BMW recalls thousands of cars in South Korea for faulty parts

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 18, 2016, 13:26 Updated : May 18, 2016, 13:26

[Courtesy of BMW]


German car giant BMW will recall about 3,500 cars sold in South Korea after safety regulators discovered defective parts including a fuel pump and an airbag control unit, officials said Wednesday.

BMW Korea will voluntarily recall 1,751 vehicles, including 320d and 12 other models, sold in 2014 after admitting that there could be possible "flaws" in their fuel pump, the transportation ministry said in a statement.

The move came in the middle of a safety check into faulty parts of imported cars, the ministry said, adding a crack in the plating of BMW's fuel pump could lead to a malfunction and a sudden stop of the engine. The company will provide free repair services from Thursday.

Regardless of the recall, the ministry vowed to go ahead with a probe into BMW sedans which have caught fire on the road, the ministry said. "We will continue an investigation to see if there is any correlation between faulty parts and fire."

BMW will also recall 1,760 units of its 7 series luxury sedans sold between July 29, 2015, and January 13 this year to fix a defect in their airbag control unit that could threaten the safety of drivers and passengers, the ministry said.

BMW was the most popular foreign brand last year, but after 11 BMW cars caught fire on the road, sales have declined. The Germany company claimed to have discovered no defects after an independent investigation for damage control.

The recall came after Japan's Nissan Motor was ordered to recall 814 Qashqai diesel vehicles in South Korea with a fine of 330 million won (280,000 US dollars) for manipulating emissions tests. The compact crossover is equipped with French carmaker Renault's 1.6-liter engine.

Nissan denied it has rigged emissions results, arguing it has never used an illegal defeat device for any vehicles. 

The environment ministry's move followed a probe into 20 models of diesel cars that came after German carmaker Volkswagen was accused of faking emissions results for some of its diesel models.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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