A recent recall has owners concerned that their beloved bimmer could go up in smoke. However, there’s a common denominator in the BMW recall: a potential for an electrical fire with four-cylinder engines from a specific timeframe. 

A recent BMW recall names many of the brand’s four-cylinder vehicles from 2012 to 2018 as fire risks

You’ve likely heard the jokes from your more light-hearted car enthusiast friends. Their prized BMW spends more time in the shop than on the road. Those are, of course, jokes and jests lending some levity to ownership. However, every car runs into its issues, and the latest for BMW owners is a recall citing a fire risk. 

Specifically, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) lists “insufficient sealing of the water pump electrical plug connector” as the potential cause of a fire. Excess blow-by liquid can drip onto the plug connector, leading to a potentially dangerous short or thermal event. 

As silly as it sounds, one solution is, well, more cylinders. For instance, the F30 3 Series 328i and the E89 Z4 sDrive28i have variations of the four-cylinder N20 engine. That mill may have the potential water pump electrical plug connector issue. However, both cars offer sonorous inline-six-cylinder engines, neither of which are on the recall. 

According to a recent NHTSA recall, multiple BMW X1, Z4, 5 Series, 4 Series, 3 Series, 2 Series, X5, X4, and X3 vehicles between 2012 and 2018 have an open recall. Specifically, the safety agency names 720,796 vehicles as “potentially involved” in the recall. Fortunately, the NHTSA says that the “estimated percentage with defect” is just 1%. However, with a potentially dangerous fire risk, every owner should get their recall fulfilled.

Check out a table with the vehicles in the recall below. 

If you think your vehicle may be included in the recall, use the NHTSA’s recall lookup tool.