German luxury carmaker BMW on August 8, 2018 confirmed it would recall 323,700 cars across Europe due to a faulty component that could cause engines to catch fire. / AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — German luxury carmaker BMW on Wednesday confirmed it would recall 323,700 cars across Europe due to a faulty component that could cause engines to catch fire.
Just under a third — 96,300 — of the affected vehicles are in Germany, while 75,000 are in Britain, a BMW spokesman told AFP.
Some 23,500 cars in France and 24,700 in Italy are also hit.
The Europe-wide recall came after the company was forced to take back more than 100,000 cars in South Korea over the problem.
German automaker BMW apologised on August 6 over an alleged delay in recalling more than 100,000 cars in South Korea after a spate of engine fires angered consumers and sparked a government investigation. / AFP PHOTO / Jung Yeon-je
BMW also had to apologize as more than 30 of its vehicles caught fire this year there.
The car giant blamed a faulty component called the exhaust gas recirculation cooler that generated excessive sediment and caused engines to catch fire “in rare cases”.
In Europe, the recall covers a wide range of four cylinder diesel models produced between April 2015 and September 2016, as well as six cylinders manufactured between July 2012 and June 2015.
BMW said it did not yet have an estimate of the cost of the recall, as it would depend on how many cars would require replacements of faulty components following checks.
© Agence France-Presse
