The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday announced a new regulation to protects people from purchasing defective vehicles.
“This is an extra layer of protection for consumers,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told a news conference in Taipei.
“Unlike previous efforts, this protection will be written straight into law,” she said, referring to the Mandatory and Prohibitory Provisions of Standard Contracts for Sales of Mobile Vehicles (汽車買賣定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項).
Photo: CNA
Under the amendments, if a new vehicle or a vehicle under 6 months old with less than 12,000km on the odometer catches fire, the owner has the right to exchange it for another vehicle of the same model, or get their money back.
If other serious defects, such as unexpected acceleration, brake failure, engine overheating or other “defects that potentially threaten life and health” occur and persist after two repairs, the new regulation also applies, the ministry said.
The new regulation also applies to vehicles with less serious defects that persist after four repairs, if the repairs leave the owner without a vehicle for more than a month, it said.
The new regulation will go into effect on July 1, Wang said.
Separately, Wang expressed the hope that Taiwan could participate in a “chips for vaccines” scheme, which was suggested by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, to help Taiwan obtain COVID-19 vaccines in exchange for certain automotive chips, which are in short supply on the global market.
“Under the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have to support each other as much as we can,” Wang said. “We are willing to do our best to provide the world’s auto industries.”
Wang said that she has spoken to German Institute Taipei Director-General Thomas Prinz about the possibility of Germany helping Taiwan obtain vaccines.
On Wednesday, Wang received a letter from Prinz seeking help to resolve the chip shortage, she said.
“Yesterday I told Prinz that we are trying to help solve the problems of the automotive industry. Of course we hope they can help us with vaccines, especially for our medical staff,” Wang said. “Prinz will forward our request to the German government.”
Asked whether there would be further attempts at “chip diplomacy,” she said that the ministry is approaching the issue “one thing at a time.”
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