BMW of North America and Bridgestone Americas have settled a 2008 class-action lawsuit stemming from problems with the run-flat tires in 2006 and 2007 BMW 3-series models. The issue concerns the factory-installed Bridgestone Turanza EL42 run-flat tires, which exhibited irregular wear and excessive road noise and needed to be replaced early (before 30,000 miles). The class-action suit started with an owners’ group lawsuit that alleged BMW and Bridgestone should have known the tires were defective and prone to excessive noise and irregular wear. A federal court in New Jersey has accepted the settlement offer, clearing the way for affected BMW owners to apply for reimbursement. Bridgestone estimates the potential class at about 125,000 owners.
Under the terms of the agreement, members of the settlement class will receive a full refund for the purchase of replacement tires if they were needed before 10,000 miles. If replacement occurred between 10,000 miles up through 30,000 miles, reimbursement will be 50 percent or less.
More information is available at the RFT settlement website.