A North Carolina driver has ignited a fiery legal battle against luxury automaker BMW, claiming his 2013 BMW 328i burst into flames due to a defect the company allegedly failed to warn customers about—despite a massive recall of over 721,000 vehicles.
A Close Call in the Driver’s Seat
It started like any ordinary day, but for Archy Beauge, his routine drive turned into a near-catastrophic escape. According to a lawsuit filed Monday in the Western District of North Carolina, Beauge’s BMW caught fire at an intersection, forcing him to flee the burning car while emergency crews rushed in to extinguish the blaze.
The culprit? A faulty water pump with a dangerously flawed electrical connector that could short-circuit and ignite—a defect that, Beauge alleges, BMW knew about but failed to communicate to customers like him.
721,000 Vehicles, 14 Models, One Dangerous Flaw
At the heart of the BMW Class Action Water Pump lawsuit is the automaker’s 2024 recall of approximately 721,000 vehicles spanning 14 models manufactured between 2012 and 2018. The recall stems from a defect where water can seep into the plug connector of the water pump, triggering an electrical short that could potentially lead to a fire.
Beauge says his vehicle was among those affected, but despite regular service visits to Hendrick BMW of South Charlotte, he was never alerted to any recall or defect involving the water pump’s connector.
“Through plaintiff’s consistent visits… he has never been told of any recalls or defects related to the improperly sealed electrical connector on the water pump,” the complaint asserts.
