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More than 6,000 faulty Honda Vezels yet to be rectified: LTA

SINGAPORE — About 6,600 Honda Vezels here — with faulty stop-start capacitors that pose a fire risk — have yet to be rectified, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in an update yesterday.

The Honda Vezel hit the headlines last year when the Japanese company recalled about 160,000 cars fitted with faulty engine idling stop capacitors. Photo: Reuters

The Honda Vezel hit the headlines last year when the Japanese company recalled about 160,000 cars fitted with faulty engine idling stop capacitors. Photo: Reuters

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SINGAPORE — About 6,600 Honda Vezels here — with faulty stop-start capacitors that pose a fire risk — have yet to be rectified, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in an update yesterday.

Meanwhile, some 1,200 Vezels imported by Lion City Rentals (LCR) — ride-hailing company Uber’s rental arm — have all been rectified, up from just 9 per cent two weeks ago based on the LTA’s records. According to Uber, however, all of LCR’s Vezels had been rectified by then.

The update comes two weeks after news that Uber managers in Singapore were aware of Honda’s Vezel recall when the cars were bought and leased to its drivers. At least one burst into flames in January.

In April last year, Honda Motor Japan initiated a vehicle recall affecting about 160,000 Japanese Domestic Model Honda Vezel cars fitted with faulty engine idling stop capacitors. About 11,000 of these were imported to Singapore.

Forty per cent of this number had been rectified as of yesterday, up from 25 per cent two weeks ago, the LTA said. Under Singapore’s vehicle recall framework, importers or motor dealers who have imported or sold vehicles affected by any safety-related vehicle recall are required to notify the LTA and the vehicles’ owners.

Car buyers are also required to acknowledge that they have been informed of the defect and send their vehicle for rectification.

The LTA reminded importers and motor dealers to ensure the rectifications are done according to the manufacturer’s requirements, as well as update the rectification status through the LTA’s Electronic Vehicle Recall System.

An Uber spokesperson told TODAY: “Uber is pleased that the LTA’s records are now up to date regarding the LCR-owned Honda Vezels involved in the safety recall notice. We thank the LTA and look forward to continuing our close cooperation with them.”

Lawyers said there is no specific law regulating the issue. Criminal lawyer Amolat Singh noted that vehicles brought into Singapore must pass minimum standards set by the LTA according to the Road Traffic Act, but “apart from that, they don’t talk about specific problems”.

“This is quite an interesting and vague area, because there don’t seem to be laws to prevent (defective cars from being sold), especially when Uber is — in a sense — a public service vehicle,” said Mr Singh.

“Taxis have different licensing requirements, but these (private-hire) cars, other than the annual inspections by LTA, don’t seem to be subject to anything. At the same time, the lives of innocent passengers can be put at risk.”

Mr Galvin Khong, director of motor dealer Vin’s Auto, said it would “call up our clients to tell them that there is a recall and we need to change the parts”. Vin’s Auto has sold “four to five” affected Vezel cars.

Yong Lee Seng Motor managing director Raymond Tang, whose company also deals in Vezels, said it would send letters “a few times” to affected customers, informing them of the recall and to send their cars in.

“Sometimes, we cannot locate the customers — they may have sold the car already and not informed us. Some also don’t care about it and don’t come back to do the recall ... if they don’t respond, there’s nothing we can do,” he added. LOUISA TANG

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