[dark.knight]

BMW's sell well in South Korea, much more than in India. But since the start of 2018, exactly 27 diesel engines of BMW went up in flames, attached to their respective cars of course.

The country’s transport ministry estimates 27 engines went up in flames between January and July this year, prompting BMW’s South Korea unit on Tuesday to apologise and announce a recall of 106,000 diesel vehicles, including the 520d, from August 20.

“For the recent series of fire incidents happened in the country, we sincerely apologise for causing worry and anxiety among people and government authorities,” said Kim Hyo-joon, BMW Korea Chairman

The problem is said to be caused by a faulty design in the exhaust recirculation system. The recall has been issued for 1,06,000 vehicles including the 520d which will begin from August 20th. Until then the owners of diesel BMW's in South Korea, and even the gasolene BMW's are facing bans in parking, be it on the streets or even within their apartment complexes.

However, according to the Korea Times, some apartment blocks and commercial buildings have already barred BMW vehicles from their parking compounds, unwilling to risk a potential fire hazard.

Howard Kim, 45, who drives a gasoline engine-powered BMW 528i, told the paper that new parking curbs were making life difficult.

"The parking restrictions apply to all BMW vehicles, not just the 520d sedans," he claimed. "Even though I own a gasoline engine vehicle, relatively less of a risk than diesel cars, it is still uncomfortable. And people around me keep asking me if I'm okay with driving it."

Even running the BMW's on the roads seem to be a no-no for the public at large :

Tom Dahl-Hansen, 72, a Norwegian expat living in Seoul, said he stopped driving his BMW 520d xDrive a week ago and now faced the inconvenience of lengthy public transport journeys.

"I don't want to get me, my wife, or other people in trouble if it starts a fire, particularly if it's in a tunnel where it can really be bad," he said. "Also, I heard taxi drivers don't want to drive next to BMW cars."

Europe has picked up this little disaster and now a recall has been issued for 3,24,000 diesel BMW's for the same reason, obviously its a design flaw straight out the chief factory.

While BMW said that it knew about these issues since 2016, the automaker had only identified the root cause in June of this year. As for which diesel-powered models are involved, a previous report calls out the 520d, although we suspect several other nameplates to be part of this recall.

https://www.carscoops.com/2018/08/bm...ial-fire-risk/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ne-fire-fears/

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Does this affect India too?

BMW has been silent, inspite of finding the issue in 2016 itself! The below cases look suspicious -

https://www.firstpost.com/india/mumb...y-4207377.html

"There's a fire under your car," the security guard told him.

CCTV footage revealed flames emanating from the front half of the vehicle as Tripathy began pulling out of the parking lot.

https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today...883-2018-06-08

Seconds after she got down, a short circuit occurred and the rear portion of the car caught fire. Within 15 minutes, the car was gutted into fire.

When the fire broke out, the driver was inside but he managed to come out of the burning car. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Meanwhile, the car company has been informed.

[Akshay1234]

I think BMW has been silently recalling vehicles in India too. My 320d was recalled for a 'software update', something to do with the EGR valve getting stuck. If I had known it was probably for something like this, I wouldn't have dilly dallied and sent it sooner. I think this is only for newer B47 diesel engines possibly.

[the_skyliner]

This is scary! A technician from BMW did some "tests" related to EGR on my car a couple of weeks ago.

Now the reason is clear to me. This definitely is unsettling. There was no action taken after the test as the test results were normal. But can it be trusted?

[GTO]

This is scary and their slow response is lame .

What about Indian customers? Should we suffer just because we don't have a strong legal system? Damn you BMW.

I'm checking with them right away if my car needs to be sent in. Just to add, I keep this device in my car - suggest you do too (irrespective of what you drive) - link.

[bhpfaninblr]

Shocking. Unexpected from a premium manufacturer like BMW. The main reason for the premium is the German engineering and safety. Sad to see this state of affairs

[aaggoswami]

While searching more on this, I came across an article which states the reason for such fire. Source.

The problem, which caused in the Asian country over 27 vehicles to ignite this year alone according to Insurance Journal, has spread to Europe.

Officially called a technical campaign, the recall will have over 300,000 models from several ranges (3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, X3, X4, X5, X6) being sent to workshops for inspection and, if needed, fixing.

The problem was first discovered by BMW back in 2016, but it was only this June that the carmaker was able to identify the exact cause. It relates to the exhaust gas recirculation module and a malfunction which, in certain conditions, may cause engine fires.

According to BMW, small quantities of the glycol coolant can escape and build up in the EGR module. The coolant can get mixed with carbon and oil sediments, thus becoming combustible. Considering the high temperatures in the module, these deposits can ignite, melting the intake manifold and resulting in an open flame fire.

All the models affected by the problem are equipped with diesel engines and they are those fitted with four-cylinder engines assembled from April 2015 until September 2016 and those with 6-cylinder diesel engines produced from July 2012 until June 2015.

[np23]

Unfair to keep on producing the faulty models without being sure of the source of the fault,hoping we’ve not had any loss of life.
Webasto authorised Sunroofs for the Captiva were also recalled outside of India, however none for mine and it came off on Nh1 while I was cruising thankfully , there was no one behind me and the only loss was the glass and the ruined holiday with the wind knocking above above the curtain. They quoted me a lakh for a new mechanism before I researched online to find a known problem to confront them resulting in a free of cost replacement after 7 years of the vehicle.
On a lighter note hope this isn’t reason enough for Team BHP not be given a review car in the future.

[GTO]

Thanks to Chethan Vishal for sending this news in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

Korea bans some BMWs.

Here is a link from BBC mentioning Korea banning BMW 520d cars.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45191874

Regards

[the_skyliner]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks to Chethan Vishal for sending this news in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

Korea bans some BMWs.

This is getting uglier. Hope BMW comes out with detail explanation for the delay in recall. The UK incident of complete electrical failure in a moving car is equally horrible and there too BMW was late in acting.

[AlphaKilo]

The affected cars seem to be following:

2012 - 2014 - 6 cylinder engines (N series engines)
2014 - now - 4 & 6 cylinder engines (B series engines).

I have a 2014/F30 318d and I checked with the BMW customer care and was informed that my car is not affected and only the above mentioned are affected by the recall. Also, I was informed that BMW technical team and its customer support are working 24/7 to speed up the process and will be contacting the customers at the earliest.

[blackwasp]

According to a media report, South Korea's transport ministry has fined BMW US$ 10 million for belatedly recalling 22,670 cars and plans to ask prosecutors to investigate the carmaker.

In August 2018, BMW recalled diesel cars in South Korea due to defects in the exhaust gas recirculation system. The German company is now facing a criminal probe after investigators concluded that the fire hazard was concealed and the recalls delayed.

It was revealed that BMW knew about this issue back in 2016, but the actual reason for the cars catching fire was identified only in July 2018. The recall was issued after 27 BMW cars caught fire between January and July 2018. A total of 106,000 cars were recalled in South Korea and a public apology was issued as well. Additionally, 324,000 cars were recalled in Europe as well.



Source: Economic Times

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