On the talks regarding Proton-Perodua merger. I am not sure why or who or which publication first mooted this topic, though I remember reading this in The Star Bizweek last year. The bigger question is why were the media giving so much attention to this topic, which in my personal opinion is obviously never going to materialize, for some very obvious reason which I am still surprised no one brought it up. Is this the result of another round of speculative talks to push up stock prices before the Raya holiday season?
Firstly, Perodua is merely an outpost of Toyota's kei car subsidiary; Daihatsu. Forget about what the PR machinery of Perodua or even UMNO politicians tell you, Perodua does not own any of the intellectual property in its cars and has to play a subservient role to its Japanese masters of Daihatsu. The company can't even export Perodua badged cars without approval from Osaka, Daihatsu's nerve center. Perodua owns the localized design of its vehicles no more than the Thais at Toyota Motor Thailand own the IP rights to the Toyota Hilux Space Cab variant, which was entirely developed in Thailand by Thai engineers.
Proton meanwhile, have a model-model or ad-hoc collaboration with its technical partners at Mitsubishi. Although Proton owns far more IP rights to its vehicles than Perodua, the future direction of Proton, points to greater cooperation with Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi have a slightly different philosophy than its other fellow countrymen. Being much smaller than its other bigger Japanese motor industry competitors, Mitsubishi earns a portion of its earnings from licensing fees to upcoming companies in the developing countries, including Malaysia's Proton, China's Chery, even the early days of Hyundai cars was built with Mitsubishi's technical assistance. Previously it also had alliances with Volvo and currently still maintains a JV with the French PSA Peugeot Citroen.
It is glaringly obvious that neither Proton and Perodua can survive without a technical partner to provide them either with economy of scale in product development and purchasing or outright technical know-how assistance. It is one thing to design an engine or a transmission etc etc. Managing a factory and the entire supply chain management to manufacture it with consistent quality is an entirely different matter. It makes no sense for Proton and Perodua to come together, as neither of them have anything to bring to the negotiation table that is of particularly important / critical in sustaining a car company. The proponents of the merger from the government points to economy of scale, but what's the point when they lack the necessary funds nor technical knowledge to continously sustain a series of new model development programme.
And what makes Mahatir or even proponents of the merger from the ruling government to think that the merger arrangements will go down well with either Mitsubishi or Daihatsu? Obviously neither Mitsubishi nor Daihatsu is comfortable with providing their intellectual properties to a third party that have an existing partnership with another car company. And please don't bring in the example of China. SAIC has partnership with both GM and VW, but that is an entirely different ball game, given the size and promises of the Chinese car market, which is now the largest in the world. Plus, car makers have little choice and the Chinese economy is a centrally planned one. The Chinese rule book requires foreign companies to partner with a local Chinese partner, in the interest of developing domestic Chinese industry. And VW have had a number of skirmishes with its Chinese partners regarding accusation of IP rights theft. Most of the big car names in China maintain relationship with more than 1 local partner. Toyota counts FAW and Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co while VW has both Shanghai Automobile Industry Co. (SAIC) and First Automobile Works (FAW). Anyway, that's another story.
So we now know that neither Proton and Perodua can survive without a technical partner. And no technical partner will be comfortable in allowing their intellectual properties to be compromised in any way. So why does the media bother to dwell on this again? And remember another case study, even the Germans of BMW and Mercedes could not pull off a merger, a proposal mooted by the German banks during last year's credit crunch. It reminds us of a period of time right after World War II when a struggling BMW almost became a subsidiary of Daimler. The culture of the two companies is too different. For decades their staffs have been thought to compete with each other, how is it possible for them to reconcile this? As expected, negotiations for a BMW-Daimler merger came to a halt almost as soon as it started, settling for a rather vague "joint procurement". There is no way a 1-series can share a platform with an A-class.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Aspiration?
Looks like somebody has high ambitions. LoL. Remember an earlier post made, regarding aspirational value of brands as a gauge for the top brand in the future?
Not too long ago, Ah Bengs in their Honda Civics and Protons were showing off their corona ring projector headlamps, ala BMW style. Today, so many run of the mill car from an el-cheapo Myvi, Vios to even a Hilux or Avanza have those after market Audi style daytime running lights running along their headlamps.
BMW corona ring "angel eye" inspired style, on a Vios.
A6 themed Vios?
Audi R8 wanabe Vios?
