger seat a warning comes on and disables airbag even when belt is buckled or not, driving or stationary. Warning stays on after passenger exits. Warning stays on for about 50 miles of driving and resets until the seat is sat in again. Online forums show recall for this in other models but not mine yet much is being reported. Seems the seat sensor pad goes bad. Very few people sit in this seat so the sensor system should not be malfunctioning/wearing out. It is intermittent but frequent suggesting it is the same symptom issue as other BMW models with recalled seat sensor pads.

Passenger front seat occupancy mat/sensor failed, causing air bags to turn on/off, and trigger false positives and false negatives for minimum weight occupancy, thereby triggering seat belt alarm, and disabling/enabling air bags incorrectly. This was a recall in the same car, model year 2006. I would like my feedback on this subject to help initiate the same recall for the 2011 model year.

In late 2017-early 2018 the passenger seat belt warning chime would come on occasionally when something less than 5 pounds was on the seat and no one was sitting on the seat. Eventually, it happened all the time when nothing at all was on the seat. I always needed to drive the car with the seat belt connected. I learned it was a serious safety issue and contacted BMW dealer in early 2018 when the car had 88254 miles and they said it was no longer covered under warranty and would cost about $1300 to fix the airbag sensor mat. I found a repair place to replace the oc3 passenger seat mat with BMW part for almost $900. I had no idea this was a common problem until August 2018 I received a notice for the exact same part for our other car, a 2004 x3 which gave a warranty extension and offered reimbursement if the part had already been replaced. I contacted BMW and they refused to offer same extended warranty for airbag sensor matts in my 2011 328i. Since my car experienced the exact same symptoms as those covered by the warranty extension and, I have found online that this is a common problem with many Bmws, the logical conclusion would indicate that there is a flaw with the sensor itself not specific to the x3 model. In fact the sensor has not yet failed in our 2004 x3 that has over 160,000 miles. The 2011 328 sensor had the same exact symptoms with a serious safety issue for the airbag system. I've owned many vehicles with this same feature and have never had any problems. At the very least a new investigation should be done to determine whether this is a serious issue for all BMW models. I drove for over a year with this problem until I realized it was a safety issue and the airbags might not work if the sensor was broken. It was very expensive to fix. My online research showed there may already be a NHTSA claim related to this. Thank you.