BMW is recalling 45,500 units of the 7-Series sedan due to a software malfunction that may cause vehicles to roll away when parked. The affected vehicles are equipped with the Comfort Access option and were built from August 23, 2004, through to July 24, 2008.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these vehicles have an electronic key and an electronic connection between the gear shifter and the transmission that automatically shifts the transmission to park mode when the driver presses the "Start/Stop" button to turn off the engine. If the driver presses the button multiple times, the transmission could shift into neutral rather than park. The vehicle could roll away, potentially causing damage to other vehicles, injury to pedestrians or worse.
Owners will be contacted by the German carmaker next month, but dealers will not have a software remedy until March 2013. For further information, owners can contact NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 or BMW at 1-800-525-7417.
The vehicles impacted by this recall include:
- BMW 745i and 745Li from the 2005 model year
- BMW 750i and 750Li from the 2006-2008 model years
- BMW 760i and 760Li from the 2005-2008 model years