The real R8.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Raising driving school standards
Of late, MIROS have been making quite a number of press releases. There is even an unofficial MIROS blog. Efforts made by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research to bring road safety discussion to the public should be commended. From a personal capacity however, if I could speak to MIROS, I would ask them to look into our driving school curriculum instead. Although there might be some obvious technical issues with the agency's "areas of jurisdiction" as driving school curriculum comes under the direct purview of JPJ Road Transport Department. But if both JPJ and MIROS can work around this is a real stumbling block to achieve to goal of lowering road fatalities, meaningful improvements will not happen until we address the source of the problem.
Looking back at my own experience when taking my driving lessons, it was a complete joke. My driving instructor asked me if I knew how to drive, to which I answered yes, not out of some adolescent arrogance (I learned driving when I was 9, theory only course as I could barely reach the pedals), but rather it was answered without giving much thought, nor elaborating any further. She pulled over at the road shoulder and asked me to take the wheel. Brave woman. The driving theory lecturers were of little value. The curriculum looked like it was drafted more than 50 years ago. There was absolutely no mention about driving under different weather conditions, night time driving, dealing with various other vehicles including motorcycles and heavy vehicles on highways and B-roads and the associated blind corners or blind crests etc etc.
Some critical skills which I found sorely missing in our driving school curriculum (at least when I took my driving lessons) are :
1. Night time driving
Almost all modern cars come with night mode rear view mirror. The driver only needs to push the small little tab at the lower-middle part of the rear view mirror to switch to night mode. Rear view mirrors are specially made in such a way that they are able to work from two different angles, one for day time and another for night time that cuts out a large portion of the light. This effectively reduce glare from cars behind. Surprisingly a very large number of local motorists are completely ignorant of this very basic feature, and needlessly put up with glare from tall vehicles or even bright HIDs. Neither my driving instructor nor the examiner from JPJ showed me this.
When driving on two lane country side B-roads in the night, the glare from oncoming cars can be quite disconcerting. Learner drivers were not thought to focus / trace their path of driving not directly on the cars ahead but shift their gaze to the white lines along the road instead. There are there for a reason.
An alert driver is also able to tell / check his headlamp alignments just by looking at the light path of their headlamps. The left beam (right hand drive countries) should point further out than the right beam. And the reflection from the car in front of you should be on the same level.
Yet here and there we still cars driven without their headlamps switched on. You would think that the driver would notice it once they hit slow traffic and notice the absence of reflection coming off from the vehicle in front. But no....
When approaching pedestrians, guard house, or anywhere with people directly ahead of you, it is considered polite to turn down your headlamps and switch it to parking lights mode. In some countries, drivers are thought that whenever they are in the first line of cars at a traffic light with a busy pedestrian crossing, they must turn down their headlamps to parking lights mode.
Fog lamps - front and rear, they should never be switched on a clear weather. It's bloody annoying to follow behind the rear fog lamp of a car when it's bone dry with starry clear skies outside. Even if it is raining, they are still not necessary. Only in the worst type of thunder storms are they necessary. In many countries, including Singapore, use of fog lamps, even in the rain, is illegal.
2. Vision and focus
Blind spots - modern cars, in order to pass increasingly strict crash safety regulations, as well as to keep up with modern design trends, tend to have thicker side pillars. As an unintended consequence, blind spots in some modern cars can be quite big. Learn to adjust your side mirrors properly. Setting up a side mirror properly to minimize blind spots is a bit counter intuitive. You shouldn't be able to see the sides of your car on the side mirrors. At most, only a slight hint of the car's sides should be visible. It takes a bit getting used to but this is the way to minimize blind spots. They don't teach you that in our local driving schools. And always always look over your shoulders before switching lanes. Small cars and bikes can sometimes be hidden in the blind spot area.
Having seen so many rear end collisions that happen on perfectly straight road, I sometimes wonder if the drivers are drunk / distracted / not paying attention or ... the dumbest of all - they are not even looking on the traffic ahead correctly! If your eyes are trained solely on the vehicle directly ahead of course your reaction time will be slower. Drivers should look far ahead, well ahead of the immediate vehicle in front of them and have a good tab on the average speed of the vehicles ahead, whether are they speeding up or slowing down.
