Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has summoned car companies and Ministry of Industry and Production (MoIP) officials to discuss the quality control issues in Pakistan’s auto industry.
PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan recalled the recent death of Mufti Abdul Shakoor in a high-speed car crash. The airbags in Mufti Abdul Shakur’s car did not deploy, Noor Alam Khan highlighted.
Khan expressed his displeasure with the carmakers, regulators, and authorities regarding the poor quality of cars and demanded the presence of all automakers in the next meeting to discuss the issue in detail.
Shakoor was on his way from Marriott Hotel to the Secretariat Chowk in Islamabad when his Corolla was hit from the side by a speeding Hilux Revo. Shakoor was immediately rushed to Poly Clinic Hospital, but could not survive the injuries.
In February 2021, Toyota Indus Motor Company (IMC) CEO Ali Asghar Jamali was asked about the issue of airbags not opening after a collision.
In his response, Jamali stated that front airbags must have a frontal collision to work, as is also mentioned in the owner’s manual. He stated that the sensors for the front airbags are located in the front bumpers.
Jamali complained that news outlets only report a few cases where the airbags did not deploy, while there are thousands of unreported cases of them being functional. This creates a needlessly negative image of the company.
While Toyota IMC hasn’t commented on the recent incident, it likely has the same justification.