2018 BMW 5 Series Seat Belts

The seatbelt/passenger seat fails to recognize a passenger is occupying the seat and turns off the airbag. This issue has been reported many times to BMW and on vehicle forums. This is an expensive fix ($2800) that should be issued a recall by the manufacture and not passed onto the owner of the car.

The passenger seat is a mess. There are two issues that repeatedly happen on this car. One - there is false passenger seatbelt warning and two their is a passenger restraint system malfunction message. I took this to the BMW dealership and they said it requires a sensor mat replacement that costs over $2000. I looked it up online and found many people have had the exact same issue with this car.

I continually get the message 'passenger restraint system malfunction' Was meant to be repaired under warranty in 2022, it came back, but problem persisted intermittently since.

Passenger seat belt warning light activates even though there is no one or anything in the passenger seat.

VEHICLE WILL INTERMITTENTLY DISPLAY A FASTEN SEAT BELT WARNING MESSAGE WITHIN THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER ALONG WITH A WARNING TONE EVEN THOUGH THE DRIVER'S SEAT BELT IS BUCKLED AND NO OTHER PEOPLE ARE IN THE CAR AND NO WEIGHT IS ON THE OTHER SEATS. MESSAGE OCCURS WITHIN A COUPLE MINUTES OR DRIVING AND WILL SELF-CLEAR AFTER ABOUT A MINUTE. PROBLEM OCCURS SEEMINGLY RANDOMLY AND INTERMITTENTLY.

PASSENGER RESTRAINT MALFUNCTION ERROR. THIS SHOWS UP ON STARTUP. I HAD THIS PROBLEM EARLIER AND SOME HOW THAT GOT GOT CORRECTED.