DTI taps foreign labs to do test on Montero

Eight foreign laboratories have expressed interest in conducting full vehicle tests on a model being produced by Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC).

The tests to be conducted are meant to determine the cause of the alleged sudden and unintended acceleration (SUA) incidents involving the Montero, which is distributed locally by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC).

Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said in a briefing that these laboratories were owned by the CSA Group Bayern GmbH and SGS Germany GmbH, which are both based in Germany; EMC Bayswater Pty. Ltd. (Australia); Element Materials Technology and 3C Test Limited (United Kingdom); TÜV SÜD PSB (Singapore); Delta Danish Electronics (Denmark); and  International Centre for Automotive Technology (India).

The Department of Trade and Industry  earlier sent out letters to 30 foreign laboratories, inquiring whether they had facilities for the conduct of a full vehicle test. Eight have responded favorably as some of the laboratories that were sought by the DTI did not have the equipment needed to do a complete test on the Montero.

However, the interested laboratories will still have to go through the bidding process, which has formally started following the publication of the DTI’s invitation to bid on Thursday.

A pre-bid conference will be held on Feb. 24 while the opening of bids will be on March 9. By March 15, the DTI is expected to announce the bid winners. Actual tests are expected to be conducted by April.

The DTI expects to receive by the end of May the tests results, which will then be evaluated by three local experts that the agency had earlier tapped. Final results and recommendations will be announced by the middle of 2016, Dimagiba said.