Blind corners - drivers were never thought how to make use of the road shoulder or all the road space available to them when negotiating a blind corner. You don't walk into a path that you can't see. Likewise you don't use drive on a path that you can't see very far ahead. If you are in a right hand drive country, and you are taking a long right hander, you aren't going to see very much further ahead if you follow your instinct of keeping the wheel turning right, following the road. Take the outer lane or move slightly outwards (left side) to allow yourself to see further ahead, not stubbornly hanging on to your wheel looking at nothing but the tunnel wall or the guardrail no further than a meter ahead. If there is stalled vehicle ahead, or some road debris then you would've done yourself in.
Its the same with blind crests. When you are climbing even a mild incline / slope you can't see very far ahead. Back off the throttle. If there is a traffic jam or a stalled vehicle immediately after the crest you are surely going to hit it. And because you car have just gone over the crest, physics of gravity dictate that the weight of your car will be lightened momentarily, and the vehicle's suspension unloaded. Within this short period of time your brakes are not going to respond very well because they won't get sufficient traction to stop the car. You can guess what will happen next.
It's a simple rule, until your visual distance and braking distance aligns, back off the throttle.
And lastly - objects are closer than they appear on the (side) mirror.
The closer you are to the vehicle in front, the less of you can see of the road condition ahead. Driving schools teach you not to tail gate, but they don't exactly teach nor test learner drivers on planning to execute an overtaking move. Back-off the throttle before any overtaking to give yourself a wider view of the surrounding (rather than having your windscreen "filled" with the car in front), and once you have pull out don't hesitate to punch the throttle to the floor if necessary. It's so damn annoying to break your cruising speed pace, hard on the brakes just because some idiot is taking his own sweet time passing someone, oblivious to the traffic rapidly backing up behind.
3. Adapting to different environments
When you are in a car park complex, especially those in shopping malls, you need to particularly alert on what lies behind those many pillars. Did you know that you should switch on your headlamps everytime you enter a car park complex? Irrespective of how brightly are they lit. The light beam of the headlamp is to warn cars / people around or hidden behind a pillar to notice an approaching vehice. The same kind of "always asking what's around" needs to be ingrained in the mindset of every driver.
Can you really look around / behind these pillars?
In the rain - do you feel difference in traction, a sign of aqua planning. Or cross winds. These things can't be learned in theory. Which is why in many countries the driving test / lessons involves significant hours of night time driving, and even more developed countries, driving simulators as well.
4. Handling modern cars
Vehicles with automatic transmissions, proper disengagement / re-engagement of the overdrive gear. No mention.
Anti-lock brakes - to stomp on the brakes hard, keep the pressure and steer away. No mention.
5. Hazard lights
Our laws are pretty vague on this and a review is overdue. Even in Thailand, (and Singapore), taxis don't just turn on the left signal before stopping to pick up / drop off passengers. They put on the hazard lights well in advance before they stop. Noticed that Rapid KL buses follow this rule but not our local taxis.
Take a page out of truck driver's driving code in many countries, hazard lights should be used in conjunction with reverse lights when maneuvering into a parking spot. Here, the use of a turn signal when parking is to "book" your parking spot.
When approaching rapidly slowing traffic on a highway, the last car in the queue needs to switch on the hazard lights. Ignoring whatever the archaic rule books says, doing this have probably avoided myself from being involved in many rear enders. It requires some pretty alert and quick move from the driver. It is difficult for fast coming cars from behind to know if traffic is merely slowing down or has come to a complete stand still just by looking at your brake lights. This is why many higher end cars, especially from European makes have multi-stage brake lights that will either illuminate a lot brighter or even flash rapidly and turn on the hazard lights automatically (Proton's Exora has this feature) when subjected to hard / panic braking. Could have averted many rear-enders if more people adopted this. But again, this not in our archaic local driving code though have I personally adopted this practice.
So something like this can be avoided
5. Sharing with road with motorcyclists and heavy vehicles
Because of their size, motorcycles are a lot closer than they seem in the mirror.
Because of debris, potholes, cross winds, motorcycles don't and cannot stay on exactly the same path all the time. Make provisions for this.
Lorries, they have huge blind spots on the area directly in front of them, especially at the passenger side. The video below should explain this clearly. There was no way for the lorry driver to see the Mercedes that had came into the middle lane. And heavy vehicles take a lot longer to slow down. So do not ever, ever cut in front of a lorry. You will get mowed down. Especially if you are descending an incline. It's not necessarily because they are big bullies. Often it is because they honestly can't see you coming.
