May 12, 2017 — There have been at least 40 reports of BMW vehicles spontaneously catching on fire when they were parked with the engine turned off, according to an investigation by ABC News.
Investigators spoke to Bill Macko, a man from Maryland whose 2008 BMW X5 caught on fire in his garage and burned his house down.
Over the last five years, dozens of similar “BMW mystery fires” have been reported in the United States, Sweden, China, India, and South Korea. The reports span a wide range of model-years and types of BMW vehicles, none of which are under recall for fire hazards.
For example, according to a report in the U.S. on February 2, 2017:
“[2016 BMW 228i] spontaneously combusted in my driveway after being parked for approximately four and a half hours… The vehicle was totally engulfed in flames and destroyed in approximately 10-15 minutes.”
BMW blamed some of the fires on improper maintenance and even rodents, but the mystery remains unsolved. “In cases that we have inspected and are able to determine root cause, we have not seen any pattern related to quality or component failure,” according to BMW.
The mystery of how a car catches on fire when it is not running may have something to do with the electrical systems. This is why modern cars are never really “off.” For example, BMW pioneered the use of self-aware lithium-ion batteries that turn on and charge themselves.
Do I have a BMW Fire Lawsuit?
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