BMW recalled 218 cars in China because an earlier recall's software update never installed
The regulator's notice said an operational deviation or an abnormal download during two 2024 campaigns left the vehicles short of the target software version.
BMW Brilliance Automotive and BMW China filed two recall plans with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation covering 218 vehicles whose software had not been upgraded successfully during earlier recall work. The regulator published the notice on September 4 and both campaigns took effect immediately.
Recall S2026M0094V covers 157 domestically built X1, X5 and 5-series cars produced between May 15, 2023 and April 30, 2024. Recall S2026M0095V covers 61 imported X2, X6, X7, 5-series, 7-series and MINI JCW Countryman cars produced between July 6, 2022 and June 25, 2024. The notice describes both as a repeat of campaigns published on September 11 and November 22, 2024.
The stated cause is the earlier remedy rather than the vehicle. During those campaigns, the notice said, an operational deviation or an abnormal software download may have meant the vehicle software did not upgrade successfully to the target version. Where that happened, the integrated brake booster known as DSCi could not issue a warning through the head unit as intended if a potential risk existed.
The remedy is to reinstall the onboard diagnostic software free of charge. That software monitors the potential DSCi risk and raises a warning through the head unit, prompting the owner to return to a dealer for a free replacement of the DSCi part. Owners are being notified by registered letter and through Connected Drive messages.
The same notice carried three unrelated BMW campaigns covering 150,858 vehicles for starter-motor wear and a starter-motor relay whose waterproofing could admit water. Those are hardware remedies and are separate from the software campaigns above.