Some 2020 Toyota Supra owners could get new cars in BMW-issued recall

There are seven brand-new 2020 Toyota Supra owners out there who could have their Supra replaced with a brand new one, due to a safety recall issued by BMW. Yes, there’s a lot going on in that sentence, so let’s break it down.

The recall concerns the driver’s seatbelt guide loop mount and the welds holding it in place. BMW states in the official NHTSA documents that the mount “may not have been welded to specifications.” This becomes a potential problem in a crash. “In a crash of sufficient severity, the mount could become damaged and may not restrain the driver as designed, which would increase the risk of injury to the driver,” the documents say. BMW says it performed testing to see if that could actually happen, and concluded that the recall was necessary.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to “fix” the bad welding after the fact, so folks will be getting a whole new Supra. That’s a pretty drastic measure, but the recall is minuscule. Only seven Supras are potentially affected, making this one of the smaller recalls we’ve ever reported on.

The other noteworthy aspect of this recall is who issued it. Everything originated from BMW, because the Toyota Supra is built alongside its BMW Z4 twin at the Magna Steyr, Graz Plant in Austria. We’ve all heard the hew and cry concerning how much “BMW” is in the Supra, and this won’t do anything to quiet the criticism. However, Toyota is still going to be involved in the recall process. Its dealers will be the ones inspecting the few cars to see if they have defective welds or not. Owners will also be dealing with Toyota if their car needs to be replaced, not BMW.