Free rear center belts for 2003-2005 Honda City
Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Road Safety Department of Malaysia to support the government’s move for safer cars in Malaysia.
The Road Safety Department recently pushed for car manufacturers to install rear seatbelts on cars that did not have them for free, and Honda is the first non-national make to do so.
According to Honda Malaysia’s CEO Atsushi Fujimoto, there are 25,480 units of the Honda City sold between 2003 to 2005 that do not have rear center seat belts.
Free installation of belts for the affected cars will begin in October 2008 and all costs will be born by Honda Malaysia. It will be done in batches and owners will be informed on when they can come in to install their belts.
UPDATE: All Honda Citys do have 2 rear seatbelts at the rear. This exercise is to install a 5th seat belt for the middle seat.
August 26, 2008 @ 7:22 am
What? Honda City got no rear seatbelts? what’s a joke?
August 26, 2008 @ 7:35 am
HMSB’s procurement department decided to not have rear seatbelts to save cost when they learnt that it was not required by law.
August 26, 2008 @ 8:29 am
Even my 15 year old Iswara pun got rear seatbelt……what a lame excuses la HOnda…
August 26, 2008 @ 8:34 am
this is called, skirting the regulations.. at least they’re fixing the belts for free for all cars. initially, perodua were charging their customers for it.
August 26, 2008 @ 8:37 am
If Proton sure people whack kow-kow……
August 26, 2008 @ 8:58 am
give them a break. it may be a lame excuse but they could have chosen to keep quiet about things and leave the owners alone.
something is better than nothing.
August 26, 2008 @ 9:16 am
huhu..what a shame (really shame), 2005 honda city sill dont have a rear seat belts..
August 26, 2008 @ 9:27 am
To Honda, saving 300 ringgit is more important than putiing rear seatbelt…..
August 26, 2008 @ 9:29 am
hahahahah.. it true.. if proton don’t install rear seat belt.. everybody will bash kaw-kaw.. kekekke
what about kancil 660? do they install rear seat belt?
August 26, 2008 @ 10:00 am
simple ma..proton got backing from the G and everything is localized, what else could go wrong? thats why ppl have high expectations from it. if proton does not deliver, of course consumers felt robbed and will bash it till the max. cos they are ‘cornered’ to buy it.
but at least honda, a foreign company admits it and put in efforts to fix it for free. its really highly admirable.
August 26, 2008 @ 10:20 am
I think the report isn’t actually accurate. What I believe is that they are talking about the middle 5th seat-belt which the City does not have. The City has 4 seat-belts in total but did away with the middle one. Not sure about others, but mine had 4 and mine is a 2004 model.
August 26, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Procurement works with QCD as a religion. Hence, if the law at the time says only driver and front passenger require seatbelts, then so be it. ADR/NZ and European requirements say all 5 passengers need ELR belts. Rear centre cannot cannot be the 2-point lap belt. Hence cars like the first batch of Honda Jazz VTEC (huge rear spoiler version) and 206 have ELR for all 5 occupants.
August 26, 2008 @ 11:00 am
ignas “but at least honda, a foreign company admits it and put in efforts to fix it for free. its really highly admirable.”
you statement seems to say that proton did not install rear seatbelts for their cars..? is that true?
August 26, 2008 @ 11:02 am
My wife’s honda city June 2005 (pre-facelift) have 2 3-point rear seat belts. It doesn’t have the center rear seat belt, however.
May I know whether this campaign applies to my wife’s City? i.e. fixing the third rear seat belt? Then it will be very good!
August 26, 2008 @ 11:15 am
if other company didnot put the rear seatbelt, they will say “its ok.. cost cutting.. they install it for free then ma…”
if proton do the same, these kind of people will say “what the f**k are they thinking? useless car manufacturer!!!”
good lord please save us….
August 26, 2008 @ 11:26 am
If Proton sure kena teruk-teruk.
August 26, 2008 @ 11:40 am
Just want to point out that Honda City does come with 2 3-point rear seat belts. What is missing is the centre 2-point rear seatbelt.
August 26, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
they juz don’t have rear CENTER seat belt, i remember my aunt RM27k Saga LMST also dun have!
August 26, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
BanyakMasukWorkshop, nope, i didnt mean it that way. i apologise for being off topic if that is what you want from me. what i meant was, when they realized its a mistake they made, they admit it, fix it, even better for free. unlike proton, no matter how many gazillion times u bring it to their service center when ’small’ problem arise…. lots of ‘drama’….. ok perhaps im just one of the many unlucky ones.
August 26, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
I just watched RTM2 mandarin news, this news is reported too. According to the CEO of Honda Malaysia (Japanese Guy speaking not so good English), the free rear seat belt will only be the center rear seat belt. As I pointed out earlier, in my wife’s City, there were already 2 3-point rear seat belt.
The campaign will start in October 08.
August 26, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
story of drame is actually exaggerate to much.. every car manufacture play drame also laa.. the worst still come to Proton kekekek
but.. don’t tell me if u drive honda they entertain every of ur comments..
August 26, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
o btw, i also didnt mean tat proton does not recall their cars. let me rephrase again my first comment why ppl bash proton not less likely to foreign company….nah lazy to go thru that again….
August 26, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
no problem ignas.. just wanted to understand what you meant.
my bimmer also the same as your proton la..haha.. hence my nick.. (B)anyak (M)asuk (W)orkshop..
actually.. my mums city also had problems.. with the brakes..the discs keep on warping(problem still persisting), and the CVT box died.. my bro-in-laws new vios bumper fell off after hitting a pothole… my conclusion.. everybody has problems.. same goes with lotus, (L)ots (O)f (T)rouble, (U)sually (S)erious. but i was lucky with my wira last time.. no problems at all except for power windows..
as for protons, they also have the issue of some models with no centre belt, iswara and gen2.. but they’ve already announced they will fix it all for free a few months back.. i believe they were the 1st to announce it.
August 26, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
at least honda did not keep this to themselves..
lol, my 12yo Satria pun ada rear seat belt..
August 26, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
After checking with Honda, it is confirmed that all affected Honda City do have rear seatbelts, its just missing the belt for the middle passenger.
August 26, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
lol, I think Paul better rectify it on the title. Or they’ll bash Honda like nothing.
August 26, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
Guys – i think you are missing the point here. If the car is designed as 5 seaters, then it must have 5 seat belts, not 4. Unless some people at Honda cannot count, then it become intentional, due to some cost savings, as it was not required by law then.
But if you ask if it was ‘ethical’ for a big car company like Honda (or any car company for that matter) then it becomes another topic for discussion. In Europe or US they would not dare to ignore such issues becasue they risk being sued if there are injuries in accidents and seatbelts were not sufficiently provided. In Malaysia we are less concerned by such things and some car manufacturers cut coners when it comes to occupant and even pedestrian safety.
On the flip side, people with large families and who cannot afford an MPV will have great difficulties when it comes to holidays and Balek Kampung time.
August 26, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
good guys..lets make this into a very clever and proper discussion. people who just came to do some sort of blindless bashing are not welcome here, right?
August 26, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
who sits in the middle?
August 26, 2008 @ 7:29 pm
now where is Toyota?
August 26, 2008 @ 11:09 pm
here mainly ppl play with proton lotus handling and honda VTEC engine
toyota are not qualified to discuss
September 2, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
Is it going to be 2 point or 3 point safety belt? If Honda thinks back of this botched attempt, they should be smart to install a 3 point belt.