Yesterday, when we adjourned, I was dealing with the position of people who buy motor cars and who are invited by the garage proprietor, the person selling the car, to sign what is known as a guarantee; and I was saying that in such circumstances, in most cases I know of, the person who signs what purports to be a guarantee is, in fact, signing away any rights he may have under the Sale of Goods Act. I was dealing with the position of people who buy on hire purchase terms.
When a person buys a car on hire purchase, which most people do not understand or realise, the person who is liable to the purchaser for any defects or deficiencies in the car bought on hire purchase is not the supplier but the hire purchase company, and the guarantees and the warranties given by the hire purchase company are very limited where the goods are secondhand, indeed if they exist at all, and they are circumscribed by the Hire Purchase Act of 1946 in the case of new goods. It seems to me that at this stage, when the motor assembly industry is, so to speak, being given a new charter in this Bill, that the Minister, now that the whole matter is in the melting pot and that the business of motor manufacture is open to review, should write into the licence he will issue conditions relating to the quality of manufactured motor vehicles and that he should have discussions with the motor assemblers and get voluntarily from them or, if necessary, insert a condition in the licences which will be issued to them, an agreement that they will not issue or publish any document which is likely to mislead a purchaser of a motor vehicle.
In particular I have in mind the kind of document that is in all cases referred to as a guarantee but which, far from being a guarantee, is a waiver by the purchaser of rights, of the implied warranty which he has or is entitled to insist on under section 14 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893. The Minister should also take up with the assemblers the question of the rectification of faults that appear in vehicles.
It is well known—one has seen it in relation to particular makes of cars in the US and Germany—that from time to time motor vehicles are designed in such a way, or there are parts used of such a kind, that a whole range or make of car has to be withdrawn for the purpose of rectifying a fault. That is in cases where there is a great deal at stake or where the risk of accident is likely to be high because of some fault in some part or some component.
There is an area, however, in which safety may not be affected but which at the same time can result in a loss to numerous purchasers of cars. For instances, one can see a case where a purchaser is told that there are bad shock absorbers or bad clutches and the purchaser is left with no remedy, especially if he has signed this fraudulent guarantee presented to him at the time of purchase.
Therefore, it is the duty of the State, of the Minister for Industry and Commerce or the Minister for Justice, to see that some protection is afforded to innocent purchasers of cars who are not in a position, because of the cost involved, of prosecuting or bringing to court these great concerns who have all the technical skill and all the money to defend themselves in court, and it is unfair to expect citizens who pay dear prices for cars to have to fight an action based on some technical deficiency in a motor car.
There is another matter which I wish to bring to the notice of the Minister for Industry and Commerce and it is a matter with which he should be very much concerned. We all know that there is one motor assembler in this country which produces a motor car which, when the tyres get a bit worn, develops a wobble in the steering. We also know that the same assembler produces equipment which he sells to every garage in order to rectify a defect which should never exist in the first place. Members of the public who buy that car have to sit back and drive it and nobody has ever taken any steps to rectify the situation. It is high time that the Government, acting on behalf of the public, should say to this manufactures that they will not allow him to put on the road a vehicle the steering of which is defective, a vehicle so defective that they have to put on sale a device to correct the fault. If the House wishes me to give the name of the firm involved I will do so but I am sure that the Cathaoirleach would not wish it.
We all know the motor car concerned, we all know the defect and we all know that it is not irremediable because it does not occur in every kind of car. Now it is time for the Minister on behalf of the public, who are paying large sums of money for this defective vehicle, to intervene and tell the manufacturer concerned and all motor manufacturers what standards they ought to attain and if they do not attain these standards he should take action against them. It is for that reason that I have inserted paragraph (c) of the amendment which suggests that the Minister should put into the licence a condition providing that the manufacturer or assembler of a motor car should, when called upon either by the person concerned or by the Minister to rectify faults, should do so or, if the faults are not rectified, that the assembler should pay appropriate compensation to the person concerned. If the Minister accepts this amendment he will have the support of the public. It is an amendment to which motor manufacturers should not have any legitimate objection because motor manufacturers in this country should produce vehicles of a high standard and ones that will not cause additional expense to the motoring public who are paying high prices for them.