BMW Recall for 1988-94 3-, 5- and 7-series

["Degrado, Bob" <RDegrado@xxxxxxxx>]

BMW RECALLING 1,440,000 CARS

BMW is facing one of the biggest recall problems in motor industry. It has
built some 2,860,000 cars which
may have defective radiator caps and is recalling about 1,440,000 of them
around the world to avoid potential
cooling problems. News of the recall caused BMW shares to drop sharply in
Germany, at one stage being
down by 10% before recovering somewhat.

Affected models are 3-,5- and 7-Series units built between 1988 and November
1994. BMW has acknowledged
that a total of about 2,860,000 units built during that period could be
affected by the problem, with some
2,400,000 of them still in use on the world's roads.

The recall will cost BMW over $13 million and is targeted at about 60% of
the company's cars currently in use.
Their radiator caps will be replaced at no charge to owners. Most of the
rest of the cars which could have faulty
radiator caps are older and have probably changed hands so that their latest
owners cannot be contacted
directly. In any case, many of them will have been fitted with replacement
caps by this time from a variety of
aftermarket sources and may not have a problem.

The recall follows a BMW 7-Series owner being burned by steam escaping from
the engine cooling system
into the interior of the car. BMW compensated the customer and there has not
been a court case. 

Agency reports quote BMW spokesman Thomas Zauber saying that potential
cooling system problems from
excessive pressure build-up will be removed by the new radiator cap.

In the US, BMW is having to recall 340,000 cars from model years 1988 to
1995 to fix the faulty coolant
system. 


Robert J. DeGrado
EPRI
Web Services & Collaborative Tools
rdegrado@domain.elided

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