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Publish all problems with car models, campaign asserts

01 Sep 2010

A new campaign has been launched which aims to provide car insurance policyholders with more information about faults with their model of vehicle.

Auto Express magazine is spearheading the initiative, which is calling on manufacturers to publish the details of known problems with their cars.

The campaign has been backed by a number of industry bodies including a number of insurers and the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

If the initiative is successful, manufacturers will issue public technical service bulletins containing the symptoms, causes and fixes for any known problems with their vehicles.

David Johns, editor in chief of Auto Express, claimed that the fact that companies use 'secret service bulletins', which he says keeps people in the dark, rather than public recalls is a "scandal".

He said: "It is often a calculated way of hiding important reliability and quality issues from owners and avoiding responsibility for putting faults right. It is time action was taken to ensure complete transparently in this area."

Earlier this month, Tyresafe advised motor insurance customers to check their tyre pressure before hitting the road in order to minimise the risk of a crash.

Posted by Jonathan Walker