If you’re having trouble adjusting the headrest position on the second-row seats in your 2023 BMW X5, you may not be alone. Your vehicle could be included in a recall that has arisen as a result of a production defect.
BMW blames its supplier, Magna, for a recall of 235 X5s that were produced between January 9 and January 20, 2023. A small proportion of these may have been equipped with second-row outboard seats whose head restraint guides don’t have a locking tab.
The automaker first caught the issue in March when, during a quality check, an employee noticed it was difficult to lock the headrest into place. BMW launched an engineering review and reached out to Magna Seating South Carolina to get to the bottom of the issue.
Read: Lincoln Aviator And Jeep Compass Suffer Headrest Issues, Hundreds Of Vehicles Recalled
It found that because of a production control system issue, the normal end-of-line validation process was bypassed for a short period of time. As a result, some misassembled seats slipped through the cracks and found their way into production vehicles.
Fortunately, after looking into production records, performing physical quality checks at the plant, and checking other vehicles produced at the same plant, BMW determined that only the X5 was affected by this issue, and only a small number.
In all, 188 internal combustion X5s (that is, the xDrive40i, M50i, and M models) and 47 plug-in hybrid models (xDrive45e) are suspected of potentially being equipped with bad headrest guide sleeves – that’s 235 in all.
BMW is not aware of any injuries or accidents resulting from this fault, but if an accident were to occur, it could have an impact on safety. If the head restraint does not stay in position, or a passenger simply cannot lift the headrest to meet the back of their head, the risk of injury could be increased in certain collisions.
Therefore, the automaker has launched a recall campaign, and plans to start getting in touch with owners on May 29. They will be asked to return their vehicle to the nearest authorized dealer where a technician will check the head restraint system, and replace it, if necessary.