The local culture here don't take driving very seriously. Below is an interesting take from a Finnish driving school. Our driving school curriculum have hardly changed since the days of my father, who got his driving license in a Morris Minor.
Looking back at my own experience when taking my driving lessons, it was a complete joke. My driving instructor asked me if I knew how to drive, to which I answered yes, not out of some adolescent arrogance (I learned driving when I was 9, theory only course as I could barely reach the pedals), but rather it was answered without giving much thought, nor elaborating any further. She pulled over at the road shoulder and asked me to take the wheel. Brave woman. The driving theory lecturers were of little value. The curriculum looked like it was drafted more than 50 years ago. There was absolutely no mention about driving under different weather conditions, night time driving, dealing with various other vehicles including motorcycles and heavy vehicles on highways and B-roads and the associated blind corners or blind crests etc etc.
Some critical skills which I found sorely missing in our driving school curriculum (at least when I took my driving lessons) are :
1. Night time driving
Almost all modern cars come with night mode rear view mirror. The driver only needs to push the small little tab at the lower-middle part of the rear view mirror to switch to night mode. Rear view mirrors are specially made in such a way that they are able to work from two different angles, one for day time and another for night time that cuts out a large portion of the light. This effectively reduce glare from cars behind. Surprisingly a very large number of local motorists are completely ignorant of this very basic feature, and needlessly put up with glare from tall vehicles or even bright HIDs. Neither my driving instructor nor the examiner from JPJ showed me this.
When driving on two lane country side B-roads in the night, the glare from oncoming cars can be quite disconcerting. Learner drivers were not thought to focus / trace their path of driving not directly on the cars ahead but shift their gaze to the white lines along the road instead. There are there for a reason.
An alert driver is also able to tell / check his headlamp alignments just by looking at the light path of their headlamps. The left beam (right hand drive countries) should point further out than the right beam. And the reflection from the car in front of you should be on the same level.
Yet here and there we still cars driven without their headlamps switched on. You would think that the driver would notice it once they hit slow traffic and notice the absence of reflection coming off from the vehicle in front. But no....
When approaching pedestrians, guard house, or anywhere with people directly ahead of you, it is considered polite to turn down your headlamps and switch it to parking lights mode. In some countries, drivers are thought that whenever they are in the first line of cars at a traffic light with a busy pedestrian crossing, they must turn down their headlamps to parking lights mode.
Fog lamps - front and rear, they should never be switched on a clear weather. It's bloody annoying to follow behind the rear fog lamp of a car when it's bone dry with starry clear skies outside. Even if it is raining, they are still not necessary. Only in the worst type of thunder storms are they necessary. In many countries, including Singapore, use of fog lamps, even in the rain, is illegal.
2. Vision and focus
Blind spots - modern cars, in order to pass increasingly strict crash safety regulations, as well as to keep up with modern design trends, tend to have thicker side pillars. As an unintended consequence, blind spots in some modern cars can be quite big. Learn to adjust your side mirrors properly. Setting up a side mirror properly to minimize blind spots is a bit counter intuitive. You shouldn't be able to see the sides of your car on the side mirrors. At most, only a slight hint of the car's sides should be visible. It takes a bit getting used to but this is the way to minimize blind spots. They don't teach you that in our local driving schools. And always always look over your shoulders before switching lanes. Small cars and bikes can sometimes be hidden in the blind spot area.
Having seen so many rear end collisions that happen on perfectly straight road, I sometimes wonder if the drivers are drunk / distracted / not paying attention or ... the dumbest of all - they are not even looking on the traffic ahead correctly! If your eyes are trained solely on the vehicle directly ahead of course your reaction time will be slower. Drivers should look far ahead, well ahead of the immediate vehicle in front of them and have a good tab on the average speed of the vehicles ahead, whether are they speeding up or slowing down.
Blind corners - drivers were never thought how to make use of the road shoulder or all the road space available to them when negotiating a blind corner. You don't walk into a path that you can't see. Likewise you don't use drive on a path that you can't see very far ahead. If you are in a right hand drive country, and you are taking a long right hander, you aren't going to see very much further ahead if you follow your instinct of keeping the wheel turning right, following the road. Take the outer lane or move slightly outwards (left side) to allow yourself to see further ahead, not stubbornly hanging on to your wheel looking at nothing but the tunnel wall or the guardrail no further than a meter ahead. If there is stalled vehicle ahead, or some road debris then you would've done yourself in.
