1.2 million vehicles recalled in seven years

Muscat, Jan 4 - The Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) carried out 670 recall campaigns in which about 1.2 million vehicles were recalled between 2013 and 2020. The vehicles with some technical faults were recalled in cooperation with a number of vehicle dealers, while the number of withdrawn goods reached 136,532.

The reasons for the recall of vehicles varied between defects and technical repairs that were detected later by the manufacturer in the country of origin.

Yaqoub bin Mubarak al Ghafri, Director, Recall and Warning Department, said the recall process required to bring these vehicles to the authorised agents’ workshops and repair the technical failures in the vehicles as their presence may lead to a defect in the work of the vehicle and thus expose its users to serious damage.

Al Ghafri added, “Some of the technical faults of the recalled cars, according to what the report mentioned, are due to weakness in welding of the fuel injector in the vehicles, error in the control unit programming in the passenger restraint system, use of insufficient insulation for the set of the rear signals, presence of a defect in the seat belt and a defect in the seat belt reminder switch in the driver’s seat, fuel pump failure, electrical short in the electronic control unit, defective airbag inflator, defective ignition switch, defect in the rear brake pads and steering wheel, in addition to the possibility of rupture of the air inflator due to excessive internal pressure When opening the driver’s airbag, etc.”

It may be noted that the recalls were based on what was stipulated in Article (27 of the Consumer Protection Law, which obligated the supplier upon discovering a defect in the good or service that would harm the consumer or his money to stop the circulation of the good or service and notify consumers of this defect and withdraw the defective product from the market immediately.

The authority confirmed its keenness to conduct continuous checks of all the products and services offered in the Sultanate’s markets to preserve the rights of consumers with regards to quality and safety standards.