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OVER the
past years, the rate of mortality and morbidity due to
road-traffic accidents has risen to unsettling levels.
An annual report released by the Philippine National
Police in 2006 recorded a total of 15,064 accidents
throughout the country, which resulted in 674 deaths,
3,767 injuries and 10,623 property-damage cases.
A report
released by the United Nations Global Road Safety in
2007 showed that road accidents have zoomed to be the
fourth overall leading cause of death in the Philippines
from eighth—its previous ranking in 30 years.
Thus, it
is important to keep such grim statistics in mind before
hitting the road. Drivers should remember that once
they take the road, it’s not just their life that is in
their hands, but the lives of somebody else and their
families as well.
Moreover, strictly following traffic rules and
regulations and observing proper driving etiquette are
not enough because drivers and passengers are also at
the mercy of the vehicle, thus the quality of automotive
products used make a lot of difference.
With
this, Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Welfare Zenaida
Cuison Maglaya advises consumers to make sure that
automotive products, such as tires and inner tubes,
brake fluids, batteries, seat belts and safety glass
(for windshield, back light, sides), bear the symbols of
product quality and safety—the Philippine Standard, or
PS, mark, if locally manufactured and the Import
Commodity Clearance, or ICC, mark if imported.
“The PS
and ICC marks tell consumers that a product has been
tested and certified according to a relevant Philippine
National Standard and, thus, are made of good quality
and safe to use,” added the undersecretary.
To date,
the DTI-BPS has developed 463 Philippine National
Standards (PNS) on road vehicles to guide the industry
in manufacturing reliable motor vehicles.
These
standards were developed to ensure motorists and
passengers that the components of the vehicle they use
for their daily transportation meet the minimum safety
and performance requirements of a relevant PNS, thus
will not easily break down and cause accidents.
The 448
road-vehicle standards are classified into eight groups,
namely, road-vehicle engineering, petroleum and related
technologies, compressed natural gas, electrical
engineering, glass, rubber, automotive battery and
helmet.
Among
these PNS are for the braking system that includes PNS
UN ECE R13:2005—Braking on vehicles of categories M (at
least four wheels, used for the carriage for
passengers), N (at least four wheels, used for the
carriage of goods) and O (trailers and semitrailers),
and PNS UN ECE R13h:2005—braking of passenger cars.
Moreover, the PNS for the steering system are PNS ISO
7803:2005—Commercial road vehicles—steering ball joints;
PNS ISO17288-2:2005—Passenger cars—free-steer
behavior—Part 2: Steering-pulse open-loop test method;
PNS ISO17288-1:2005—Passenger cars—free-steer
behavior—Part 1: Steering-release open-loop test method;
PNS ISO/TR 8726:2005—Road vehicles—Transient open-loop
response test method with pseudorandom steering input;
and PNS OIML R55:2005—Speedometers, mechanical odometers
and chronotachographs for motor vehicles—metrological
regulations.
Furthermore, the PNS for the lighting systems are PNS UN
ECE R3:2005—Retro-reflecting devices for power-driven
vehicles; PNS UN ECE R4:2005—Illumination of
rear-registration plates of motor vehicles (except motor
cycles) and their trailers; PNS UN ECE R6:2005—Direction
Indicator Lamp; PNS UN ECE R7:2005—Front and rear
position (side) lamps, stop-lamps and end-outline marker
lamps for motor vehicles (except motor cycles) and their
trailers; PNS UN ECE R23:2005—Reversing lights for
power-driven vehicles and their trailers; PNS UN ECE
R37:2005—Filament lamps of power-driven vehicles and
their trailers; PNS UN ECE R38:2005—Rear fog lamps for
power-driven vehicles and their trailers; PNS UN ECE
R45:2005—Headlamp cleaners; PNS UN ECE R112:2005—Motor
vehicle headlamps emitting an asymmetrical passing beam
or a driving beam or both and equipped with filament
lamps; PNS UN ECE R91:2005—Side marker lamps for motor
vehicles and their trailers; PNS UN ECE
R46:2005—Rear-view mirrors and their installation; PNS
UN ECE R48:2005—Installation of lighting and
light-signaling devices on motor-vehicles; PNS UN ECE
R98:2005 —Motor vehicle headlamps equipped with
gas-discharge light sources; and PNS UN ECE
R99:2005—Gas-discharge light sources for use in approved
gas-discharge lamp units of power-driven vehicles.
Among
the 463 PNS on road vehicles, the DTI has declared six
PNS for mandatory product certification, which include
safety belt, brake fluid, safety glass, pneumatic tire,
inner tube for pneumatic tire, and lead acid storage
batteries, as these components are critical to the
safety of motorists and consumers.”
“Proper
testing and inspection of these automotive parts based
on the safety and performance requirements of the PNS
safeguards motorists, as well as passengers from
defective automotive components,” explains Maglaya.
Under
the BPS Product Certification Scheme, all manufacturers
and importers of DTI-regulated products are required to
apply for the PS License and ICC, respectively, and
subject their products to tests based on the PNS
requirements prior to distribution and sale. Only those
manufacturers and importers whose products passed the
requirements are issued with the PS and ICC,
respectively.
 The
DTI has intensified its monitoring and enforcement
activities to further verify the compliance of the
manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers and
wholesalers with the provisions of Republic Act (RA)
7394, or the Consumer Act of the Philippines; RA 4109,
or the standards law; Department Administrative Order
(DAO) 02:2002; DAO 01:1997; and DAO 05:2001.
Furthermore, DTI-BPS, as the national standards body of
the Philippines, through its standardization activities,
assures stakeholders that these standards are on a par
with international standards to enable local industry to
compete globally. |