Its the same with blind crests. When you are climbing even a mild incline / slope you can't see very far ahead. Back off the throttle. If there is a traffic jam or a stalled vehicle immediately after the crest you are surely going to hit it. And because you car have just gone over the crest, physics of gravity dictate that the weight of your car will be lightened momentarily, and the vehicle's suspension unloaded. Within this short period of time your brakes are not going to respond very well because they won't get sufficient traction to stop the car. You can guess what will happen next.
It's a simple rule, until your visual distance and braking distance aligns, back off the throttle.
And lastly - objects are closer than they appear on the (side) mirror.
The closer you are to the vehicle in front, the less of you can see of the road condition ahead. Driving schools teach you not to tail gate, but they don't exactly teach nor test learner drivers on planning to execute an overtaking move. Back-off the throttle before any overtaking to give yourself a wider view of the surrounding (rather than having your windscreen "filled" with the car in front), and once you have pull out don't hesitate to punch the throttle to the floor if necessary. It's so damn annoying to break your cruising speed pace, hard on the brakes just because some idiot is taking his own sweet time passing someone, oblivious to the traffic rapidly backing up behind.
3. Adapting to different environments
When you are in a car park complex, especially those in shopping malls, you need to particularly alert on what lies behind those many pillars. Did you know that you should switch on your headlamps everytime you enter a car park complex? Irrespective of how brightly are they lit. The light beam of the headlamp is to warn cars / people around or hidden behind a pillar to notice an approaching vehice. The same kind of "always asking what's around" needs to be ingrained in the mindset of every driver.
Can you really look around / behind these pillars?
In the rain - do you feel difference in traction, a sign of aqua planning. Or cross winds. These things can't be learned in theory. Which is why in many countries the driving test / lessons involves significant hours of night time driving, and even more developed countries, driving simulators as well.
4. Handling modern cars
Vehicles with automatic transmissions, proper disengagement / re-engagement of the overdrive gear. No mention.
Anti-lock brakes - to stomp on the brakes hard, keep the pressure and steer away. No mention.
5. Hazard lights
Our laws are pretty vague on this and a review is overdue. Even in Thailand, (and Singapore), taxis don't just turn on the left signal before stopping to pick up / drop off passengers. They put on the hazard lights well in advance before they stop. Noticed that Rapid KL buses follow this rule but not our local taxis.
Take a page out of truck driver's driving code in many countries, hazard lights should be used in conjunction with reverse lights when maneuvering into a parking spot. Here, the use of a turn signal when parking is to "book" your parking spot.
When approaching rapidly slowing traffic on a highway, the last car in the queue needs to switch on the hazard lights. Ignoring whatever the archaic rule books says, doing this have probably avoided myself from being involved in many rear enders. It requires some pretty alert and quick move from the driver. It is difficult for fast coming cars from behind to know if traffic is merely slowing down or has come to a complete stand still just by looking at your brake lights. This is why many higher end cars, especially from European makes have multi-stage brake lights that will either illuminate a lot brighter or even flash rapidly and turn on the hazard lights automatically (Proton's Exora has this feature) when subjected to hard / panic braking. Could have averted many rear-enders if more people adopted this. But again, this not in our archaic local driving code though have I personally adopted this practice.
So something like this can be avoided
5. Sharing with road with motorcyclists and heavy vehicles
Because of their size, motorcycles are a lot closer than they seem in the mirror.
Because of debris, potholes, cross winds, motorcycles don't and cannot stay on exactly the same path all the time. Make provisions for this.
Lorries, they have huge blind spots on the area directly in front of them, especially at the passenger side. The video below should explain this clearly. There was no way for the lorry driver to see the Mercedes that had came into the middle lane. And heavy vehicles take a lot longer to slow down. So do not ever, ever cut in front of a lorry. You will get mowed down. Especially if you are descending an incline. It's not necessarily because they are big bullies. Often it is because they honestly can't see you coming.
The local culture here don't take driving very seriously. Below is an interesting take from a Finnish driving school. Our driving school curriculum have hardly changed since the days of my father, who got his driving license in a Morris Minor.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
2012 Ford Everest
Artist impression based on the Ford Explorer.
