1999 Bmw M3 Base Coupe 2-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Can the government mechanically force you to wear your seatbelt? [w/poll]

The National Highway Traffic Administration is considering the use of ignition interlocks in vehicles that would require the seatbelts of occupied seats to be fastened in order to drive the car, Automotive News reports, four decades after Congress moved to prevent manufacturers from installing them in cars sold in the US market. Following a transportation bill passed last year that lift some of the restrictions on seatbelt interlocks, automakers such as BMW are considering the benefits of using them in future cars. Now, before you go crying about your lost freedom, keep reading.
BMW said in an October 2012 petition that the use of seatbelt interlocks would allow the company to make lighter and more spacious vehicles, if the devices could be used in lieu of unbelted crash tests. The crash test has required the addition of bulky safety features, such as knee bolsters, that aren't as necessary when occupants are buckled up, especially when considering the dizzyng list of safety features that come standard on today's cars. Europe, which has a higher rate of seatbelt use than in the US, doesn't perform unbelted crash tests on cars sold there.

BMW X4 M probably not in the cards

BMW is preparing to exploit its latest market niche - those that find themselves unable to choose between the 3 Series, 4 Series and X3 - with the X4. If you're looking for an M product, though, you'll remain limited to the 3 and 4 Series. BMW's Bernhard Ederer, at the Australian launch of the X5, told Car Advice he wouldn't "bet on it," when asked about a hotter X4.
Oddly, Ederer's reasoning, according to the Aussies, is out of concern for the X6 M, whose sales the X4 M would apparently cannibalize. That's like saying the M3 doesn't make sense because it will cannibalize M5 sales - the logic just doesn't really hold up. "The question is what customers are we talking to? And are we talking to someone that is willing and able to afford [an X6 M]?" Ederer told Car Advice.
Car Advice seems to feel the same way, claiming the X3-based X4 will share its powertrains with its donor platform, and will eventually spawn an M variant, albeit a few years down the line.

BMW recalling a grand total of three X3s over instrument panel defect

We've seen big recalls and we've seen small ones. Some involve millions of vehicles, and some - like the Infiniti Q50 recall on which we reported just the other day - involve just a couple dozen. But this has to be the smallest recall we've seen yet.
"Due to a production process error" in the BMW X3, states the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the notice below, "the team seam on the instrument panel was not manufactured correctly." Big friggin' whoop, you say? Well, NHTSA points out that it could hinder the deployment of the airbag and send fractures flying everywhere.
The problem was discovered in a select few examples of the 2013 BMW X3 - both xDrive 28i and 35i models - manufactured in the later part of February this year. And by "select few," we literally mean a few - as in three. Three examples are being recalled. If you happen to be one of those three owners, expect to hear from your local dealership.