Bugatti is recalling two examples of the Chiron hypercar in the United States because they may have faulty side airbags.
The NHTSA’s Safety Recall Report indicates that a particular worker at the side airbag supplier for the Chiron may have installed heat shields improperly. During an internal test, Bugatti discovered “burn traces” under high temperatures on the airbag near the gas generator. This, the automaker says, “reduces the performance of the airbag”.
In typical Bugatti fashion, the recall will be a little excessive, but perhaps justifiable for a car as valuable as the Chiron.
For starters, the owners of the two Chirons in question will receive a letter from the French automaker. Next, the brand’s flying doctors will arrange an appointment to have the vehicles fixed. The cars won’t be fixed in the U.S., however.
Instead, “official Bugatti partners” will remove the seats from the Chiron, package them in specially-designed wooden boxes, and send them off to France. While in the home of Bugatti, the seats will be inspected and if any of the seats are found to have a wrongly installed heat shield, the entire seat will be sent to the supplier for replacement of the side airbag module. The seats will then be returned to the United States and installed in the Chirons.
As you’d expect, all of this will be done free of charge, though we guess it’ll take substantially more time than a visit to the local dealer.
In the United States, it is easy to spec-out a Chiron to cost well in excess of $4 million. Consequently, it’s no surprise the rather extreme lengths French automaker goes to in order to ensure its customers aren’t too affected by such pesky recalls.