Lemon law feasibility study to be carried out this year

A feasibility on lemon law for vehicles will be carried out this year, according to the ministry of domestic trade and cost of living (KPDN), The Star has reported.

The legislation would empower consumers to claim for losses if the vehicles they have purchased, have broken down or have failed to abide by quality standards or performance criteria as stated by their supplier, KPDN minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said.

“Once the study is completed, a policy decision will be made at the ministry level before the legal framework is carried out,” Armizan stated in a written reply to Ayer Hitam member of parliament Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

Lemon laws are a form of consumer protection, which requires cars under warranty that are found to be defective or unsafe to be fully repaired by the manufacturer.In the event the car is deemed to be irreparable after a reasonable number of repair attempts, the buyer can be offered a refund or replacement.

At the beginning of this year, the plight of a Perodua Bezza owner had been circulating on Facebook, which was followed by an official statement by Perodua regarding the matter.

Countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Philippines have already implemented the lemon law in some form, though Armizan noted that the Consumer Protection Act 1999 in Malaysia did protect consumers from defective automobiles.

“The act protects consumers regarding defective vehicles in several ways, although it is not explicitly a ‘lemon law’ and does not offer specific remedies such as car buybacks for unrepairable defects. It provides various provisions that can be applied to address problems with faulty vehicles,” the minister said, Free Malaysia Today reported.

The domestic trade and cost of living minister had previously revealed in January that the government is researching the possibility of introducing a lemon law, following calls from the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) to introduce a legal remedy for consumers.

The CAP has previously called for the same, in 2019. In 2014, the Malaysian Association of Standards Users (Standards Users) and the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) had also called on the government at the time to implement a lemon law.

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