South Korean government vows to reach conclusion on BMW by end of year

A BMW service center in Seoul is overwhelmed with safety inspections after BMW announced its recall measure.

Announcement comes after 36 total fires

The South Korean government stated plans to reach a conclusion by the end of the year on the causes behind fires affecting BMW vehicles.

To prevent additional fire incidents, it also plans to consider ordering a halt to the operation of BMW vehicles that have not received safety diagnostics.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi announced the plans on Aug. 8 while checking up on the progress of an investigation of product defects responsible for the BMW fires at the Korea Transportation Safety Authority’s Automotive Safety Research Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The ministry had been criticized for its “complacent” response after announcing that the identification of the fires’ cause would take approximately ten months.

“We will provide enough budget and staffing to reduce the investigation period by half and do our best to reach a conclusion within the year,” Kim said.

Thirty-six fires involving BMW vehicles have taken place this year. The automaker has attributed them to defects with the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) module in its diesel engine. But it has yet to produce a clear answer on why so many fires have occurred specifically in South Korean vehicles, which use the same parts as those in Europe. BMW announced a recall on July 26 to correct the defects – but the fires have continued since then at a rate of around one per day.

The South Korean government is now considering ordering a suspension of use for those of the 100,000 BMW vehicles subject to the recall that have not received a safety assessment or have safety assessment findings indicating a risk. The fear is that the fires could lead to larger incidents if they occur unexpectedly in public places such as tunnels, gas stations, or parking facilities. This is the first time the government has considered a suspension order on driving a particular vehicle for safety reasons.

In a message to BMW owners, Kim said, “Please make sure to get an emergency safety assessment by [August] 14, and refrain from driving before that.” She also called on the public to “refrain from purchasing or selling vehicles that have not received safety assessments or that pose a fire risk.” A total of 106,317 vehicles from 42 models have been categorized by BMW as subject to the recall.

BMW is also implementing a large-scale recall in Europe. On Aug. 7, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that the automaker was undertaking a recall to resolve technical defects in 324,000 diesel vehicles in Europe. The measure is in response to defects in the same diesel engine EGR parts named as the cause of the fires in South Korea, the newspaper said.

A BMW 730Ld model caught on fire on the Namhae Expressway near Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Aug. 9. (provided by South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency)

Two more fires after announcement add to the blaze

Yet almost as soon as the announcement was made, two more vehicle fires involving BMW models occurred on the morning of Aug. 9. Although both vehicles were models that were subject to recall, they fell outside the dates of production specified by BMW, arousing further suspicions regarding the trustworthiness of the company’s recall measure.

At around 8:30 am on Aug. 9, a BMW 320d model caught on fire while the operator was driving alone the Second Gyeongin Expressway near Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. The fire was extinguished within 15 minutes by firefighters dispatched to the scene. A BMW 730Ld model had burst into flames shortly before that, at around 7:50 am, while the operator was driving on the Namhae Expressway near Sacheon, Gyeongsang Province. The driver, seeing smoke come out of the wood, pulled into the nearest rest station and took cover.

The 730Ld model was produced in 2011, which doesn’t fall within the range of production dates specified by BMW. In its recall measure announced on July 26, BMW set a time window for 730Ld models from July 2, 2017, to Jan. 28, 2015. Therefore, although the car was a model subject to recall, it fell outside the range of production dates specified by BMW, thereby calling into question the reliability of BMW’s recall measure.

With these two additional fires, the number of BMW fires in just August alone amounts to eight incidents, with a total of 36 this year.

Excluding the car that combusted near Uiwang, of the 35 cars that have burst into flame this year, nine of them were not included on the recall list. This includes five gasoline cars: the 528i and 428i, the Mini 5-door Hatch, and the 740i and 745i.

Car owners file lawsuit

On the same day, over 20 BMW owners contacted Namdaemun Police Station to file a suit against BMW for covering up car defects. The targets are six BMW executives, including Johann Ebenbichler, BMW’s vice president on quality management, and BMW Korea chairman Kim Hyo-joon.

The car owners declared that they couldn’t believe that BMW had known about the defects since as early as 2016, but couldn’t reach a definitive conclusion after nearly two and a half years of tests.

Ha Jong-seo, an attorney with the firm charged with heading the suit against BMW, Barun Law, says that because the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) doesn’t have the authority to compel an investigation of BMW, it’s necessary for investigative authorities to secure internal documents and messages that were conveyed between BMW headquarters and BMW Korea and compel an investigation.

By Jung Eun-ju and Hong Dae-seon, staff reporters

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