BMW Korea vows to complete safety inspection of 100,000 vehicles in two weeks

BMW Korea, the local importer and distributer of the German carmaker, vowed to complete the inspection of more than 100,000 vehicles suspected of having faulty parts by operating its service centers nationwide 24 hours a day for the next two weeks.

In an announcement released Monday afternoon, the company said that all vehicles subject to its voluntary recall would go through an hourlong inspection service and that the parts would be replaced. Alternative vehicles will be provided during inspection if needed, the company said.

For vehicles catching fire due to the faulty module even after receiving inspection, the carmaker will exchange the vehicles with new ones, officials added.

Deciding to recall a total of 106,317 units of the 520d sedans and 41 other models, BMW Korea last week admitted that the cause of the fires was a faulty exhaust gas recirculation module, used for lowering emissions. The part was manufactured by a Korean parts maker. 

Since December 2017, a total of 28 BMW vehicles have caught fire on motorways here. Of the total, 19 were the diesel version of the BMW 520, all manufactured before 2017.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)