Seoul, A BMW caught fire on Monday in South Korea, the latest in a series of similar cases affecting the German carmaker which have led to a recall amid rising security concerns.
The fire originated in the rear portion of the BMW M3 model on a highway south of Seoul at rush hour, although all the occupants of the vehicle were safe, police and fire officials told Yonhap news agency.
“I heard a bang in the rear of the car while I was driving it and then smoke began to rise,” the owner of the vehicle told the police, adding that he stopped the car immediately and came out of the vehicle along with another person travelling with him.
This was the 39th case of a blaze in BMW vehicles in 2018 and affected a model which was not included in the voluntary recall announced last week, according to Yonhap.
Investigations by the police and firemen were underway to determine the cause of the latest blaze.
The Bavaria-based multinational said that the defect causing the engine to catch fire was in the gas recirculation system installed only in diesel models.
On August 9, the company apologized at a press conference in Seoul and announced the recall of 106,000 diesel vehicles to correct the defects from August 20 onwards.
The company will also start a “technical campaign” in Europe to check if the problem also affects models sold in that market.