Found some info regarding the 2012 Full Model Change Ford Everest. In a departure from the current practise of putting a Japanese team (Mazda, Hiroshima) to lead development of U268 Ford Ranger / BT-50, the next generation Ranger, codenamed T6 is developed in Australia.
The T6 Ranger is due to be signed off pending final stages of validation tests in Australian outbacks. Expected launch date for the T6 Ford Ranger is sometime in 2011. Like its current counterpart, a 7-seater ladder frame chassis SUV model will also be spinned off from the Ranger, and sold as Everest or Endeavour in developing markets of ASEAN and India.
While it is being developed by an Australian team based, the T6 SUV team however will be headed by an American, FoMoCo's SUV specialist and vehicle engineering manager Todd Hoevener. Throughout the entire development process of the T6 SUV, Hoevener will be transplanted from his current base in Detroit to the Aussie state of Victoria. Hoevener's most recent work is the all new Ford Explorer.
Pick-up truck based SUVs is a segment that was the direct result of a Thai vehicle taxation regulation. Which makes a distinction between workhorse pick-up truck based SUVs (which are taxed lower) compared to passenger car based SUVs (which are taxed higher). One of the earliest PPV models built to cater to this new segment is the Isuzu MU-7. Competitors from Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi would later offer similar SUV variants of their truck models.
Under Ford's new OneFord global strategy to capitalise on Ford's assets in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas, the new T6 truck will be offered in the US as well, slotted under the Ford F-150 as a light truck. Details about introduction of the T6 SUV is sketchy though, as the currently Ford is already sufficiently represented across the entire cross-over and SUV segment in USA.
I am curious to know what is the relationship between Ford and Mazda on this project, given that Mazda is now independent from Ford. It seems that input from Mazda is very limited on the T6. However, development work on the T6 must have started years before the credit crunch of 2009 which pushed Ford to sell off all its interest in Premier Automotive Group as well as Mazda and killing the Mercury sister brand. The BT-50 have not sold well anyway, even in Thailand where it is made, and Mazda have not paid sufficient effort (more like don't have the resources) to grow the fleet sales / commercial sales sector. Plus, building a SUV off a pick-up platform will naturally inherit poor ride and handling characteristics. These are natural engineering limitations to the design / structure and there is very little that can be done without compromising the vehicle's work horse performance. These trade-off in ride and handling may not be consistent with Mazda's Zoom-Zoom philosophy. And it is part of the reason why a Mazda version of the Everest was never made.
Update : 2011 Ford Territory hints design of 2012 Ford Everest
Expect to see a lot of styling cues from the Ford Explorer to be incorporated into the T6 Everest.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Honda Tak Guna (Honda is Useless)
No I have nothing against Honda. Unfortunately this one damn pissed off Honda owner. Having exhausted all avenues of complain / rectification under warranty, the owner decided on going offensive. He had these stickers made and pasted on his car, drove it to PJ and parked it right in front Honda Malaysia's Sales and Marketing office in PJ.
This is not the most extreme case of a customer taking things into their own hands. Some years back in Thailand, a boutique shop owner Miss Duenpen Silakhet was very frustrated with the endless problems that plague her Honda CR-V, ranging from inexplicable loud noises to a faulty starter that left her stranded on several occasions.
Fed up with the unsatisfactory responce from Honda to rectify the problems with her car, she had a banner printed, saying "I would not have done this if this was a really good car. My condolences to Honda." Drove it to the TV channel iTV's office at Vibhavadi Rangsit Road and then proceeded to smash her CRV with a sledgehammer and a shovel. Honda would eventually buy back the problematic CRV from Miss Duenpen and issued her a cheque, which she then revealed that it was used as down payment for a Toyota Wish. But this not a case of victory for Toyota and loss for Honda. There was another similar case when a dissatisfied Thai Toyota Fortuner owner, Mr Preecha Santijirakul, who like Jess Ross (owner of the Accord above) had endless problem with the brakes on his SUV decided to drive it to the dealer who refused to rectify the problem, smashed it with a sledgehammer and set a set of brake pads on fire in at the Toyota dealership.
