The transportation ministry has concluded that a previously identified fuel leak in BMW vehicles may be the cause of mysterious fires that have broken out in some of the luxury cars, the ministry said Thursday.

The decision may help end a months-long debate between the German carmaker and its South Korean customers over the cause in some BMW vehicles.

Both the German carmaker and the transportation ministry here had identified a possible fuel leak in certain model years BMW vehicles, which led to a recall of over 1,700 BMW cars sold here.

BMW Korea, the local importer of BMW cars, however, had insisted the fuel leak could not have been the cause of the fires, claiming the area holding leaked fuel did not have high enough temperatures to start a fire.

An additional study by the state-run Vehicle Safety Research Institute has revealed the leaked fuel could in fact shift to areas with high enough temperatures to start a fire, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a press release.

With the latest finding, BMW Korea has agreed to re-announce its recall of the affected vehicles and specify the possibility of fire caused by leaked fuel, it added.

The recall affects 1,751 units of 13 vehicle models, including the BMW 320d, produced between June 25 and Sept. 3 of 2014, the same number of cars initially recalled earlier in the year for the fuel leak. Of those, 1,165 cars or 66.5 percent have already been recalled and repaired, according to the ministry.

In a separate case involving Takata airbags, BMW Korea is recalling some 3,000 cars sold here.

The airbags produced by Japanese manufacturer Takata Corp. have caused millions of cars to be recalled globally as they may deploy improperly in case of a crash, sending metal fragments into vehicle occupants.

The recall affects 3,297 BMW cars produced between Jan. 4, 2002 and Jan. 31, 2006. Free repair services will be available from next Friday.

Meanwhile, Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local importer and distributor of Audi and Volkswagen cars, will also recall certain model years of the Tiguan compact SUV and seven other vehicle models for a defective exhaust recirculation system that may cause the engine to stop.

The recall affects 3,830 vehicles produced between Feb. 4 and July 29 of 2014. (Yonhap)