BBC News reported on 9th May 2017 that BMW are extending a UK recall of its cars after the BBC’s Watchdog raised safety concerns as they found that BMW vehicles could cut out completely while they are being driven. BMW are reported to be recalling 312,000 vehicles namely, the BMW 1 Series, the 3 Series, the Z4 and its X1 petrol and diesel models made between March 2007 and August 2011.

The BBC report that “BMW initially recalled cars in the UK after Narayan Gurung, who was travelling with his wife on Christmas Day in 2016, died when their Ford Fiesta crashed into a tree to avoid a broken-down BMW in Guildford, Surrey. The BMW had suffered an electrical fault, causing its brake lights to fail and resulting in the vehicle stalling on a dark A-road. It recently emerged that BMW had failed to tell the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency about the electrical fault in some of its cars that led to the death of Mr Gurung…an inquest revealed that the carmaker had received complaints of an electrical issue that caused a total power failure as early as 2011.”

HHD anticipate that consumers of the BMW vehicles affected by the safety recall may consider seeking legal advice and pursuing product liability claims for injuries and loss sustained as a direct result of the defective BMW models.

Product liability claims arise when consumers of products sustain an injury or loss as a result of a defect in a product.

A claim is generally brought against the manufacturer or the supplier of the defective product for compensation pursuant to the Consumer Protection Act 1987. Under section 3 of the 1987 Act, strict liability will be imposed on the manufacturer if the court is satisfied that the safety of the product was “not such as persons generally were entitled to expect”.

For a product liability claim to be successful, it is necessary to prove, on the balance of probabilities, the following four elements:

1. The product was defective in manufacture or design.
2. You were using the product as it was intended.
3. You were injured or suffered loss.
4. The defect caused the product to fail and directly caused you to suffer injury and loss.

If you are affected by the BMW vehicle safety recall, believe you may have grounds for a product liability claim or have queries regarding a product liability claim, please contact our experienced litigation team at HHD who will be happy to assist.

LAUREN JONES