U.S. Safety regulars announced on Monday to upgrade their investigation into certain BMW vehicles because of electronic transmission causing problems after reports of 16 crashes and 5 injures.
The investigation of 122,000 2002-2008 model years of BMW 7 series, conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has been upgraded to an “engineering analysis”, which is a step closer to a recall. The NHTSA and BMW received 50 complaints since last August when they first started the investigation process. According to the complaints, the owners believed that vehicles were in park, but it was actually in neutral, causing the car to roll away unexpectedly and crash.
BMW spokesman Dave Buchko wrote in an email that the company is cooperating in the investigation, according to the Associated Press.
The affected BMW models use push-button engine start/stop system combined with a unique shifter mounted on the steering column. This system uses what is called a “bump” control, so the driver cannot see what gear the shifter is in as he or she would in a traditional automatic transmission. When the vehicle is not in park and turned off, the car may roll away causing crashes or injuries.
At the engineering analysis stage, the safety regulars will determine if there is an issue that needs to be corrected by a recall.
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