Few recalls in Ja's memory

Sheldon Williams, Gleaner Writer

The majority of local new-car dealers remain unaffected by global car recalls which, in other automotive markets, continue to disrupt the brands they represent in Jamaica.

André Thomas, sales consultant at Executive Motors, Jamaica's authorised dealer for Mazda, emphasised that the company has never stocked a model affected by a recall. "Those recalls don't affect us in any way. For what we sell here there has never been a recall - never," Thomas declared.

He attributed Executive Motors' good standing to due diligence, not luck. "This is a Third World country and what we can afford to bring in from Mazda is more for the day-to-day, heavy users. We don't carry the sports packages. We don't sell the RX series. There are a lot of things to consider why we would never venture into some production lines," he said.

He theorised that the perception of the Mazda brand in Jamaica would have been affected "if we were selling those models ... but we don't sell those models. We don't sell the Mazda MX5 or the Miata or the Alpha Romeo. It is not the same technology in those vehicles that we have in our vehicles. The technology in

those vehicles is a little bit more advanced," Thomas explained.

According to news.discovery.com, Mazda issued a global recall in April for 88,000 Mazda 3, Mazda 6 and CX-5 vehicles, manufactured between October 2012 and January 2014, to reprogramme their engine control computers. Mazda reported that a "glitch" was found "in the computer programme that checks whether the capacitor, a part of the brake energy regeneration system, is functioning properly", the Economic Times reported.

As a result, there was a chance that the vehicles would not accelerate correctly, or might even stall. No accidents related to the software problem had been reported.

At the same time, Mazda recalled some 42,000 US-built Mazda 6 cars that may have been affected by yellow sac spiders, which could find their way into the fuel tanks and cause fuel line problems.

ISSUE OF IMPORT

Kent LaCroix, chairman of the Automobile Dealers Association, noted that cars in Jamaica that may have been included in recalls would have been imported from the US market, but it is rare because local auto dealers usually import from other markets.

"Any country or any territory that deals with recalls, it is usually vehicles for that particular country, but because we do not import many US cars we are not likely to be as affected as the market in the United States itself. Every now and then there are cars that come here from that market," he explained.

He said in cases where customers buy their cars independently of local dealers and directly from the US markets, usually the dealers in that country would make contact directly with their customers here.

David Crawford, marketing officer at Fidelity Motors, local dealers for the Nissan brand, said models which have been identified in a current recall are not available locally. "Our market is known as the general overseas market. That's what they call us and we don't have any of those vehicles here yet. We don't have the Altima or any new Pathfinders. We don't have any Infinities, we don't have the Leaf, none of those that have been affected by the new airbag campaign. It doesn't necessarily affect this region," Crawford said.

Crawford said the size of the Jamaican market also contributes to the exclusion from recalls. "Remember, we are a small market in comparison to the rest of the world. The number of vehicles we sell is a drop in the bucket compared to the likes of the United States," he said. He reinforced: "Usually when you hear recall in the news it doesn't affect us. It's usually US factories or some other market," he said.

Still, there is a strategy in place in case a recall, does affect Nissan in Jamaica. "Depending on the severity of the recall we would either wait until the vehicles come in to service and fix it at that time or, if it is really serious, we would make the calls and send the emails and instruct the customers to come in with the vehicles," Crawford said.

Howard Foster, sales and marketing manager at Toyota Jamaica, said that some Toyota models in Jamaica have been included in the auto manufacturer's most recent recalls, which was announced just days ago.

"It does affect a couple of our units here, so what we are waiting on is a list of the chassis numbers and we will call in the customers to have the repairs done," he said. With a Toyota recall, he said, "if it affects us they will tell us by specific chassis numbers and, if it requires parts, they will send the parts or we take it from our stock. If it doesn't require parts, they will send us the technical fix for it and we call in the customers and send them on their merry way."

SIZE OF MARKET

Again, due to market size, very few vehicles will be affected by a general recall. "It's usually a small percentage of those that actually come to Jamaica, so you may have 10 or 20," Foster said. He emphasised that local Toyota technicians make the adjustments.

"We would never ship the car. And it wouldn't be cost-effective either to ship the cars over there and fix them and send them back. It is never usually that well detailed or technical a problem and, even if it is, our technicians here can fix it," Foster said.

He said years ago, perception of the Toyota brand in Jamaica might have been affected by a recall, but they have become so normal that it might have changed. "Nowadays, there have been so many recalls that it doesn't mean much in the quality of the vehicle. What it speaks to now is the integrity of the dealer to recognise that there is a problem and say that there is a problem," Foster said.

LaCroix pointed out that not all recalls are due to potential life-threatening perils. Some are "just improvements in certain parts of the vehicles that require a recall. So recalls are done here in Jamaica, but on a very small scale. Whenever there is a particular recall on a car, the first thing is that customers will say is 'this is a car like mine', so the dealer will get inundated with calls about cars that are not included in the recall. The manufacturers will get in touch with us about which vehicles are to be recalled, and then they will get in touch with the customers," LaCroix said.