A unit of the Trade Department did not find any technical defects on the automatic transmission units of Montero Sport released between 2010 and 2015, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Wednesday.
Lopez said based on the latest technical findings, the department would practice fair judgement on the case filed by a group of Mitsubishi Montero owners on the so-called “sudden unintended acceleration.” Lopez said the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau, through a technical analysis, found out there was no basis for the so-called SUA case filed by a group of Montero owners against Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp.
“I was informed in an update, about two weeks ago, that FTEB did not find any technical defect on any Mitsubishi Montero unit sent for evaluation by the bureau. They even brought engineers and even other car brands for comparison and testing,” Lopez said.
The Trade Department’s Consumer Protection Group in June ordered MMPC to recall automatic transmission units of Montero Sport released from 2010 to 2015, allegedly due to a defect in its pedal displacement design. MMPC, however, filed an appeal and the case was elevated to the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau which ruled out any technical defects on the vehicles.
Lopez assured that the final verdict of the department would be just and fair.
The Consumer Protection Group earlier ordered Mitsubishi to recall about 60,000 units of A/T Montero Sport, because of allegedly defective pedal displacement design.
About 10 Montero owners were still claiming for remuneration or unit-swapping after their units allegedly exhibited instances of SUA.
Sales of Montero Sport accounted for 25 percent to 28 percent of Mitsubishi’s annual sales. MMPC expects vehicle sales to hit 75,000 units this year, up 22 percent from 62,400 units it delivered in 2016.
MMPC is the second largest vehicle distributor in the Philippines, after Toyota Motor Philippines.
