A guide to safety recalls in the used vehicle industry GUIDE

Transcription

1 A gide to safety recalls in the sed vehicle indstry GUIDE

2 Definitions Aftermarket parts means any prodct manfactred to be fitted to a vehicle after it has left the vehicle manfactrer s prodction line. Code of Practice on Safety Defects and Recalls Code relating to safety defects affecting vehicles/ machines that have been sold for se in the United Kingdom. This covers passenger cars, Commercial vehicles, passenger carrying vehicles, two and three wheeled motorcycles, qadracyles, commercial trailers, agricltral eqipment, motor homes/caravans, trailer caravans, private trailers, components fitted as original eqipment, parts and accessories spplied to the atomotive market. Code of Practice on safety defects and recalls in the vehicle aftermarket - Code relating to safety defects affecting any prodct manfactred to be fitted to a vehicle after it has left the vehicle manfactrers prodction line. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is the government agency that manages the vehicle keeper information for all registered vehicles in the UK. Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) The government agency responsible for a wide range of services inclding the management of the safety recall scheme in the UK. Forthwith is taken to mean immediately or withot delay. General Prodct Safety Directive 2001 (GPSD) the Eropean directive on prodct safety. General Prodct Safety Reglations 2005 (GPSR) the UK prodct safety legislation from the GPSD. Prodcer and distribtor are taken to have the meanings attribted to them in the General Prodct Safety Reglations Manfactrers Gide to Recalls in the Atomotive Sector A docment that provides gidance on the implementation of a safety recall. Non-Code Action This is a proactive and proportionate action registered with DVSA, which falls otside the scope of a safety recall. The isse may affect the long term safety of the prodct or its ability to satisfy legislative reqirements. Prodct Any vehicle, component, aftermarket part or accessory that is atomotive related. Safety Recall - The action taken when a defect is identified which meets the definition of a safety defect - as described below - that cold reslt in a risk of serios injry. For more information abot the UK recall process see the Manfactrers Gide to Recalls in the Atomotive Sector. Safety Defect - A safety related defect is a failre de to design and/or constrction, which is likely to affect the safe operation of the prodct withot prior warning to the ser and may pose a significant risk to the driver, occpants and others. This defect will be common to a nmber of prodcts that have been sold for se in the United Kingdom. Unit - describes the affected component/part or vehicle. User/Owner is a person, a bsiness or grop of people that are owner or final sers of goods or services.

3 Who this gide is aimed at Any person(s) or company who is in the vehicle spply chain which reslts in the sale of a sed vehicle or prodct to a consmer. Introdction to DVSA The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is an exective agency of the Department for Transport. DVSA will be formed in 2014 by the merger of the Driving Standards Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency. We will improve road safety in Great Britain by setting standards for driving and motorcycling, and making sre drivers, vehicle operators and MOT garages nderstand and follow roadworthiness standards. We will also provide a range of licensing, testing, edcation and enforcement services. Vehicle Safety Branch DVSA has a dedicated team - it s Vehicle Safety Branch (VSB) which acts as the Competent Athority for atomotive isses in the UK. It is the main contact for all safety defect and recall matters. VSB looks at isses of design or constrction and operates nder two Codes of Practice (details in the next section). It will reqest the prodcer and/or distribtor to start an enqiry where there is sfficient evidence of a safety defect and a significant nmber of vehicles are affected. VSB will monitor the investigation ntil a conclsion has been reached. VSB is responsible for the registration and monitoring of the UK safety recall scheme. It ensres that all parties in the chain between the manfactrer and the consmer nderstand their responsibilities with regard to safety recalls. Codes of Practice Vehicle Safety Branch works to two codes of practice. These are: Code of Practice for Vehicle Safety Defects and Recalls Code of Practice on safety defects and recalls in the vehicle aftermarket What prodcts do we cover? child car seats restraint systems component/aftermarket parts tyres motorcycles, qads or trikes cars caravans, motor caravans or horse boxes agricltral eqipment trcks coaches, bses or minibses 2

