The analysis showed that the center received a total of 2,891 complaints on defects from imported cars over the last five years. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Mar. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Reports of defects in imported cars have reached 2,800 cases over the last five years, many of them involving engines or automatic transmission which, if they fail, may lead to serious accidents.
Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty (CUCS) revealed the results of an analysis of the defect reports of imported cars registered over the last five years with the Automobile Recall Center run by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.
The analysis showed that the center received a total of 2,891 complaints on defects from imported cars over the last five years.
The majority of the reports pointed to engine defects (768 cases, 26.56 percent), followed by automatic transmissions (483 cases), steering wheel and column (272 cases), and driving devices and equipment (228 cases).
CUUS were particularly concerned with defects in automatic transmissions that could heighten the possibility of unintended acceleration, gear-shift failure, and engine shutdown, which may lead to serious accidents.
Among the defects reported on automatic transmissions, 21.5 percent pertained to the failure of driving or shifting gears (104 cases), followed by failure in RPM acceleration (99 cases), transmission friction when shifting gear (97 cases), noise or vibration when shifting gears (86 cases), and engine shutdown (35 cases).
Most of the defects in automatic transmissions were found in BMW models (142 cases), followed by Audi Volkswagen (136 cases), Nissan (61 cases), Fiat Chrysler (34 cases), Honda (33 cases), Mercedes-Benz (28 cases), and Jaguar Land Rover (27 cases).
“Defects in automatic transmissions are found even in new cars purchased as recently as two or three years ago. Even the maintenance procedures are failing to repair the defects,” said CUCS.
“These are clearly structural problems of the vehicle itself, but there are no proper exchange or refund procedures available to customers.”
“The government should introduce stronger compensation procedures and allow group litigation to minimize consumer damages and compel the manufacturers to become more responsible,” it added.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
