Questions and Answers

BMW 740i Cream Puff Q. Hi Vincent, We have a 1997 BMW 740i. We bought the "bumper-to-bumper" extended warranty when we purchased it used at 50,000 miles. We even paid extra to "include electrical." Well, the car has 73,000 miles now and even though it is truly a "cream puff" and we have all service records from original owner, it's costing us!

Every time we take it to the dealer, they charge us from $75.00 - $300.00 claiming "it's not covered." So, here's our newest problem. The little red light on the right bottom corner of the instrument panel is a diagram of a person sitting in a seat with the air bag inflated in their lap. It is obviously NOT the light that comes on when the driver's seat belt is not fastened, yet the dealer today insisted that we'd have to pay $300.00 to repair it since it's the driver belt buckle whose sensor needs to be replaced.

Is this true? What does the seat belt have to do with the air bag and, how do we even know that the light came on because of the driver side? It could be a problem in the air bag on the passenger side? Please help if you can. We're upside down in the car or we'd sell it!

Thanks!
PB

A. Upside down in the car? I think I would pay real money to see that.

The Seat Belt Buckle Switch tells the Safety Restraint System that there is somebody sitting in the respective seats. Why? I don't know. These faults have no effect on the airbag deployment function and they will still deploy in an accident. But I'm sure BMW has a good reason for it.

These seat belt switches have a known defect in them. Defective printed circuit board or contacts of the seat buckle switch, are causing resistance values to fluctuate under mechanical load and set the code.

As far as the problem you're having with your warranty, you will need to read it very closely to see what is covered and what is not. If you believe it is covered, then it might be a good idea to seek legal counsel.