BMW AG has issued a recall for about 1.3 million vehicles due to a slip-up in battery cover placement on two different models. There is a small chance that previous generation 5 Series and 6 Series may have incorrectly mounted battery covers – which can result in failure to start or even electrical fire in some cases.

According to BMW, “In some remote cases, the battery cable cover inside the boot of these vehicles may be incorrectly mounted. This can result in the electrical system malfunctioning, the vehicle failing to start and, in some cases, to charring or fire.”

No accounts of accidents or injury were reported thus far, but it still raises some concern. BMW is the top manufacturer of luxury vehicles in the world – expensive luxury vehicles at that. It just seems that a slip-up like this should have been caught sooner, considering it’s been nearly 10 years since the first batch of these faulty automobiles went on the market.

It wasn’t too long ago that BMW earned back its spot at the top of luxury automotive food chain from Lexus, and this recent blunder could very well cost them some loyal customers. It’s also pretty rare for any automaker to recall over a million vehicles – let alone a luxury automaker. These things do happen from time to time though; everyone makes mistakes, but companies as trusted and celebrated as BMW need to stay one step ahead of competition in order to maintain their place at the top.

It should be noted that less than one percent of the cars inspected by BMW so far have exhibited any signs of the problem, and there have not been any reports of the alleged fires either. Maybe this is in fact BMW’s way of staying ahead of the game – no serious issues have been reported, and they’ve already took preliminary actions to avoid any potential dangers. Also notable is the fact that if a particular vehicle were to exhibit any signs of the problem, repairs would take no longer than a half hour to an hour.

BMW claims that this recall affects around 368,000 cars in the United States, 293,000 in Germany, 109,000 in Britain and about 102,000 in China.