2018 BMW 5 Series AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS

Passenger seat occupancy sensor faulty causing restraint system malfunction and seat belt warning

i was just driving my bmw and a airbag light and a malfunction error popped up on my dashboard, that read that the Passenger restraint system has malfunctioned. and i was doing some research on what was wrong with my car, and all the forums are indicating that this is a very common issue on these cars due to a bad seat occupancy sensor mat. to fix this you either still have to have an extended warranty if you don’t have one you have to pay upwards of 3,000$ to get this part replaced at a dealer. and me personally i don’t have the money to just spend on car repair of that amount and im sure alot of the other people with this same problem are in the same boat as me. this could be very dangerous because it puts all my passengers at risk if i were to get in a auto collision it would be devastating. i mean this should 100% be a recall because of this is a wide spread problem that puts many many people at risk. i haven’t been to the dealer with it yet, but i can self diagnose because countless people have been reporting on forums and online the same issue with the same error on the dash. my car hasn’t been in an accident yet so i haven’t had it inspected by insurance companies or police. this problem first appeared today and my heart dropped.

Car randomly shows “Passenger restraint system malfunction”. I have read multiple complaints from other BMW owners about this issue that is not covered under BMW warranty.

When i have a passenger in the car I will intermittantly get the warning "Passenger restraint system malfunction" which will turn off the air bag to the passenger side when driving even when there is a passenger in the car. From forums it sounds like there is a pressure pad in the seat that is a very common malfunction for BMW. This seems like a pretty critical part to ensure the airbags are operational when a passenger is in the car, and feel it should not be as common a problem as it seems to be.

I recently took my vehicle in for a service due to "passenger system restraint" error code. Upon dealer inspection it would cost upwards of 4,000$ to fix this issue. I called my warranty company and they do not warranty any repairs that have to do with restraint systems. This seems to be a widespread issue from what I have read. This can really cause a major issue if the seatbelt for the passenger side does not work upon a collision. This has to be putting people in a serious situation and should be investigated. Thanks for your time.

My car has around 74k miles on it. I had the following service request warning present itself this last week, 'Passenger restraint system malfunction:' on my drive into work in the morning. At first I dismissed the message and closed it to see if it would clear itself. It did not clear. It came back up a couple of minutes later. This time I left it alone. It proceeded to close itself and reopen every minute or so for about 10-15 minutes. Then it turned off and didn't come back on until I started my car later in the day and again the following morning. After taking it into the BMW dealer, the warning light was able to be replicated by the dealer and they've told me it is the seat mat (occupancy sensor) that was faulty. No outside influence appears to be at fault for the failure. Just that the part went bad. This is the diagnostic message given: CHECK CONTROL MESSAGE PRESENT FOR PASSENGER RESTRAINT MALFUNCTION. PERFORMED VEHICLE TEST, FAULTS PRESENT REGARDING PASSENGER FRONT SEAT OCCUPANCY DETECTION. PERFORMED TEST PLAN AND INDCATED PASSENGER SEAT OCCUPANCY DETECTION IS FAULTY. RECOMMEND REPLACING PASSENGER SEAT OCCUPANCY DETECTION. According to the dealer, if this if not fixed the airbag and/or seatbelt won't perform in the event of an accident. This appears to be a very common issue for BMW and similar to a 2017 BMW Technical Service Bulletin MC-10146769-9999. There was no warning of this issue prior to receiving the error message. There has been no opportunity for moisture to compromise the sensor (via window, sunroof or drinks spilled). Nor has any cellphone been stored on the passenger seat as I've read of some reasons provided to other Owners with the same error message. This seems to be an ongoing issue with this part for some time and it would seem to be an important issue for BMW to resolve in their design for the safety of the user.

FOR A FEW MONTHS NOW, MY CAR HAS BEEN THROWING A "PASSENGER RESTRAINT SYSTEM MALFUNCTION" ERROR. IT HAPPENS SPORADICALLY AND ONLY STAYS UP FOR BETWEEN 1 AND 5 MINUTES AT A TIME. IT WILL HAPPEN WHETHER THE CAR IS MOVING OR NOT, AND EVEN SOMETIMES AS SOON AS I TURN THE CAR ON. I HAVE BEEN SUBMITTING THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SINCE IT STARTED. I TRIED TO HAVE IT FIXED BY THOMPSON BMW, ONLY TO BE TOLD, LIKE THE OTHER USER WHO HAS THIS PROBLEM ON HERE, THAT THEY THINK MOISTURE IS THE CULPRIT. I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY RAIN OR ANY OTHER MOISTURE GET INTO THE CAR, AND EVEN IF IT DID, THIS WOULD BE A HUGE SAFETY RISK. THOMPSON REFUSED TO FIX IT AND SAID I WOULD HAVE TO COME OUT OF POCKET FOR THE SEAT, WHICH IS RIDICULOUS. I HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE SERVICE MANAGER, AND THE CAR IS SCHEDULED TO GO BACK TO THE SHOP SOON. I WILL UPDATE WITH ANY DEVELOPMENTS, BUT IT WOULD APPEAR THAT MINE IS NOT AN ISOLATED INDECENT.