The Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) has issued a temporary ban on the use of charging sockets in all express buses until the completion of the investigation into the death of a teenage bus passenger who was fatally electrocuted while charging his mobile phone in the vehicle, reported Bernama.
The temporary ban on charging socket use on express buses is to enable a thorough investigation to determine the actual cause of the incident, Loke said.
“We have also sought advice from the Energy Commission (ST) and if there are any improvements needed by the ministry of transport, we are ready to work with ST to review the standard operating procedures that need to be implemented before wiring or the use of sockets is permitted in express buses,” the minister said.
At present, inspection of charging sockets is not part of the inspection process conducted by vehicle inspection body Puspakom, as charging sockets are categorised as accessories.
Associate professor Law Teik Hua from Universiti Putra Malaysia’s road safety research centre called for charging ports in express buses to be included in the inspection checklist, pointing out that due to the increase in the number of USB ports in vehicles, automotive integrated circuits must meet the Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) standards, which is a risk classification system defined by ISO 26262.
There are four ASIL levels, with A representing the lowest degree and D being the highest degree of automotive hazard. While systems such as airbags power steering and anti-lock brakes are designed to ASIL-D standards, USB chargers are typically not required to meet ASIL standards as they do not directly impact critical systems.
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