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South Korea Bans Use of Recalled BMWs Until They're Fixed

At the beginning of the month, BMW announced it will be recalling a significant number of its vehicles sold in South Korea and Europe due to the possibility of the cars catching fire.
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As with any other such recall announcement, drivers of affected cars are informed they need to have their cars inspected and, if need be, fixed. In South Korea, it seems, the fear of being burned alive is not incentive enough for BMW customers.

In response, local authorities are threatening anyone caught driving a recalled BMW without having it inspected with legal action, including up to one year in prison should the car catch fire during this time.

The decision was made to persuade owners to take a trip to the nearest dealer, as of the 100,000 vehicles recalled, some 27,000 still haven’t shown up for a check and fix, CNN reports.

The measure announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport has forced BMW to look for alternative solutions to please its customers and come up with 14,000 courtesy cars for use by those who are having their cars repaired.

The problem that caused this public relations nightmare from BMW originates from the exhaust gas recirculation module (EGR).

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. Due to the high temperatures in the module, these deposits can ignite, melting the intake manifold and resulting in an open flame fire.

So far, in South Korea alone, around 40 BMWs have burned to a crisp due to the problem.

On August 8, BMW announced the recall will affect European customers as well, as 300,000 models from several ranges (3 Series4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, X3, X4, X5, X6) may experience the same problem.

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.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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