KUALA LUMPUR: The government is mulling the possibility of adopting a lemon law to better protect consumers against defective vehicles.
Domestic trade and cost of living minister Armizan Mohd Ali said to a local news portal, they are in the early phases of reviewing and researching the law.
He said they would first analyse international best practices before adapting them for Malaysia.
The United States, Singapore, South Korea, China and the Philippines are among countries that have adopted a lemon law.
While Malaysia already has a Consumer Protection Act, Armizan said it does not cover consumers from defective automobiles.
"Although it is not explicitly a 'lemon law' and does not offer specific remedies such as car buybacks for unrepairable defects, the act protects consumers from defective vehicles in several ways," he said.
"It provides various provisions that can be applied to address problems with faulty vehicles," he added.
Recently, two reports of newly-bought vehicles that were defective went viral on social media.
In the first case, clerk Nagakanni Subramaniam, 31, could only use her newly-bought Perodua Bezza for less than eight hours before it broke down.
She was also obligated to pay the monthly loan instalment of RM537 for several months even though the car was stranded at a service centre.
However, after the issue has gone viral, Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) has agreed to purchase the vehicle from her at full price.
Meanwhile, Honda HR-V owner Noriya Mamat has been going back and forth to the service centre since August last year after her vehicle encountered numerous problems after being serviced.
The vehicle's headlights could not be adjusted and the emergency lights were constantly on.
She sent it in, and collected the car after a week, but the problems persisted.
She has been going back and forth since then, but after a few weeks the centre said they could not identify the problem.
Honda Malaysia said they were looking into the problem.