20151110 Korea BMW vehicles catch fire on road
Korea Nov 10 2015 “Automobile & Railway”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
BMW vehicles catch fire on road
Updated: 2015-11-10 17:44
By Lee Hyo-sik
Four BMW vehicles caught fire here over the past week while being driven, raising concerns among owners of cars made in Germany. The incidents will likely further raise concerns about the safety and reliability of German automobiles, following Volkswagen’s recent emissions cheating scandal.
BMW Korea said Tuesday that the four vehicles caught fire while on the road. The cause is yet to be known, according to the carmaker.
On Nov. 3, a BMW 520d sedan became engulfed in flames in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene to extinguish the burning vehicle. Two days later, another 520d sedan was destroyed by fire on the road near the World Cup Stadium in western Seoul.
On Nov. 7, a BMW 5 Series sedan also caught fire in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, and a day later, a BMW 7 Series car was destroyed by fire on the Seoul Ring Expressway near Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
BMW Korea said it is doing everything it can to find the cause of the fires, adding that all the vehicles were manufactured in the early 2000s.
“We first would like to apologize for causing grave concerns to our customers,” said BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon in a statement. “We are currently examining a 5 Series vehicle, which caught fire on Nov. 3, in cooperation with the National Forensic Service. We are also closely working with the company headquarters in Germany to find out the cause as quickly as possible.”
The company will make public its findings and offer compensation to those who have had their cars repaired at its official auto body shops, Kim said.
“Other than the Nov. 3 vehicle, the other three cars had a history of maintenance at non-BMW shops,” the CEO said. “We do not know what was done to these vehicles. Nonetheless, we will also examine them in order to discover the cause of the problem and ease customer concerns.”
Web Source: Korea Times
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