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| BMW Korea Chairman Kim Hyo-joon reads an apology during a press conference at the Westin Chosun hotel in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Nam Hyun-woo
BMW Korea Chairman Kim Hyo-joon apologized Monday for the escalating scandal in which more than 30 BMW diesel cars, including its best-selling 520d sedan, have caught fire over the past few months.
In a hurriedly-arranged press conference in Seoul, Kim issued an apology, vowing to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of BMW vehicles and ease growing anxiety among drivers.
"We would like to extend our deep apology to our Korean customers and the government for causing concerns with the fire cases," Kim told reporters. "Headquarters is also taking this issue seriously, and management has been briefed on the updated situation."
The risk of BMW diesel vehicles catching fire came to light in recent months as fires continued in its 520d sedans. The company announced a voluntary recall July 26 which will affect 106,317 cars of 42 models from Aug. 20.
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| BMW Group Vice President for Quality Johann Ebenbichler speaks during a press conference at the Westin Chosun hotel in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
During the press conference, BMW Group Vice President for Quality Johann Ebenbichler said coolant leakage in the cooler in the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) module in the engine was the root cause of the fires.
According to Ebenbichler, oily ingredients in the coolant create sediment in the EGR pipe, which causes a spark to start a fire.
"As we found a leaky cooler was the root cause of the fires, we will begin replacing the EGR cooler and cleaning the EGR pipe during the recall," Kim said, adding more than 6,000 BMW Korea employees and dealers will do their utmost to dispel customer concerns.
Despite Kim and BMW Group's apology, the German automaker stressed that the problem was "not Korea specific," with Ebenbichler saying EGR systems in all BMW diesel vehicles were "the same."
Ebenbichler said "the overall failure rate related with EGR issue is 0.1 percent of the total diesel volume in a year in Korea and similar rates were observed in other jurisdictions." However, the company did not explain why EGR-related fires were concentrated in recent months.
To the question that why the company took time before announcing the recall, Ebenbichler said: "The company became aware of the EGR problems in 2016 but only identified the root cause in June this year."
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