Laguna Hills, CA – December 20, 2019 – BMW of North America LLC is recalling certain 2017-2019 2019-2020 M8 Gran Coupe, M8 Coupe, and M8 Convertible vehicles. The transmission wiring harness can be more easily damaged, causing an electrical short circuit.
The potential number of vehicles affected is estimated at 3,012.
The defect
According to BMW, the transmission wiring harness can be damaged by both high temperatures and compression from the wiring harness mounting clip, resulting in an electrical short circuit in the transmission wiring harness.
The defect is caused by mistakes in the setup of insulation material for the harness, routing, and some of the fastening points of the harness to the transmission housing.
A short circuit could cause the vehicle to unexpectedly shift into neutral while driving. The rapid loss of propulsion may cause a crash. No accidents have been reported that resulted from this defect.
Timeline of events
On September 24, 2019, a vehicle’s transmission unexpectedly shifted into neutral at a BMW assembly plant. The vehicle could not shift back into drive.
Starting in October, BMW performed an engineering and assembly process review, as well as a field incident analysis. The field incident analysis found that the problem had occurred with 18 vehicles worldwide. Final analysis determined the cause of the problem.
On December 4, 2019 BMW decided to have a voluntary safety recall
The solution
Owners of affected vehicles will be notified by mail and told to take their vehicles to a certified BMW dealer for repairs, free of charge. Dealers will replace and reroute the transmission wiring harness with new fasteners.
Rerouting will occur even if no damage has occurred. The entire process should take about an hour. The repairs will be covered by the BMW New Vehicle Limited Warranty.
Affected owners are told to wait until they have received their official letter from BMW before making an appointment, to ensure that all dealers have the necessary equipment
Dealers will be notified of the recall beginning December 1, 2019, while owners will be notified February 3, 2020.
Check your car’s recall status using MotorSafety’s free vehicle lookup tool.
