Now BMW recalls 88,000 more cars – as air conditioning units may catch fire
BMW has recalled a further 88,000 cars over a glitch which causes them to catch fire – taking the total number of vehicles recalled over safety issues to 400,000 in the past two weeks. The German car giant issued a safety recall of 312,000 vehicles on May 9 over a technical issue which could cause them to suddenly lose power.
And yesterday the firm said 294,000 of its 3 Series cars had a separate fault. This relates to wiring in the ‘blower regulator’ controlling the heating and air conditioning unit – which can overheat and catch alight.
While 206,000 of the 3 Series models which have this heating fault had already been recalled over the problem of losing power, the other 88,000 vehicles affected by the latest technical glitch had not been previously recalled.
The latest issue affects BMW 3 Series models built over a seven year period between December 2004 and July 2011. BMW said it was aware of six cases of cars in the UK catching alight which it has reported to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency ( DVSA). It stressed no one was hurt.
But last night the firm was facing questions over why it has been so slow to take action in Britain as it recalled 672,000 cars in the US last November over the same issue. This means some motorists in the UK could have been driving around in potentially dangerous cars for more than thirteen years.
Labour MP Andy Slaughter, who has campaigned for tougher safety recall rules in the UK after a series of fires caused by faulty tumble dryers said: ‘It looks like BMW have known about these faults for a long time and done nothing.
‘It also looks like they have been very selective about the information they have given to customers. This is a pattern we are seeing across a lot of different products and manufacturers. The reason is there is not sufficient policing of product safety in the UK.’
The DVSA can order car manufacturers to issue safety recalls, but it cannot force them to do so.
Less than two weeks ago BMW issued a safety recall for owners of the BMW 1 Series, 3 Series, the Z4 and X1 petrol and diesel models manufactured between March 2007 and August 2011.
The fault saw the car’s battery lose its connection to the fuse box as the wires rubbed together
An inquest into the death of a former Gurkha soldier who died on Christmas day 2016 after crashing into a stalled BMW car was told the firm had been alerted to the safety flaw in 2011.
Even after the fatal accident BMW only initially recalled 36,410 petrol cars made between December 2009 and August 2011.
It was forced to increase this almost ten- fold following the inquest and an investigation by BBC’s Watchdog.
BMW said it made the announcement yesterday after meeting officials from the DVSA.
It said it decided to take action now because many of the cars affected by the first safety recall were affected by the fire risk problem – and that the two wires are close together. This means that both problems can be fixed at the same time.
A spokesman for BMW said: ‘ We are taking the opportunity of the existing recall to pro-actively check and replace the wiring harness of the blower regulator. In doing so we are taking every precaution in terms of safety while minimising disruption and inconvenience to affected customers. BMW has notified the DVSA this morning of its intention to recall and will begin the recall process immediately.’
BMW said it will write to all affected customers within three weeks but retailers will commence contacting their customers directly next week.