[Photo] Investigative teams points to EGR valve, not bypass, as cause of BMW fires

A joint civilian-government team formed to investigated the causes behind a series of fires in BMW vehicles announced on Nov. 7 that faulty exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valves as one of the main culprits. Since this is contrary to BMW’s initial explanations of the fires, which blamed the EGR bypass and not the valve, observers are pointing to the possibility of more unseen causes behind the seemingly spontaneous combustions of several BMW models in South Korea. The team of experts from related fields and industries conducted various experiments in which BMW cars combusted under the following conditions: the presence of a leak in EGR cooler, during high speeds when the EGR valve is partially left open and when the system for reducing the diesel particulate-NOx is in operation. The team announced that the EGR bypass was completely unrelated to the fires.