Fancy that faulty new car?

 

Congress is now investigating consumer complaints alleging that Mitsubishi’s sports utility vehicle (SUV)  Montero Sport has a defect that can cause it to suddenly accelerate forward or backward without the driver intending to do so.

Those familiar with automatic transmission vehicles know that it is but normal for such vehicles to start moving forward once it is on “drive” and the driver lifts his foot off the brake pedal.

But as described by the complainants, that is not the case with the Monteros because, as alleged, they could just accelerate from standstill to uncontrollably fast in just a matter of seconds.

A lady driver has come forward to say that her Montero fell off a hill because of that alleged fault, while a man has the same complaint while swearing that it was not driver’s error on his part because he’s been driving for decades now.

While there’s already an Anti-Lemon Law in the country, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said to be in receipt of almost a hundred complaint against the Monteros, have admitted to lacking the expertise to act on the complaints.

This admitted helplessness by the DTI should prompt our legislators to enact a law that would create a national vehicle testing and specification board that would look into the safety of vehicles being sold in the Philippines.

This board must be populated with scientists and engineers and must have the facilities and equipment to be able to issue definitive rulings on vehicle safety.

Global vehicle recalls are nothing new. In fact, Toyota Motors Corp. recalled 6.5 million vehicles world-wide this year over power-window switches at risk of fire.

The 6.5 million recalls are on top of more than 34.5 million vehicles recalled in the first seven months of 2015 – a sobering thought amidst the easy car financing available today.