Honda City 2003-2005 owners reminded of rear seat belt installation
Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd today released a statement urging owners of the 2003-2005 Honda City to have their rear centre seat belts installed for free by any one of 59 authorized Honda 3S centres in the country, Some 25,480 units of the City sold between 2003 and 2005 came without seat belts for the rear centre passenger.
In June 2008, the Government, through the Road Safety Department (JKJR), had announced that cars registered from 1 January 1995 onwards were required to have rear seat belts, and cars not so equipped were given a three year grace period beginning 1 January 2009 to have them retrofitted. Honda Malaysia then announced in October 2008 that affected units of the City will have missing centre belts fitted at Honda Malaysia’s cost.
Honda Malaysia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno said, “Promoting road safety has always been a commitment of Honda. Three years ago, Honda Malaysia was the first non-national car manufacturer in Malaysia to sign a MoU with JKJR, to promote and support the government’s move towards road safety.”
That three-year grace period will be coming to an end on 31 December 2011, and more than 50% of the affected Honda City owners still have yet to undergo this free refit. With less six months left till the deadline, Honda Malaysia is urging customers who have yet to perform the retrofitting to make plans now and avoid the inevitable congestion of their service centres due to the last minute crowds.
“In view of the upcoming festive holidays and that many will be driving on the roads to ‘balik kampung’, we urge all City owners who have yet to bring their car in for the free rear centre seat belt installation, to do so soon. It is also important to send their cars for a routine service and check before driving long distances. We would like to advise that Honda customers make their service appointments
earlier to avoid the crowd,” Ueno added.
This attitude of ignorance and procrastination is unfortunately not limited to just owners of the City. Perodua personnel are in a similar dilemma where a large number of their cars affected by this ruling have yet to make their seat-belt fitting appoints as well. In any case, Perodua’s headache is even bigger than Honda, because there are far more Kelisas and Kenaris running around compared to the City.
Currently, only 10% of backseat passengers in Malaysia use the seat belt. Many still do not realise that failure to wear it would induce the risk of serious injuries and death by 50% in an accident. Once the ruling takes effect, passengers at the rear could be penalized with a RM300 compound if they are caught not wearing the seat belt.
So, people, don’t just sit there. Get those damned belts fixed.
Picture: Official Honda release.
