BMW has issued a safety recall over a manufacturing blunder attributed to a South Carolina-based supplier. According to documents filed with the federal watchdog, JTEKT North America shipped a number of steering gear assemblies with loose bolts. One or more bolts may not have been fastened according to specifications.
The bolts in question connect the servo unit to the housing rack. In case of a loose connection, the driver may notice this condition via abnormal vibrations or noises. A grand total of seven part numbers are listed in the attached report, which also reads that BMW became aware of this problem on October 17, 2023.
It all started with a newly built 330i that exhibited unusual noises during a routine test drive. As expected, BMW identified steering gear bolts that were not seated properly. This finding prompted the Bavarian automaker to contact JTEKT, implement a containment action, and issue a stop-ship order.
After a thorough review of the production and process records, JTEKT identified a change in the process for joining the servo unit to the housing rack. Thankfully for everyone, BMW hasn't received any field reports related to the aforestated problem.
Owners will be informed about the supplier's mistake on January 8 of next year. Dealers have already been instructed to replace the steering gear of potentially affected vehicles, which range from the 2 Series Coupe to the 3 Series, X3, and swoopier X4. All vehicles were produced for the 2024 model year.
Photo: BMW
Manufactured on October 5, a single example of the 230i is recalled. The list further includes 16 units of the 330i (assembled between September 20 and October 17), as well as 146 units of the X3 in sDrive30i, xDrive30i, and M40i flavors. Last but certainly not least, an estimated 38 examples of the X4 also need brand-new steering gear assemblies.
In production since 2013, the 2 Series Coupe was joined by an MPV-bodied sibling in 2014. As of December 2023, the 2 Series line includes the Coupe (a.k.a. G42 in BMW vernacular), the Active Tourer (U06), and something called Gran Coupe. Internally referred to as F44, the Gran Coupe is a coupe-styled sedan.
The Active Tourer isn't available in the United States, partly because MPVs do not sell well in this part of the world. The 2er Gran Coupe starts at $38,400 in the United States market, which makes it the most affordable brand-new Bimmer at the moment of writing. By comparison, the 2er Coupe is $38,800.
330i once meant 3 Series with inline-six muscle, yet the 330i available today packs a 2.0-liter turbo I4. The starting price is $44,500 sans destination charge. As for the X3 and X4, the rear-biased crossovers kick off at $46,900 for the rear-wheel-drive X3 sDrive30i and $55,000 for the all-wheel-drive X4 xDrive30i.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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