The dilemma of our country is that its leaders are quite unaware of the term 'progress' or do not have the slightest idea of the indicators of social prosperity. Most of the time our leaders claim that increased use of mobile phones, luxury cars and scarcity of water and electricity indicate that the country is on its way to join the league of the developed nations.
The indicators comprise a set of accounts that relate to time use, social capital and human health and wellbeing. The problem with this country has remained the same since 1947, ie we as a nation have utterly failed in evolving a system based on the true needs of the people of this part of the globe. A system that protects the rights of the people and does not leave them at the mercy of certain individuals or entities be it politicians, bureaucracy or the so-called multi-national firms.
The business environment of the country is said to have turned so much investor-friendly that there is no room left for any voice of concern for the protection of consumers' rights, nobody is slightly eager to pay heed to the public complaints against these multi-nationals.
Restricting myself to the auto-industry, I would like to say that the sudden boom in this sector, on the one hand, is appreciable but on the other hand the absence of a strong regulatory body supported by proper legislation will eventually create a number of problems in the long run.
The massive influx of vehicles has no doubt prompted the authorities concerned to expand and improve the road network all across the country. But still the human safety element is nowhere to be seen in any of the government's initiatives.
According to official statistics, in the year 2006, as many as 2,214 people were killed and 5,415 injured (resulting in life-long disabilities as well) in road accidents from January to June. The numbers must have increased with the passage of five more months.
Detailed research into traffic accidents has shown that rarely can an accident be attributed to a single cause. Most accidents are the product of a number of factors operating together - for instance, a tired driver, smooth tyres, a slightly slippery road surface, light rain, and dazzling headlights might all be causes of one accident. If one of these factors had been corrected, then the accident would have been avoided. The natural tendency is to look for a driving fault when investigating an accident, but it is likely (and studies have confirmed) that factors such as road conditions, weather, and mechanical faults are considerably more important.
Such a situation demands not only a proper traffic mechanism, strict enforcement of traffic laws but also a regulatory body that could make it mandatory on the auto sector to equip vehicles with all the gadgets and tools for the protection against such mishaps.
The dilemma is that the western or developed countries are investing a good amount of money in research on how to avoid severe injuries in accidents and make the automobile a safe mode of transport, for this purpose alone they encouraged organisations in private sector to create an automatic check and balance system. On the other hand such mechanism is totally missing in Pakistan.
Not only that pricing system, premium and late deliveries go unchecked by the government or any other public forum but also the passengers' safety, which is even greater aspect, has been totally neglected and the auto makers have had a field day so far.
The Pakistani motorists were lucky when Motorway Police was introduced which made the wearing of seat belt compulsory. Prior to this seat belts in locally made cars was a luxury to be found in luxury models only.
The developed countries such as Europe and United States had developed a proper mechanism to safeguard interests of the auto consumers and the manufacturers as well to cater the needs of the modern era.
Though Pakistan has managed to obtain the status of a developing country but is still lacking to evolve such a system, which is required to fulfil the growing needs of the auto sector.
The need for an appropriate authority is badly felt by the public to get a number of issues resolved in an easy manner. The matters pertaining to high prices, shortage of vehicles, lack of security related instruments and reduction in the incidences of accidents are pressing hard for establishing an authority to cope with such needs.
The ratio of accidental deaths is witnessing a decline in Europe and other developed states, but it is increasing here in Pakistan. People feel insecure while using automobile in the absence of appropriate security mechanism to check malpractice of auto manufacturers. A lawmaker has alleged that his young son had died because of a defective system installed in his car. Dr Sher Afgan, parliamentary leader of the PPP Patriots, whose young son Behram Khan died in a road accident on November 22, 2002, is fighting a legal battle with the Japanese automobile giant for allegedly installing a defective supplemental restraint airbag system in his son's car. Islamabad police had included the names of the Japanese owner of the automobile company and its two officers in Pakistan.
The car was equipped with the airbag system to provide complete protection to the person driving the vehicle. He said examination by the motor vehicle examiner Islamabad revealed that the protective system had completely failed to function at the time of accident, which resulted into the death of his son. This failure was contrary to the assurance and guarantee given by the company, he alleged.
The MNA claimed that the airbag system, installed in the car of the petitioner's son was typical of the airbags and the same was not intended to deploy in all cases. It provides only further and not the complete protection.
But since, there are no laws to protect the rights of the consumers in this country, such incidents will occur in the future and the people responsible for such mishaps will go scot-free.
To gauge the gap between developed and under developed countries' car safety checks and protection mechanism Vs awareness of consumer rights, one could look at the number of forums available to the auto users and quantum of research being done on the subject.
