BMW gets a 3 million dollar fine
Not all the news we’ve seen come in recently are that brilliant as the launching of the F12/F13 BMW M6 if we’re honest. There’s one that crept over the weekend and is rather nasty.
In the USA, Land of the Free and plenty such things, people take recalls and such very seriously. Problem is, they’ve decided the Bavarians don’t feel the same way.
That’s why the NHTSA slapped a massive 3 million dollar fine on BMW’s plate. Like I said, not great news, but there is some decent reasoning behind the decision.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started an investigation into BMW’s handling of recalls back in 2010. The investigation span an impressive amount of work.
Looking into 16 recalls that reached as far back as 2002 and covered over 300.000 BMW cars (and bikes) the authority took its time before coming up with a final decision.
The evidence was overwhelming and it seems that in all the cases the NHTSA looked into, BMW behaved in pretty much the same way.
Once they discovered a problem, the Bavarians would file with the NHTSA but they would provide very little information in it.
That essential information came later, in some cases considerably and the authority considered this practice unacceptable.
Since BMW North America accepted to pay the fine as a form of settlement and promised to make some changes in the way they handle recalls, it probably is.
BMW customer care has always felt like something special but this situation shows us that there is still considerable room for improvement.