20V018000
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
2004 BMW 330I
4 safety recall campaigns, 3 carrying NHTSA's "park it" advisory, 6 defect investigations (1 open), 139 owner complaints filed with NHTSA.
Do not drive
3 campaigns covering the 2004 BMW 330I carry NHTSA’s “park it” advisory — the federal government telling owners to stop driving the vehicle until the remedy has been performed. Whether it was performed on any particular car is not something NHTSA publishes in a form anyone can query; a franchised dealer can run the VIN and print the record in a minute, and the repair is free.
The record
Recall campaigns4
Park it3stop driving until repaired
Investigations61 open
Owner complaints139
Complaints citing a crash7
Complaints citing a fire5
Complaints are reports from owners of this model year, not findings about any particular vehicle, and a model that sold in large numbers will collect more of them. They are counted here as filed; nothing is inferred from them.
Recall campaigns 4 of 4
14V428000
AIR BAGS
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure could cause rupturing of the inflator resulting in metal fragments striking and potentially seriously injuring the passenger seat occupant or other occupants.
15V318000
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
11V438000
EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS
INTERMITTENT LIGHT OPERATION REDUCES THE ABILITY TO WARN OTHER MOTORISTS OF THE DRIVER'S INTENTIONS. THIS COULD CAUSE A VEHICLE CRASH WITHOUT WARNING.
What owners report most
- 80EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 20AIR BAGS
- 10ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- 7VISIBILITY/WIPER
- 5EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS
- 3VISIBILITY
- 2ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE
- 2UNKNOWN OR OTHER
This page is about a model, not a car
Two 2004 BMW 330Is can have entirely different histories, and a recall campaign usually covers a build-date window rather than a whole model year — which a VIN does not encode, so only the door-jamb label settles it. Scanning the VIN adds the decode, the crash tests, the fuel economy and the complaints matched to that exact engine, trim and assembly plant.