BMW recalls 500,000 cars

Faulty battery connection could cause loss of electrical power

Mike King

Mike King is a Fool.com.au Investment Analyst and Writer. He caught the investing bug more than a decade ago, at a time when the U.S. had invaded Iraq and fear reigned in the markets. His initial success as the markets took off encouraged his passion and thirst for knowledge. With 13 years behind him at one of Australia's largest domestic banks, Mike's passion for stocks led him to join a boutique funds management firm, where he stayed for four years. A seven-year stint in equity research at one of the largest investment banks in the world followed that, giving Mike a thirst to pursue his passion further. Mike holds a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning. His passion is to help retail investors invest better, and that passion was one of his primary reasons for joining The Motley Fool Australia in late 2011. Mike has written thousands of articles since joining, including for Fairfax Media, Yahoo!7, Ninemsn and has also appeared on ABC's The Business. You can see all of Mikes' holdings here

Published February 19, 2013 1:39 pm AEDT

German car manufacturer, BMW has announced a recall of more than half a million cars worldwide over an electric fault, its second recall in just three days.

BMW Australia has said that the fault could affect around 17,500 cars in Australia, across several models, including the BMW 1 Series, BMW 3 Series and Z4 models.

Owners will be contacted by BMW by mail and asked to take their cars back to the dealership to fix a faulty battery connection, which could degrade over time and cause a loss of electrical power to the vehicle.

"Vibrations in the car can cause poor connection and electrical issues as a result," BMW spokesman Scott Croaker says. "In the main, those problems would be flickering lights or the vehicle failing to restart after it's stopped. But in absolute extreme cases, it could lead to the car stalling while driving."

Just two days ago, BMW issued a recall for more than 60,000 BMW X5 SUVs globally, to fix a dangerous brake problem. The issue affects V8 engined X5s and could result in the loss of power assist braking, increasing stopping distance, which could lead to a crash. The recall affects around 1600 Australian-delivered X5s built between 2007 and 2010.

That is not the first time BMW has had issues with its braking system. In 2010, the company was forced to recall around 200,000 vehicles with V8 and V10 engines because of a strikingly similar issue affecting the SUVs mentioned above.

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