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August 15, 2018

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SK to ban driving recalled BMWs

Source: AFP | 00:01 UTC+8 August 15, 2018 | Print Edition

South Korea will ban driving recalled BMWs that haven鈥檛 received safety checks following dozens of fires the German automaker has blamed on a faulty exhaust gas component.

South Korea鈥檚 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said yesterday the ban taking effect today affects about 20,000 vehicles.

Drivers cannot use the cars except for taking them to safety checks. While violating the ban is punishable by up to one year in prison, the ministry said the focus will be on persuading drivers to take their vehicles for safety checks as soon as possible. However, the government will 鈥渁ggressively鈥 pursue charges against drivers if their vehicles catch fire after they had defied the ban, ministry official Kim Gyeong-wook said.

Junghyun Kim, an official from BMW鈥檚 South Korean unit, said the company has currently secured more than 14,000 cars it will lend to affected drivers for free until their BMWs are cleared to drive again.

鈥淲e will do our best with the safety checks to reduce the number of drivers affected by the ban,鈥 she said.

Nearly 40 fires of BMW vehicles this year are suspected to have been caused by engine problems. Images and videos of BMW sedans engulfed in smoke and gutted by fires caused alarm among drivers. Some parking lots reportedly refused to let in BMW drivers and other drivers said they were trying to avoid BMWs on the road. A group of angry BMW owners filed a complaint with Seoul police earlier this month, saying that the German automaker was reacting too slowly to address the problem.

BMW last month recalled about 106,000 vehicles of 42 different models. The company has identified the cause of the engine fires as leaks of glycol coolant in their exhaust gas recirculation coolers. Combined with carbon and oil sediment the leaks could combust and cause fires when the vehicles were driven at high speeds for long periods of time. Such fires can occur only when the vehicles are being driven.

BMW AG鈥檚 Korean unit earlier apologized over the fires.

The company is still investigating why South Korea saw so many such incidents this summer. BMW is recalling about 323,000 vehicles across Europe over concerns about the same exhaust component, but the company isn鈥檛 yet sure whether EGR coolers have caused fires outside of South Korea, said Junghyun Kim, the South Korean BMW official.

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