BMW boss Harald Krüger
A lawsuit is to be filed against the group leader in Korea.
Munich, TokyoThe pressure on BMW growing in South Korea: On Friday, a law firm in Seoul wants to file a collective complaint against the carmaker. Lawyer Jason Ha said he also filed a lawsuit against the company’s CEO Harald Kruger personally ask. The plaintiffs claim damages for the faulty diesel models, which has already led to 27 fires in Korean. people have not been harmed by these incidents so far.
The plaintiffs accuse Krüger and BMW’s spokesman Jochen Frey of having helped cover up the defect, attorney Jason Ha told Handelsblatt. His law firm Barun Law represents the various groups of plaintiffs. In the case of a conviction threatened by the Automotive Management Act up to ten years imprisonment and fines of up to 80,000 euros.
On Friday, Ha also filed a collective complaint for 120 customers, with another 500 customers following suit. Because many customers had to leave their BMWs and take rental cars. In addition, they fear a loss of value of used 5s. For customers whose cars have not burned, he complains first to 4000 euros, for burnt victims to 16,000 euros. “In the course of the procedure, however, we will increase the sum,” he threatens BMW,
BMW emphasizes, however, to cooperate with the authorities and weighs down: “That such complaints are directed, inter alia, against members of the Board is not unusual,” said a spokesman. Ultimately, it is not about these as persons, but about the thing.
Current club events
Wednesday, 22.08.18, 19:00 Saarbrücken: Politics meets the future
Wednesday, 22.08.18, 19:00 Dusseldorf: Dusseldorfer Terrassengespräch
Wednesday, 22.08.18, 09:00 Cologne: Gamescom Congress
Thursday, 23.08.18, 18:30 Düsseldorf: “What entrepreneurs can learn from football professionals and vice versa”
Wednesday, 22.08.18, 20:00 Wiesbaden: Rheingau Music Festival: Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas
Saturday, 18.08.18, 19:00 Wiesbaden: Rheingau Music Festival: “West Side Story”
The company had to call back on the instructions of the Korean authorities last 106,000 diesel models in Korea. The reason is a faulty valve in the exhaust gas recirculation, which can cause a fire of the leaking coolant.
BMW wants to provide the affected customers with replacement vehicles. But the problem is not limited to Korea: In Europe, too, about 324,000 diesel are to be recalled and converted. Again, it was “in some cases” come to fires. Why in Korea apparently more cars are affected than in Europe, the Group can not explain.
Recall: BMW 5 Series goes up in flames – South Korea wants to ban thousands of cars from the streets
On demand, a spokesman said in the morning that have already been checked 100,000 cars, in about one in ten cars was found to be a deficiency. An exchange of faulty components but made on all cars. For the not yet controlled cars, the authorities have initially imposed a driving ban.
A basis for Has lawsuit is that BMW claims to have known from 2016 problems with the exhaust gas recirculation module, but until July 2018 have not initiated a recall. BMW claims, according to Ha, that only then would have found the cause of the problem. However, the lawyer does not want to believe that the German carmaker has spent two and a half years looking for troubleshooting.
As an indication of his suspicion, he mentions that BMW have given the model series a new exhaust gas recirculation with higher capacity in the model change. Ha has already filed three civil lawsuits since the end of July. In them, he represents both BMW customers whose cars have burned down, as well as drivers whose BMW were spared, but are unsettled by the fires.
Callback action: Fire hazard at BMW – South Korea announces driving bans
Ha had therefore filed a first complaint on 9 August – against BMW Korea, the BMW Group, the head of Kim Hyo-joon, another Korean top manager and four Headquarters executives who wanted to smooth out the waves at a press conference in early August ,
On Thursday, the plaintiffs sent a list of demands to the Korean Ministry of Transport. They call for an independent investigation of vehicle fires by the end of the year. The affected 520d model must undergo a stress test. Second, the air conditioner will be tested on 120d models, as a model caught fire in Korea. In the USA and Great Britain already had recalls about the problem.
In addition, the plaintiff groups demand that the government send a burned-out car to the American NTSB to have it investigated for the cause of the fire. Because both BMW and the Korean authorities had stated that they could not do that.
“I am notorious among the importers”
Attorney Jason Ha is well known in the auto industry. From 1986 he was the legal advisor for ten years Hyundai Motors in the US and is therefore familiar with American class actions from the manufacturer.
He also has experience in the suing of German manufacturers. VW and Audi he already challenged in the diesel scandal, Mercedes in another case. “Among the German importers I am a notorious guy,” says the Korean lawyer of himself.
The problems with burning vehicles have brought BMW much criticism in the South Korean media in recent days, the fires were the subject in the main news. The anger in Korea comes for CEO Harald Krüger at an inopportune time: South Korea is strategically important for the Munich and was recently upgraded internally.
Responsible for the region since the beginning of the year by Hildegard Wortmann based in Singapore, before Wortmann had headed the global marketing. BMW does not produce locally, the cars are imported exclusively. Unlike American customers, for example, the Koreans still prefer sedans, mostly imported from German factories.
In addition, the heavily criticized diesel in Europe is still high in price, sales in South Korea compensate in part for the declines in Europe. By the end of July, sales in the country were up more than eleven percent, making South Korea one of the few major growth markets for BMW, along with China.