Originally Posted by mark scheurer

You probably won't find an '02 however you can get an '05 or '06. It would be a few thousand more, but you'll have a newer car. And BMW made many small improvements over the years.

I think for a BMW's side bags to go off, the car has to be practically torn in half. I've attached pictures of my 528i that was T-boned prior to my buying the X and the rear side bag did not go off -- this despite a 50 mph direct hit.

BMW engineers came to look at the car per my request and stated that the car was not hit with sufficient force to trigger the bags -- I was really left scratching my head --