Are car brands operating in Malaysia using Puspakom to hide vehicle issues?
There are many instances where customers were not satisfied with warranty claim of their purchased vehicles. As we have received cases of vehicles failing within their warranty period but complaints were never addressed and ultimately, Puspakom will be involved to guarantee vehicle worthiness.
The recent case
On the 6th of April 2024, a video was uploaded from an owner of a Chery OMODA 5 who claimed her car ‘had no brakes while driving on the highway’. The car was later sent back to the service centre. Chery Malaysia would issue a press statement on the case the next day saying the customer was offered a courtesy car, as the aftersales team handled the vehicle’s issue.
On the 12th of April Chery Malaysia’s press release claims that the vehicle has been subjected to, and we quote, a thorough investigation on her vehicle which she claimed had faulty brakes. The statement also mentioned that the car was sent to Puspakom for, and again we quote, ‘for an impartial assessment’.
We had reached out to Chery Malaysia’s PR department regarding this case, but we have yet to hear from them at the time of writing
What does puspakom really do?
Puspakom conducts a set of test to ensure the vehicle is road worthy. This includes checks on the suspension system, tyres, brakes and side slip. This is to ensure that the vehicle is road worthy by the Malaysian road safety standards.
However what Puspakom does not do is determine if the vehicle is performing according to its intended spec.
Using puspakom testing as the benchmark means….
There are different standards for different manufactures but Puspakom will check the basic road worthiness of a vehicle. Which means even a 30 year old car can still be road worthy but very primitive when it comes to safety, with the potential lack of new tech like ABS, ESP and more.
The deciding factor in purchasing a vehicle comes down to several factors. Price, looks, branding, usage and of course, experience. This is why there’s test drive sessions made available for prospective buyers. The experience varies from brand, model, and even variants. For instance a BMW 2 series will have a very different driving experience compared to the BMW 3 series. Even within the 3 series grouping, a 320i and 340i will have a significantly different experience.
But if you purchase a car, but you do not get the experience you wanted from your very unit, who should be held responsible? Especially since you know what to expect, as you have done a test drive of the exact same variant before your purchase. The brands should take responsibility over this, and not just use Puspakom as a shield.
We have personally gone down to one of the Puspakom inspection centres to ask them first hand if they do have a standard for different manufacturers in evaluating a vehicles performance. Puspakom’s employees informed us that there’s no specific manufacturers standards which they adhere to, but they test vehicles on an overall benchmark, set by JPJ. Which has been a big help in reducing the number of unworthy, therefore unsafe cars on our roads.
Puspakoms inspection will check road worthiness, but not intermittent faults, or experience shortcomings.
It’s noteworthy that Chery Australia had a recall due to braking system fault.
Interestingly, the Chery OMODA 5 in Australia, which is also a right hand drive market, has experienced brake related incidents. Chery Australia stated in their press release that due to a manufacturing defect, the bolt securing the brake pipe union may not have been tightened sufficiently, and it could leak brake fluid, which would result in the reduction of braking performance.
This recall affected 5901 vehicles between 2022 to 2023 and the recall was published on the 8th of February 2024 on the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts website.
In Conclusion
We as patriotic Malaysian’s hope that brands who sell cars in Malaysia to Malaysians sit up and take real responsibility on their products performance. Offer and educate our rakyat on what kind of service and standards are provided to the buying public. Provide tangible data on which the buying public can benchmark on, not just on gut feel. Such transparency will ensure the average buying public never gets taken for a ride by any brands, local or foreign, and ensure that they saveguard our rakyat’s interest in getting their hard earned Ringgit’s worth in services and products.
