Several owners reported a design flaw with the cupholders in their 2020 BMW X7, triggering a class-action lawsuit against the company!
Yep, you heard that right! A cupholder. Defect. Lawsuit. This is one of those headlines that seems like a joke at face value, although it proved to be downright dangerous on multiple occasions. Say someone is on a commute or headed out somewhere for a drive/vacation, and they require a break at the coffee shop for a quick splash and dash. Like many others, they also happen to grab a beverage or two and place it in one of the cupholders. And since we are living in an imperfect world, bad roads and accidental spills are inevitable. Now, cases of major malfunctioning after a leak in the cupholder are almost unheard of, except for BMW’s largest and most luxurious SUV.
Apparently, this is due to the sketchy placement of the SRS airbag module (Supplemental Restraint System) right below the glove compartment. Reports are being published on drivers receiving several dashboard warnings or losing drivability during commutes, courtesy of a few drops of liquid spilling over from that stricken cup of coffee/tea. Soon this became a common issue for thousands of owners, triggering a class-action lawsuit represented by lawyer Margarian of BrightK Consulting Inc. at the District Court of Central Colombia.
Skimming through 67 pages of the legal report, the complainant filed the lawsuit on the following statement, “BMW’s failure, to acknowledge a material defect and disclose to Plaintiff and other consumers that the cup holders are defective and are not properly designed to hold cups filled with liquid — the very thing cup holders are intended to do.” Additional evidence also suggested that BMW failed to consider these damages under its warranty policy and instead penalized owners on the grounds of ‘personal damages’ with exorbitant part replacement costs.
This makes us truly wonder about the scene with German auto companies in general. These brands charge a premium for the upmarket quality yet are infamously involved in ‘gates’ in the US. The biggest and most prominent of all gates, the Dieselgate, fooled emission regulators and fitted a cheat device to rig the tests, thereby sending shockwaves across the auto industry. The scenario with BMW and the faulty cupholders looks to be another saga in the making unless the class-action results in a positive outcome, either partially or completely.
Come on, BMW, pull up your socks and do the right thing!
