Muscat: The Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) in Oman has launched a national campaign on the recall of defective vehicles, which continue until October 24.
Salim bin Ali al Hakmani, head, CPA, "The establishment of this campaign comes within the framework of the continuous efforts made by the authority to preserve the rights of consumers and also to ensure the quality and safety standards."
The campaign will emphasize the importance of cooperation with all concerned authorities to ensure the safety of all vehicles on all roads in the Sultanate of Oman.
It may be noted that while CPA has recalled over one million vehicles considering the fact that some defects can cause a danger to consumer safety and health
Admitting that there has been a lack of response to recall campaigns from consumers, CPA launched the campaign in cooperation with nine government and private agencies to raise awareness of the Consumer Protection Law and its executive regulations.
CPA said it implemented 764 recalls during the period from 2013 until the end of the first half of this year, which included 1, 175,673 vehicles and 154,315 vehicle parts.
There were 25 recall campaigns involving 8,787 vehicles and 17,500 goods during the first half of this year.
Khalid bin Ali al Rashidi, director of communications and information department of the authority, said, "The national campaign to recall vehicles is due to the fact as there has been a lack of response from consumers to these campaigns despite the fact some risks can lead to traffic accidents, deaths, and financial losses. These risks are supposed to be repaired by the factory and the authorized agent in the Sultanate."
Some of the serious defects found in vehicles are engines are the opening of the vehicle hood, safety locks, or automatic opening of the main lock.
CPA recalled more than 20,000 vehicles with faults in the brakes, which could cause accidents, a vehicle fire due to oil leakage, and 8,295 vehicles with faults in the cruise control.
The number of vehicles affected by airbag defects was 210,420.
The number of vehicles affected by a defect in the engine start system, a defect in the engine programming, or a defect in the fuel pipe was 32,340, while 13,648 vehicles were affected by a transmission defect, 8,378 vehicles by poor manufacturing of the components and their non-conformity with the standard specifications.
Muhammad bin Mubarak al Qasimi of the Consumer Protection Authority said: "As per Article (27) of the Consumer Protection Law, “It is obligatory for the supplier upon discovering the existence of a defect in the commodity or service that may harm the consumer .”
The supplier must stop the circulation of this commodity or provide the service immediately, and must notify the consumers who purchased the commodity or received the service and the concerned authorities.”
The punishment in cases of violations includes a fine of up to RO50,000 and imprisonment of up to three years.
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