Best DWI Attorney

BMW North America has agreed to recall almost a quarter of a million BMW 3 series sedans made between 2002 and 2005 because of a fault in the electrical harness which causes the stop lights to fail. The company has apparently been aware of this problem for nearly 4 years but has only now decided to act.

The original problem was aired because a Texan gentleman who owned a BMW 330i contacted BMWNA and was not given any relief. In March 2009 he then filed a petition for the problem to be investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In his petition he claims that BMW North America were aware of this problem but refused to do anything.

The problem is apparently in the wiring harness and the connectors which are liable to overheat and burn out. Investigation by the agency has revealed that BMW were aware of the problem in 2004. Nothing was done until a service bulletin to dealers in 2007 with advice to check for heat related damage in equipment related to the rear lights.

BMWNA justified its lack of action by claiming that the trunk mounted stop light would continue to fail so that the defect was not dangerous.

When the owner of the BMW 330i, Mr. Peters, got no satisfaction from BMW he felt somewhat frustrated and disagreed with their assessment that this failure was not dangerous. He decided that he would, as he put it, tilt at windmills, and lodged a petition for an investigation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The N H T S A will accept a petition from anybody but is not obliged to investigate unless it feels investigation is warranted. In this case they did and in August 2009 informed Mr. Peters that it was opening an investigation. In December of that year they received information from BMW that led them to upgrade the investigation into an engineering analysis.
BMW restated its excuse and claimed it was a customer satisfaction issue. The agency disagreed however and continued with their analysis seeking additional data and requesting technical meetings with BMW.

Then on August 25 2011, 7 years after first becoming aware of the problem BMW formally notified the NHTSA that it would recall the vehicles. BMW did state however that they were unaware of any accidents relating to this problem and that furthermore they would not reimburse BMW 3 series owners who had had this defect repaired prior to December 2009.

BMW describes the recall as voluntary. According to the law a company, as soon as it is aware of a safety defect must inform the NHTSA within 5 days or face civil fines.

In instances like this it is possible for an individual to take on a giant corporation and win. If any Auto owner has had an accident which could possibly be due to an inherent safety defect then they should contact an Accident Attorney in Los Angeles who will advise you of your rights, and, if appropriate make a claim for recompense to any manufacturer who knowingly allows such a defect to go unrepaired.

Of course the same applies to anyone who has suffered injury as a result of such an accident a Personal Injury Attorney in Los Angeles is on hand to file a compensatory claim on their behalf.

Source A Texas Man’s Campaign Results in Recall of 241,000 BMW 3 Series Models for Faulty Tail Lamps New York Times September 2 2011