Front Driver Side Air Bag Inflator problems of the 2001 BMW 540

Takata recall: both the manufacturer (BMW north America) and the local dealer (united BMW of roswell, GA) are refusing to perform the inspection of the air bag inflator on the referenced vehicle, per NHTSA recall campaign no. 17v-047. Dealer claims that no inspection is required since manufacture's service records for this VIN show that the "airbag control unit" was replaced 6/22/04. However, the open NHTSA recall campaign on this vehicle notes that the inflator may have been replaced previously but that the inflator that was replaced still needs to be inspected at this time as it may be faulty.

The contact owns a 2001 BMW 540ia. The contact stated that the recall notification for NHTSA campaign number: 17v047000 (air bags) was received in January of 2017. After taking the vehicle to the dealer the contact was informed that the air bag inflator was previously replaced in 2006 and did not require another replacement. After reading the summary for the recall the contact discovered that if the air bag inflator was previously replaced due to a crash or as a recall remedy, the replacement air bag inflator may also experience a failure and needed to be replaced a second time. The contact then notified the manufacturer and was also informed that the vehicle would not be eligible for a second replacement inflator although the VIN associated with the vehicle indicated the recall was outstanding. There was no failure mileage.

Possible takata inflator: at first the passenger airbag light came on occasionally and now the passenger airbag light is on all at the time.