Following BMW's late apologies and recall over its cars catching fire... the Korean government is seeking to implement a punitive damage system.<br />If approved,... it will require the manufacturer of defective goods.... to provide much more financial compensation to affected customers. <br />Kim Hyo-sun reports. <br /> The South Korean government is mulling over a wider punitive damage system to deal with the recent BMW auto fire crisis. <br />This comes amid public outrage over the German automaker's lackluster response despite a continued number of cases of BMW sedans bursting into flames. <br />The punitive damage system is intended to compensate consumers financially in amounts that far exceed the proven damage in cases when the manufacturer is found to have purposely acted illegally. <br /><br /> "As the class action and punitive damage system require companies to provide a larger amount of financial compensation to consumers, they need to make efforts to compensate them in advance." <br /><br />The proposed system already has support at the National Assembly.<br /><br /> "We will look into implementing the punitive damages system when consumers are affected by a carmaker's failure to quickly identify the cause of a problem." <br /><br />The Korean government is also seeking to adopt stricter criteria for submitting documents related to recalls,... levying penalties for insufficient documentation.<br />It also plans to fine the automaker one percent of its earnings when it's found to have attempted to hide or minimize the defects. <br /> After recalling over 100-thousand vehicles in South Korea,... BMW is now widening the recall to Europe... where it plans to recall an additional 324-thousand diesel cars.<br />Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News. <br />
