BMW Recalls Over 105,000 Vehicles for Starter Motor That May Fail and Overheat

First and foremost, a failed starter means that you cannot restart the engine. Secondly, the proximity of the starter to acoustic protection material could also lead to a thermal event. Following several reports alleging no-start conditions and localized thermal damage, the safety boffins at BMW of North America started to investigate back in March 2023.

Subsequent reviews pointed to specific engine starter production configurations. Rather than replacing the starter, the Bavarian automaker's US division will update the engine starter software to prevent electrical overloading.

Affected vehicles were produced for the 2019 through 2021 model years, beginning with the 2020 BMW 3 Series Sedan M340i and M340i xDrive. The remainder comprises the 2020 BMW 8 Series Coupe and Gran Coupe in 840i and 840i xDrive flavors, the 8 Series Convertible, the 740i and 740i xDrive, and 40i models from the X5, X6, and X7 lines.

As you might have guessed by now, the X5 population trumps all other models. Affected sDrive40i and xDrive40i models number 68,105 units, with production dates ranging from August 1, 2018 to May 31, 2020. The sport utility vehicles came from BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina, whereas the 3er is assembled at Mexico's Planta San Luis Potosi. As for the 7er and 8er, they're made in Deutschland at BMW Group Werk Dingolfing.

The easiest way for owners to determine if a vehicle was recalled is to run the 17-character VIN on the automaker's recall portal. Similarly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers a VIN look-up tool as well. Dealers have already been instructed to update the engine starter software at no cost to affected customers, while owner notifications will be mailed no later than September 23.

Based on the Q2 2024 sales release published by BMW of North America at the beginning of July, the X5 is the most popular nameplate of the bunch with 33,600 deliveries to its name in the United States market. The X6 and X7 are listed with 3,733 and 14,351 units, respectively, for the half-year period.

The 3 Series Sedan moved 14,137 units year-to-date, whereas the 7 Series and 8 Series couldn't do better than 5,138 and 2,875 deliveries. Although one would imagine the 3er to lead the passenger vehicle ranking unchallenged, that's not actually the case. Believe it or not, the 4er is the most popular BMW passenger vehicle in the US of A.

All told, the BMW brand delivered 175,712 vehicles in the first half of 2024, representing a small improvement over the 170,414 sales reported for the first half of 2023. Audi netted 92,913 units, whereas Mercedes bettered BMW due to 178,219 sales. Of that grand total, vans accounted for 26,987 deliveries.