Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. on Tuesday again called for a completely independent third party to settle the sudden unintended acceleration claim against Mitsubishi Montero units, amid conflicting views from complainants and the vehicle’s distributor
Mitsubishi first vice president Froilan Dytianquin said in a statement the best option was to seek the expert opinion of a third party, instead of calling for a recall of supposed “defective” units.
“A recall order is issued when a defect has been found. If there is none, there is nothing to check and correct. At this point, we believe such a recall order is not called for. That is why we have been pushing for a third party to settle the issue,” he said.
He said Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan thoroughly evaluated all 97 vehicles involved in alleged SUA and found nothing wrong with any of them.
Some complainants remained unconvinced and asked for the recall of their units, which the Trade Department may be inclined to.l
Dytianquin said the clamor for the recall of the 97 Montero units would significantly affect the businesses of Mitsubishi dealers, employees and their families.
“The perceived solution will create unintended and even bigger problems,” he said.
He said it is was baffling and just not possible why only the Montero Sport units in the Philippines were facing SUA allegations.
“There are zero SUA allegations in other Asean countries and they carry the same units that we have here. If there is a problem in the unit, that should also manifest in the units being sold in other countries,” Dytianquin said.
All available Montero Sport units in the Southeast Asia are all made in Thailand.
“We will ask the DTI to take a second look at its reported inclination to order a recall. Its effect on the businesses of MMPC, its dealers, ancillary industries, their employees and even the image of the Philippines as an investment destination will be severely affected. More importantly, what will be its basis since there is no defect in the units?,” Dytianquin asked.
The company said it would ask the Trade Department to take a second look at its reported inclination to order a recall.
The SUA story first came out in a blog in 2011 when Montero Sport was No. 1 in the mid-size SUV market. It was the market leader for the segment from 2009 to 2013.
“Now that we are about to launch our all-new Montero Sport, the SUA issue suddenly cropped up again. We are not accusing anybody. We are only raising some questions because the timing of these stories is suspect,” Dytianquin said.