Depending on where you live, fire extinguishers may or may not be mandatory in cars. In South Korea, vehicles with at least five seats manufactured, imported, and sold after December 1, 2024, will receive this essential safety feature. The revision to the Fire Protection Facilities Installation and Management Act won’t be applied retroactively to already registered vehicles. Rather than waiting until a fire extinguisher is mandated, the BMW Group is already putting one in the trunks of its new cars.
Found in both BMW and MINI models, the fire extinguisher has been developed in-house. Its case is made from flame-retardant materials and has already passed the crash test of the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (Katech). Aside from undergoing the usual tests, it was also subjected to additional vibration and high-temperature evaluations.
It has been approved by the Korea Fire Industry Institute (KFI) and provides 30% better fire extinguishing than a regular fire extinguisher. The spray angle is eight times wider thanks to a proprietary jet spray nozzle design.
BMW Group Korea says it’s the first importer to take this decision, three months before it becomes mandatory. Concomitantly, the luxury brand is also distributing fire extinguishers across its local network of 134 showrooms and service centers.
BMW Group Korea was also the first car importer to disclose who makes the batteries that go into electric cars. That would have to be Samsung SDI and CATL. The disclosure was made last month following a government recommendation. It happened in light of raising concerns about the safety of electric cars. A Mercedes EQE powered by China’s Farasis Energy batteries caught fire in an underground garage in Incheon. According to Korea Joongang Daily, 140 cars were damaged and 21 people had to be hospitalized.
Source: BMW South Korea
