VietNamNet Bridge – The Viet Nam Register (VR) is set to order motorbike manufacturers and assemblers to review their entire production process following several incidents in which vehicles burst into flames on the road.

Police load a burnt-out Honda SH motorbike on a truck after it caught fire in Ha Noi yesterday, Dec 12, one of several such incidents of late. (Photo: VNS)
Trinh Ngoc Giao, head of the VR, admitted that until now the focus had been on imported motorbikes.

In the case of locally made and assembled vehicles, his agency only monitored the first 500 motorbikes coming out of the production line, he said.

This would be expanded to keep an eye on all vehicles sold in the market, which had to meet the registered standards, he said.

If any manufacturer or assembler was discovered selling motorbikes that failed to meet the standards, they would be confiscated, he warned.

Vuong Ngoc Tuan, deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Standards and Consumers Association, said consumer laws made makers responsible for their products that caused problems for or harmed users.

Nguyen Van Hau, a lawyer and vice chairman of the HCM City Bar Association, said: “We need to find out why the motorbikes burst into flames recently because it involves the safety of millions of Vietnamese who use motorbikes.” 

Another Honda motorbike burns in street

A Honda’s SH motorbike burst into flames at the crossroads of Kim Ma, Lieu Giai and Nguyen Chi Thanh streets after crashing into a car, causing a one-hour traffic jam at midday yesterday.

No one was injured in the accident.

Only the metal frame of the scooter, worth over VND100 million (nearly US$4,700) remained after the 10-minute fire.

A series of motorcycle fires has been reported in Ha Noi over the past few months and all of the vehicles involved have been Hondas.

Do Huu Duc, deputy head of the VR, said most repairmen were not trained professionally, often not even formally, and were not aware that a minor error while fixing the electrical wiring in a motorbike could cause explosions.

He also called for making it mandatory for motorbike owners to get their vehicles checked periodically.

A Honda Air Blade burst into flames last Friday while a woman was driving it on Nguyen Trai Street in Ha Noi’s Thanh Xuan District.

The Forensic Institute said the likely cause was a technical error.

On December 1 a Honda Dream exploded in the northern province of Bac Ninh, claiming the life of a pregnant 29-year-old woman who was driving it and seriously injuring her young daughter.

An Air Blade burst into flames in Ha Noi last October, but luckily the father and son who were on it escaped unscathed.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News