A civic group filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday against Kim Hyo-joon, CEO of BMW Korea, and six executives of Germany’s headquarters, on charges of violating the Automobile Control Law. It is said that BMW left its car parts defective and caused a fire accident.
“BMW has already been aware of an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) vehicle they manufactured and sold since early 2016. We covered it up because we were afraid that telling consumers the truth would affect sales of cars even when the safety standards for card and components were not met,” the civic group complained.
Based on BMW’s modification of design to replace EGR valves from late 2015 to early 2016, it is speculating that it knew about defects.
“We have filed a complaint to ask for harsh punishment for the attitude of downplaying the life and safety of motorists. The EGR is not assumed to be the cause of the fire; it is the cause already (including the complaint).
If the cause is found during the investigation process by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the cause relationship will be corrected or supplemented,” said Park So-yang, the head of the consumer surveillance team.
The civic group explained that BMW made around 585 million dollars in revenue because it did not disclose the defects of the 520d model, which was the model with the most frequent fire accidents. The 520d model sold 9688 units only in Korea last year.
“We will ask the mayor, the head of the municipality, to issue a stop order along with the inspection order in accordance with Article 37 of the Automobile Control Act for vehicles subject to the BMW recall without emergency safety diagnosis,” said Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
