BMW owners filed a damages suit, saying they suffered property and mental harm from a "chain of fires" in 2018, but lost in the first trial. The court said BMW had conducted a recall and the post-recall vehicle fire rate was not higher than that of other manufacturers.
The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 30, presided over by Presiding Judge Kim Seok-beom, on the 13th ruled against the plaintiffs in a damages suit that BMW owners filed against BMW Korea, the importer of BMW vehicles. The court delivered verdicts the same day in two cases with 55 and 65 plaintiffs.
Earlier in Korea, around 2018, a series of fires broke out in BMW vehicles. A public-private joint investigation team under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport concluded the cause was cracks in the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) cooler and coolant leaks. BMW Korea conducted three recalls (corrective actions) in July and Nov. 2018 and Jan. 2019. It also carried out voluntary recalls afterward.
The plaintiffs argued that the EGR system in BMW vehicles had a structural design defect that the recalls did not fix, and that BMW Korea, the importer, imported and sold the vehicles despite knowing of the defect and committed illegal acts by concealing and downplaying it. They sought damages for property losses such as declines in used-car prices and for mental harm from a drop in brand value. The claimed amounts were 1.29 billion won and 310 million won in the two suits, respectively.
The court dismissed all the plaintiffs' claims, saying there was insufficient evidence to recognize property damage and a lack of evidence that they suffered irreparable mental anguish despite the recalls.
The court found that the EGR system defect identified as a cause of the vehicle fires had been corrected through the recalls and that, after the recalls, the fire rate for BMW vehicles was not higher than that of other manufacturers. It also said, "Causes of fire accidents vary, including user negligence and inherent vehicle defects," and did not accept the argument that BMW Korea committed an unlawful act.
The court added, "Even if there were a design defect in the vehicles the plaintiffs purchased, it is hard to conclude that BMW Korea, which is merely an importer and not a manufacturer, recognized the design defect at the time of import and sale."
It continued, "BMW Korea carried out recalls after receiving from the German headquarters the confirmed cause of the fires and the scope of vehicles with potential defects," adding, "There is insufficient evidence to find that it intentionally failed to analyze the cause of the fires or concealed the defect after discovering the cause."
The owners also argued that BMW Korea failed to perform its obligations under the quality warranty issued for the vehicles. The court said, "Warranty liability is an obligation to repair defective parts free of charge and does not include monetary damages."