BMW of North America, LLC: Air Bags › Frontal › Driver Side › Inflator Module
BMW of North America, LLC reported this defect to federal regulators on Oct 31, 2025 and put the number of vehicles at risk at 5,361. The repair is free for as long as the recall stands.
Do not drive
NHTSA attached a do-not-drive advisory to this campaign. It applies to specific production runs, so check your own VIN with the manufacturer or at nhtsa.gov/recalls before driving the vehicle.
The defect
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2000-2001 X5 vehicles that may be equipped with a sport steering wheel containing a Takata PSDI-4 air bag inflator. The inflator may explode during deployment due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature, and temperature cycling.
The risk
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
The remedy
Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the remedy is complete. Dealers will inspect and replace the driver's front air bag, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 29, 2025. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning December 23, 2025. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 19V015.
2 model years covered
Newest first| Vehicle | Complaints | Recalls | Fires | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 BMW X5 | 160 | 12 | 16 | 4 |
| 2000 BMW X5 | 29 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
What this page is, and what to do next
A recall is not an opinion. It is a Part 573 report a manufacturer is required by federal law to file once it decides a defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety, and it commits them to repairing the vehicle at no cost to the owner. The three passages above are the manufacturer’s own wording as published by NHTSA.
This page describes the campaign. It cannot tell you whether one particular car has already been through the shop — that is tracked by VIN, and only the manufacturer knows it. Check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls or with a franchised dealer, quoting campaign number 25V748000.
Full record for the 2001 BMW X5 → · Recalls carrying a do-not-drive advisory → · Where this data comes from →