Carmakers have been both accused of making cars that go too fast, and praised for the safety measures (such as ABS) found in luxury models. A number of books have critically analysed the responsibility of carmakers for safety. The most famous is probably Ralph Nader's 'Unsafe at any speed: the designed-In dangers of the American Automobile (1965), and more recently Keith Bradsher's High and Mighty: the dangerous rise of SUVs.
One of the examples of Nader's book, and the article, for which it is probably most widely known although it forms only one chapter, was General Motors' Chevrolet Corvair. Nader criticises the safety of the 1960-63 Corvairs, which had a suspension design prone to "tuck under" in certain circumstances and which required drivers to maintain correct tire pressures. Nader suggested that the pressures also rendered the tires overloaded, according to the standards laid down by the Tire and Rim Association, with two or more passengers on board.
The suspension design was modified for the 1964 model, just far enough ahead of publication to allow its inclusion in the book; most significantly a second, outboard constant velocity joint was added to maintain a constant camber angle at the wheels.
Corvairs from 1965 on were of this type and did not suffer the characteristic tuck-under crashes. GM responded by both trying to silence Nader with a private investigation and by improving the Corvair's suspension.
On March 22, 1966, GM President James Roche was forced to appear before a US Senate subcommittee, and to apologise to Nader for the company's campaign of harassment and intimidation. Today in Pakistan we proudly declare that my car has an air bag placed in steering box but the west is debating air bags in the doors to save the auto user from side impact in case of accidents.
Side air bags that provide head protection reduce the ratio of driver's death by 37 percent, while side air bags that protect only the chest and abdomen reduce deaths by 26 percent. A study by the Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, also found that side air bags were especially helpful in SUV accidents, with head-protecting side air bags reducing the risk of death by 52 percent and torso air bags by 30 percent. According to Anne McCartt, a vice president at the institute and co-author of the study, as many as 2,000 lives could be saved a year with side air bags if they were included in all vehicles.
In Pakistan, the local auto industry of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles has progressed at the rate of 22 percent during 2005-06 and registered production of 187,000 units as compared to 153,000 units during the same period of the previous year while the total production of CKD units for the period was approximately 193,000 units, up 27 percent over twelve months ended in June 2005.
The industry also witnessed rise in motorcycle sales 24 percent, trucks 27.7 percent, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) 27.4 percent and farm tractors by 88 percent in 2005-06 as compared to 2004-05. The import of used cars stood at 45,479 units during 2005-06 as compared to 11,877 units in the corresponding period of the previous year but it has failed to harm the high demand of locally assembled cars like Suzuki Alto, Suzuki Mehran, Suzuki Cultus, Toyota petrol version and Honda City.
The demand for both imported used cars and locally produced cars have remained very high during the last fiscal. It means that there is a big vacuum in demand and supply estimated at 30,000-40,000 units.
The increase in numbers of used car imports has led to bottoming out of high premiums being charged on locally made cars by the authorised dealers. Besides, delivery period has shrunk due to import of used cars coupled with rising production capacities by the carmakers but delivery period of high demand vehicles still ranges between two to four months.
The interest rates, although slightly higher than before, are still low enough to encourage car financing. The introduction of new models and overall economic growth has also boosted the auto demand during 2005-06.
Pak Suzuki holds 52 percent market share followed by 29 percent by Indus Motor Company, 18 percent by Honda and five percent by Dewan Farooq Motors. Sales of motorcycles by PAMA members have surged to 516,640 units from 417,066 units and if non-PAMA members' sales are included then the total figures crossed over 700,000 units in 2005-06.
The recent trade policy has also introduced a number of initiatives to provide some relief to the public allowing it import of vehicles up to three years old under the gift and personal baggage schemes. Pakistanis living abroad holding "Pakistani origin card" will be eligible under this proposal. The facility made available to overseas Pakistani is being abused by back-door investors, as there will be no requirements to register the vehicle in the name of a Pakistani national prior to its import under personal baggage or transfer of residence scheme.
The local car industry had initiated double shift to bridge demand and supply gap by gearing up efforts to expand business. The expansion in demand was the result of attractive leasing and car funding schemes.
Again all these initiatives on the part of the government are appreciable, but again the element of human safety and consumers' rights protection is missing. The government must take steps in this regard and the private sector, especially NGOs, should come up with some forum to address the public complaints against the auto industry in Pakistan.
The Sher Afgan case clearly indicates that it is not easy for Pakistani consumers to prove any wrongdoing on the part of the automakers as there is no law not only to protect the consumers but to check the automakers as well.