BMW death traps

More than 250,000 cars in Britain at risk of bursting into flames ... but firm has told only HALF of owners about potentially fatal fault

More than 130,000 BMW owners have not been warned they are driving cars at risk of bursting into flames.

BMW pledged to contact drivers about the potentially lethal fault last october but has so far issued warnings to fewer than half of owners affected.

The fault affects more than 250,000 cars in the UK – 1.6million worldwide – and can cause flammable coolant to leak on to the burning hot exhaust system near the engine, potentially triggering a fire.

The German car giant has been accused of failing to act quickly enough on the threat and is facing criminal investigation in South Korea over delays.

Last night Graham Stringer, a Labour MP on the Commons transport committee, said: ‘The facts are very disturbing. BMW has not got a very good record on safety recalls. I will write to the Secretary of State for Transport to ask what action will be taken. I also hope the transport committee will look at this as life and limb is at risk.’

BMW is already facing claims it was slow to recall almost 300,000 cars last

year due to a separate fault within the air conditioning system which could also cause them to catch fire. The new safety row centres on the ‘exhaust gas recirculation’ cooler, which is designed to reduce emissions, and affects 12 BMW models.

BMW released details of the safety recall last october and said it would write to 268,000 UK customers urging them to get their vehicle checked. But the car giant admitted that only 130,000 letters least 138,000 have been owners posted, have meaning not been The personally firm could not informed. say how many owners had taken their car into a BMW garage and said it had acted as quickly as possible.

In justification, it pointed to the numbers involved and the time taken to trace the owners via addresses Vehicle The firm Licencing also from had the Agency. to Driver agree with and the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency how the affected cars can be fixed. This has left many drivers in the dark. The recall includes the 1 Series, 2 Series, 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series and 7 Series, as well as its X1, X3, X4, X5 and X6 SUVS – or sports utility vehicles.

BMW has stressed it is ‘extremely rare’ for this fault to cause a fire, but could not give figures on how many times it has happened. The company has admitted the first car fire linked to this fault occurred in 2015, but insisted the cause was still unclear. It said it became aware of the connection between the faulty eGr cooler and the fires on July 20 last year, after a ‘pattern’ was established.

But the company faces criminal investigation in South Korea and a £7million fine after dozens of car fires there. It could now face a parliamentary inquiry in the UK.

A BMW spokesman said: ‘The BMW Group is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation (in South Korea). A pattern only became visible over time. Based on this, we swiftly determined a fix to eliminate the root cause.’

Neil Barlow, of the DVSA, said: ‘We continue to push BMW to make contact with owners so their cars can be assessed.’

‘Many drivers have been left in the dark’