In the defence of Miss Duenpen and Jess Ross (owner of the Accord), they aren't many diplomatic options left for them if the manufacturer / distributor refuse / is unable to rectify the problems. On this side of the world, the consumer tribunal court is a joke, you could be left waiting for months if not years for your case to be heard. What are they going to drive in the mean time? By then, most people would have backed down and settle for an out of court settlement. In the US, there is a so called "lemon car" laws to protect consumers against defective products even if the vehicle's warranty. Best of all, you don't need to engage the services of a lawyer to represent you. In some US states, manufacturers are even required to buy back the entire vehicle even if it is past the manufacturer's warranty period, within reasons of course.
In this side of the world, consumer protection laws are pretty lax. There isn't any regulation that compels car manufacturers to be transparent on safety related defects and to issue a public recall if necessary, and exactly how will consumer be compensated. Even China was quick to realise this. In the recent Toyota-gate scandal, Chinese owners were treated differently from their American counterparts. RAV4 owners in China affected by the recall had to choose from three free testing service options for Chinese RAV4 owners to choose and they will not be given any alternative transportation nor compensation, while their American counterparts received door-door pick-up and delivery service and even to send them to work.. The Chinese government received numerous complaints from angry Toyota owners, complaining that they are being treated as lower class third world consumers by the Japanese car maker. No doubt some lingering post-war sentiments between China and Japan prompted the rising Middle Kingdom to flex its muscle. This is not the first time both AQSIQ and Toyota sparred, previously there was some highly public exchanges regarding a recall for the Camry.
Soon after that, China's consumer safety and product quality watchdog AQSIQ announced that it will be revising product recall regulations, specifically on automotive related matters by the end of this year. The revised ruling will specify how consumers must be compensated for product defects.
This is not the most extreme case of a customer taking things into their own hands. Some years back in Thailand, a boutique shop owner Miss Duenpen Silakhet was very frustrated with the endless problems that plague her Honda CR-V, ranging from inexplicable loud noises to a faulty starter that left her stranded on several occasions.
Fed up with the unsatisfactory responce from Honda to rectify the problems with her car, she had a banner printed, saying "I would not have done this if this was a really good car. My condolences to Honda." Drove it to the TV channel iTV's office at Vibhavadi Rangsit Road and then proceeded to smash her CRV with a sledgehammer and a shovel. Honda would eventually buy back the problematic CRV from Miss Duenpen and issued her a cheque, which she then revealed that it was used as down payment for a Toyota Wish. But this not a case of victory for Toyota and loss for Honda. There was another similar case when a dissatisfied Thai Toyota Fortuner owner, Mr Preecha Santijirakul, who like Jess Ross (owner of the Accord above) had endless problem with the brakes on his SUV decided to drive it to the dealer who refused to rectify the problem, smashed it with a sledgehammer and set a set of brake pads on fire in at the Toyota dealership.
In the defence of Miss Duenpen and Jess Ross (owner of the Accord), they aren't many diplomatic options left for them if the manufacturer / distributor refuse / is unable to rectify the problems. On this side of the world, the consumer tribunal court is a joke, you could be left waiting for months if not years for your case to be heard. What are they going to drive in the mean time? By then, most people would have backed down and settle for an out of court settlement. In the US, there is a so called "lemon car" laws to protect consumers against defective products even if the vehicle's warranty. Best of all, you don't need to engage the services of a lawyer to represent you. In some US states, manufacturers are even required to buy back the entire vehicle even if it is past the manufacturer's warranty period, within reasons of course.
In this side of the world, consumer protection laws are pretty lax. There isn't any regulation that compels car manufacturers to be transparent on safety related defects and to issue a public recall if necessary, and exactly how will consumer be compensated. Even China was quick to realise this. In the recent Toyota-gate scandal, Chinese owners were treated differently from their American counterparts. RAV4 owners in China affected by the recall had to choose from three free testing service options for Chinese RAV4 owners to choose and they will not be given any alternative transportation nor compensation, while their American counterparts received door-door pick-up and delivery service and even to send them to work.. The Chinese government received numerous complaints from angry Toyota owners, complaining that they are being treated as lower class third world consumers by the Japanese car maker. No doubt some lingering post-war sentiments between China and Japan prompted the rising Middle Kingdom to flex its muscle. This is not the first time both AQSIQ and Toyota sparred, previously there was some highly public exchanges regarding a recall for the Camry.
Soon after that, China's consumer safety and product quality watchdog AQSIQ announced that it will be revising product recall regulations, specifically on automotive related matters by the end of this year. The revised ruling will specify how consumers must be compensated for product defects.
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