There is yet no end in sight to the wind blowing across the automobile industry globally. Since the last quarter of last year, vehicle recall has occupied the front burner in the industry, causing anxiety and fears for both manufacturers and owners of affected brands. At the last count, no fewer than 8.1 million units of some Toyota models had been recalled by the manufacturer, Toyota Motor Corporation, TMC, for reason of factory default which centres on the accelerator pedal system.
Affected in the recall includes versions of the 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla models, 2009-2010 Matrix model, 2005-2010 Avalon model, 2007-2010 Camry model, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, and 2008-2010 Sequoia. Also, Honda Motor Company has recalled 437,000 cars of its models worldwide for defective airbags. The recall affects some batches of 2001 and 2002 Accord sedans, Civic compact cars, Odyssey minivans, CR-V, and 2002 Acura TL sedans. The manufacturer explained that the driver’s side airbag produces too much pressure, capable of causing the inflator to rupture, and in the process, could send metal fragments toward the driver. Nissan Motors, North American plant, has also recalled some of its vehicles, just as the Ford brand has had its own fair share of recalls.
Interestingly, with this spate of recalls, franchise owners of affected autos brands in Nigeria are shouting themselves hoarse that such vehicle models are not affected by the recalls. Realising that the situation could have a backlash effect on its market, Toyota Nigeria Limited, TNL, the major distributor of the Toyota brand in the country, was quick to issue a statement to the public. It explained that the recall affected only the American, Chinese and European markets and since TNL does not source vehicles from the United States, US, market, then its customers had no cause to lose sleep. Nissan Africa regional office reports that vehicles imported into sub-Sahara countries by Nissan National Sales companies are not affected. “We would like to assure our customers that the recall pertains to vehicles sold predominantly in North America”, said Jim Dando, general manager, Nissan Africa regional office, in a statement obtained by the magazine. Other auto dealers are keeping sealed lips on their products. However, unfolding events says the contrary.
Findings reveal that, indeed, some of the affected vehicles are in the country, just that Nigerians had never imagined that brand-new cars could have defective issues. For instance, Wole Shadare, a journalist with a leading national newspaper, had very bad memories of the Toyota RAV 4. According to him, he had to sell his Toyota RAV 4 when he could no longer cope with the series of problems coming from the car. Severally, he recalled, it is brake, accelerator, shock absorber, or wheel problems. “I never enjoyed my RAV 4 at all; it kept giving the same or related problems regularly”, Shadare explained.
The case of Sola Salako, president, Consumer Advocacy Forum of Nigeria, raises more concerns for the industry. Salako had bought a 2006 Toyota RAV 4 from Elizade Motors, an accredited Toyota dealer, and maintained same with the company. But from her first contact with the vehicle, it has been tale of woes. “I observed that my Nigerian RAV 4 specification is a carcass after I was opportune to to drive an American version of the same car. Whenever I stepped on the brakes, it made a particular sound like it was struggling to catch. I also noticed that the steering wheel made clicking noises when turning to the right side as if the car had a shaft problem, but when turned fully, there was no clicking sound. I mentioned these problems each time I took the car for service, but they always reassure me that there was no problem”, a visibly bitter Salako explained. She is more livid that three years after, precisely August 2009, when the three-year warranty was to lapse, the car, which had clocked less than 30,000 kilometres had become a ragged vehicle.
Stakeholders in the auto industry have equally faulted the claims by auto franchisees that such vehicles in the country are not affected. They argued that since such cars did not come from the blues, and the manufacturers are requesting for their return, then Nigerians should not be deceived that what is happening in Japan and the rest of the world does not affect its local market.
Oscar Odiboh, a marketing communications consultant, explained that the development has severe consequences on the country’s auto industry. It is an international practice for countries to specify the quality of products entering its territory, but the agencies saddled with such responsibility seem not to be fully alive to their duty. In 1973, the country changed from right hand drive to left, however, modern and state-of-the-art right hand drive cars, including trucks, have resurfaced on the roads. For instance, it now calls to questioning the influx of sub-standard vehicles into the country; indeed, with the p porous regulations and near zero enforcement of laws, the country has become a dumping ground for vehicles that cannot be used in their countries of origin.
“The government is not talking about the brand-new cars that we are buying and how safe they are; nobody is checking, as there is no pragmatic regulation. The influx of used cars, known in local parlance as ‘tokunbo’, is even worse”, Odiboh said. He wants the operators in the industry here to express the same conscience as being done in other countries. “They should tell Nigerians, ‘If you have bought any of the affected cars from us, please return them for correction free of charge’. If the manufacturers themselves have said bring back these cars, what is holding distributors in Nigeria to follow the same way, if they are truthful?”, Odiboh wondered. For him, a distributor who claims that he is immune against the recall would say so for two reasons: either the brand is not from the original source, which means that Nigerians are buying fake versions of the original product from such distributors, or such distributors are not being truthful. Charles Chukwu, a car dealer, explained that auto franchisees are not favourably disposed to admitting such faults in Nigeria. He contends that since the auto market in the country is sales-oriented, the fear of losing out is uppermost on their mind rather than the safety of users and their customers. “When you have a marketing orientation, recalling your defective products from the market should not be a problem; but when you have a sales orientation, you are scared by what you will lose on the short term and recalling will be something you want to run away from”, he explained.
Consumer protection organisations believe that the situation presents a test case for government and its agencies to prove their relevance by taking on the distributors of the brand; but users of affected brands need to come up with their complaints, since it is the complaints from users that led to recall of cars in America and Europe. For now, the docility of the users to this problem is what is giving the distributors and sellers and even the government the effrontery to carry on without qualms.
The users have not come to ask questions about this recall and the government has not shown any interest either. But, if the option before Salako is anything to go by, then, dealers of these models would be in for a running battle. “I have formally complained to Elizade, and I am waiting for their response. An official apology for their insincerity with me during the warranty period on my vehicle and full responsibility for returning my car to perfect condition or replacement of the car is what I expect, else, I will seek legal redress”, she said.
Shadare: Had bad memories about his RAV 4
Salako: Angry
Odiboh: Blames law enforcement agencies Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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