BMW Recalls 1.3 Million Vehicles Because of Battery Cable Fault

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles, is recalling about 1.3 million vehicles because of a faulty battery cable cover.

All models of the "previous generation" 5 Series and 6 Series built from 2003 to 2010 and still on the market are being recalled for repairs at authorized dealerships, the Munich-based company said in an e-mailed statement today.

"In some remote cases, the battery cable cover inside the boot of these vehicles may be incorrectly mounted," BMW said. "This can result in the electrical system malfunctioning, the vehicle failing to start and, in some cases, to charring or fire." BMW said it wasn't aware of "any accidents or injury to persons resulting from this fault."

BMW is trying to retain its perch as the top-selling luxury automobile brand in the U.S. amid competition from Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus. BMW in 2011 took the No. 1 spot from Lexus, whose sales were reduced by production cutbacks stemming from natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.

Recalls of more than 1 million vehicles by an automaker are rare. Toyota, Asia's largest automaker, recalled more than 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide in 2009 and 2010 for defects associated with unintended acceleration.

Via Bloomberg