Hyundai, BMW and 5 other carmakers recall nearly 550,000 cars in Korea

Cracks were found inside 241,921 cars made by BMW, in 79 models including the 520d the report said adding that they were found to have cracks inside their exhaust gas coolers.

The South Korean Ministry for Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Friday announced that it would recall 549,931 units of 126 models from automakers including Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, BMW Korea, Mercedes-Benz Korea, FCA Korea and Audi Volkswagen Korea over defects.

According to The Korea Herald report, the ministry has issued recall orders for 294,622 Hyundai Motor vehicles, including Santa Fes, which were found to have foreign substances like oil and moisture inside their braking modules. The defect poses a fire hazard, the ministry said.

Cracks were found inside 241,921 cars made by BMW, in 79 models including the 520d the report said adding that they were found to have cracks inside their exhaust gas coolers.

Around 757 vehicles of Kia’s Grand Carnival VQ were also discovered to be fire-prone due to faulty fuel pipes.

"Another 50 BMWs were found to have poor protection for passengers, as the airbags on the side either unfolded too forcefully, or did not completely unfold," it mentioned.

Mercedes-Benz Korea found defective sunroof glass panels in 11,480 vehicles recalled, with 36 models affected, including the E280, which can pose a risk to the cars behind the vehicle as the glass panel can become detached, the report added.

Additionally, the report further said, 306 Audi Volkswagen A3 40 TFSIs did not pass the ministry standard for tire deflation warnings, according to the ministry. The automaker will be fined.

As per the ministry, for those who own the cars on the recall list, the ministry will alert them via mail and text message.

"The authorities have said that if a vehicle owner has already paid money to fix the defects found by the ministry, he or she can ask the automaker to compensate them for their costs," the Korea Herald said.