In regards to the Perodua Axia E MT ‘steering lock’ acident which took place back in June in Penang, the Malaysian automaker has now released a statement clarifying what took place. A full diagnostic test conducted after the accident revealed that its steering, braking and airbag systems were all properly functioning. The report has been submitted to the Axia’s driver by Perodua, while the company is giving the Road Transport Department (JPJ) its full co-operation and has stated that this is the first time such a case has taken place among the Axia cars sold from September 2014 to date which numbers over 200,000.
Perodua’s MD Dr. Zahari Husin said that, “We wish to assure our customers that our vehicles adhere to stringent safety standards set by the authorities with most even surpassing those standards”. The Axia’s driver reported that his car’s steering ‘locked’ all of a sudden and could not be turned, while driving on the Second Penang Bridge at a speed of 70-80 Km/h (44-50 Mph) while it was raining. He also claimed its brakes were non-functional when he slammed on them, and that the airbags failed to deploy upon impact with the road barrier.
Countering his claims, Perodua stated in its report that the car was being driven with all 4 of its tyres in a bald state, with a tread depth of only 1 mm on three of them. In all likelihood, in this case the airbags did not deploy because the car’s structure had safely absorbed the impact, or because the impact force was not strong enough to trigger their deployment.
