Lawmaker pushes for automotive recall system

The need to process the proposed measure encompassing an automotive recall system is quite urgent in light of the Montero Sport controversy, the chairman of the House committee on trade and industry said Wednesday.

The Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle (SUV) has be wracked by a series of sudden unintended acceleration or SUA last year, prompting the Department of Trade and Industry to heed the clamor for a third party assessment if indeed the SUVs involved are defective.

“As we wait for the decision of the third party agency examining the vehicles, it is important to check why we are unable to do the procedure in-house? Why is this capacity unavailable in the Philippines?” Las Piñas Representative Mark Villar said.

The Trade and Industry Department is hiring a third party to resolve the allegations of SUA, a DTI official said early this month.

Following the investigation of the committee on the numerous claims and allegations of SUA and the increasing number of vehicular accidents, the Philippines must have a National Motor Vehicle Safety Administration, Villar said.

House Bill 6310, An Act Creating a National Motor Vehicle Safety Administration, seeks to have a vehicle recall system and the technical aspects of such a system to be implemented in cases such as sudden unintended accelerations.
 
“In advancing the need to protect public safety, we need to look at the direction of our ASEAN neighbors. The solution is two-pronged. We need to upgrade our facilities and build on our technical capabilities, while giving our law more teeth,” Villar noted.

Instituting a system
 
The lawmaker urged his colleagues to look at the standards in place in the region.

“We need a recall system that proactively prioritizes the safety of our constituents. Hindi lang po drivers ang apektado, pati pedestrians,” Villar said.
 
This can be done “... by instituting a system where information on structural defects are probed and submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry,” he added.
 
A recall system was established in Japan as early as in 1969. The mechanism obliges manufacturers to collect and repair safety-deficient vehicles that are “perceived” to have design flaws or manufacturing defects.

Last month, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) called for a credible and completely independent third party to resolve the allegations that the Montero Sport was plagued by SUA.

Because of the opposing views between the complainants and MMPC, hiring a third party to evaluate such allegations may be the best way to settle the matter, the carmaker said.

The 97 vehicles that supposedly exhibited SUAs were thoroughly evaluated by MMPC and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan and found nothing wrong with them, MMPC First Vice President Froilan Dytianquin said. – VS, GMA News