BMW is forced to launch second huge recall of cars over fire risk

BMW has been forced to issue another massive recall of cars in the UK, over fears they could catch fire. The problem relates to wiring linking the battery and the fan, and is thought to affect almost 300,000 vehicles in Britain.

It is the second major recall BMW has had to issue in a fortnight. On May 10, it said 312,000 cars in Britain would have to be taken in for safety repairs over a problem with another cable.

The earlier recall – which affected the 1 Series, 3 Series, Z4 and X1 petrol and diesel models made between March 2007 and August 2011 – was related to a malfunction that led to the engine cutting out, causing a loss of electrical power.

The problem is thought to have been involved in a fatal crash two years ago on Christmas Day when a car swerved to avoid a BMW which had stopped in the middle of a dark road in Hampshire.

The latest fault – which could be present in BMW 3 Series cars built between December 2004 and July 2011 – is due to a fire risk with the wiring.

Over the past two years the German carmaker has recalled about 1.5m cars in hot climates, as the extra electrical load caused by cooling systems working harder made the problems more likely to occur.

BMW’S move came as Germany separately demanded a Europe-wide recall of 60,000 Porsches yesterday after discovering that the diesel Cayenne and Macan models, made by the Volkwagen-owned marque in 2015 and 2016, were emitting excess pollutants.