4 Or aim is to improve road safety by ensring that prodcts sbject to safety recall are identified and rectified or removed from the market place. What is a safety recall? The action taken when a defect is identified which meets the definition of a safety defect that cold reslt in a risk of serios injry. It is a precationary action taken by the manfactrer, when they have identified a significant safety isse on a prodct that has been sold to a consmer in the United Kingdom. This action is taken where there is a design or constrction defect liable to case significant risk of a serios personal injry or death. The safety recall ensres that the consmer is notified abot the isse and has the opportnity to retrn the prodct to the dealership or spplier for repair, exchange or refnd (depending on the prodct presented). A safety recall is ndertaken by the manfactrer free of charge. What legislation covers prodct safety? The General Prodct Safety Reglations 2005 covers the areas of prodct liability and consmer protection in the United Kingdom. Its primary role is to provide a framework to ensre that consmers are protected from nsafe prodcts and sets ot the prodcers and distribtors responsibilities. This legislation is not specific to vehicles bt covers a wide range of consmer prodcts, sch as clothing and white goods, bt excldes medicines and food. The legislation encorages Codes of Practice. These have been detailed earlier in this brochre and have their place in spporting the process. Importantly the legislation does not distingish between new and sed prodcts and gives the same responsibilities to prodcer and distribtors to protect the consmer. It states the following: The distribtor shall act with de care in order to help ensre compliance with the applicable safety reqirements and in particlar he shall not expose or possess for spply or offer or agree to spply, or spply, a prodct to any person which he knows or shold have presmed, on the basis of information in his possession and as a professional, is a dangeros prodct DVSA considers that this identifies that a prodct with an otstanding safety recall shold not be passed to a consmer. Prodcers and distribtors are professionals in their field and shold therefore be flly aware that safety recalls exist and that they can occr on any prodct. DVSA believes that this paragraph applies to the spply of sed prodcts in the atomotive sector. Whilst legislation covers this area, DVSA wishes to encorage cooperation by the trade. 3

5 Who does the legislation cover? This legislation covers anyone in the spply chain between the manfactrer and the consmer and will inclde anyone who does or does not alter the safety properties of the vehicle. We consider that will inclde; Used vehicle otlets Car spermarkets Franchised dealerships Action hoses On-line car sales Non-vehicle atomotive sales i.e. trailers, caravans etc Vehicle converters What are the risks? Taking into accont the information in the previos paragraphs the risks to the consmer and bsinesses throgh inaction are clear. The consmer has the legal right to prchase a safe prodct. If sbseqently it is proved that the prodct is not safe, then the manfactrer has the responsibility to inform the consmer of the risk and repair, replace or refnd (depending on prodct). Bsinesses in the atomotive indstry pride themselves on doing a good job in spplying safe prodcts. Not checking for otstanding recalls and ensring they are completed prior to the sale of the vehicle to a consmer threatens yor ability to do this. It is essential yo nderstand yor responsibilities so that yo can protect yorselves from this risk. Therefore, when passing a vehicle for sale or selling a vehicle to a consmer it is essential that a check of otstanding recalls is made and the risk removed. Many thosands of prodcts pass throgh the sed atomotive sector and a proportion of them will have otstanding recalls. This is a risk that is constant and needs ongoing mitigation. Previos owners do not always attend to the risk before selling the vehicle so it is incmbent pon yo as professionals, to ensre that yo attend to this prior to the sale of the vehicle or prodct. What do yo need to do? 1. If yo are selling a vehicle to a consmer yo will need to check for otstanding recalls and these safety recalls mst be attended to prior to the consmer prchasing the vehicle. 2. If yo are passing vehicles within the trade yo need to share information abot any otstanding safety recalls. At some point a consmer will prchase the vehicle and their need 4

6 for protection starts at the point when the vehicle leaves one consmer and ends when it becomes the property of another. The interim time is the responsibility of the persons in the spply chain. There are a nmber of ways that yo can make these checks. Telephone the dealership reqesting information abot a particlar vehicle keep information regarding who yo spoke to, what the otcome was, any actions agreed and date of discssion Make local agreements with dealerships to qeries to them with garanteed response times along with agreements for the logistics of getting any recalls ndertaken. Many manfactrers have the facilities to check for safety recalls on their websites.yo can se this to check and follow p with a local dealer if reqired. Telephone the manfactrer s cstomer service line or recalls helpline to reqest the information. View the recalls database on the DVSA website. This is make and model specific and will indicate if there is a possibility of otstanding recalls. Discss with sppliers who provide stock for yo how yo can work together to minimise this risk. Remember, it is yor responsibility to ensre the vehicle is passed to the consmer with no otstanding safety recalls. Contact details Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency Vehicle Safety Branch Berkeley Hose Croydon Street Bristol BS5 0DA Telephone: [email protected] VOSA website:

7 VOSA/2581E/SUP/APRIL14 Visit or websites: for commercial cstomers and private motorists for corporate information Contact s: National Nmber * Monday to Friday am ntil 6.00pm (normal working hors) Docment Reference: VSBCOP006 Isse: 3 (04/14) Origin: VSB1 Docment Review Date: Yearly Docment History Isse 1 Mar 2012 Isse 2 Oct 2013 Review and amendment Isse 3 Apr 2014 Review and amendment from VOSA to DVSA *Calls provided by BT are charged at a low rate. Charges from other providers may vary.