BMW Facing $5-Million Lawsuit For Design Flaw Involving Cupholders

3 years ago - 22 December 2021, motor1

The complaint said that the cupholders "are not properly designed to hold cups filled with liquid."

BMW is facing a class-action lawsuit in California. Filed last Thursday in US District Court in Orange County, the lawsuit stated that the BMW X7, and possibly other BMWs, has a design flaw that involves cupholders – they are not allowed to get wet.

The lengthy complaint can be summarized in the following statement: "cup holders are defective and are not properly designed to hold cups filled with liquid — the very thing cup holders are intended to do."

"When liquid spills into the cup holder, the wires for the SRS (airbag) control module, which sits directly underneath cup holder, get wet and are damaged, causing damage to the airbags. As a result, the airbags can inadvertently deploy," the complaint said.

The plaintiff in the said lawsuit is BrightK Consulting, Inc., represented by Atty. Hovanes Margarian. Margarian believes that there are thousands of vehicles that have the same design flaw.

"The way it is arranged the cars are prone to malfunction when either there is a spill in the cupholder or condensation on the cup," Margarian added.

There are several complaints noted in the lawsuit. Most of them report a fault on the SRS control module after an inadvertent liquid spill onto the cupholders, which then seeped into the electrical parts underneath. Replacement and repair costs of the module go over $2,000, which, in some cases, BMW refused to cover under warranty.

One of the complaints dated March 2021 reads:

Placed a soft drink in Cup Holders of a 2020 BMW X7. The lid was not on well and some of the soda spilled onto the gearshift center console. Not much, the cup did not come out of the Cup Holders or anything like that just some spilled as driving....the soda was still 95% full in the cup. But...car goes into emergency stop in the left lane of highway and unable to drive. Goes into Park and won't shift into drive or reverse and dash says bring to dealer immediately. Car gets towed to BMW and tech tells me the liquid damaged a part under the gear shift...cost to fix $2900.00 and not covered by warranty.