Proposal for passenger cars to have a lifespan of no more than 20 years and the story of 'durability depends on the user'

The Ministry of Transport has just sent a draft Road Law to seek opinions from ministries, localities and relevant agencies, including a proposal to legalize the age of use of motor vehicles.

Currently, Decree 95/2009 only regulates the general age limit of cargo vehicles and the age limit of passenger vehicles.

However, in the draft Road Law, the Ministry of Transport proposed to legalize and specify more clearly the subjects. In particular, it clearly stated that 2 groups must have a defined age limit: Cargo vehicles (trucks) and commercial vehicles carrying 10 or more people. Thus, passenger vehicles with up to 9 seats (family cars) do not have a usage limit.

*The draft Road Law proposes to stipulate that passenger cars have a usage period of no more than 20 years (Illustration photo: Dinh Thanh)*

Accordingly, the draft proposes that the age limit for cargo vehicles (trucks) should not exceed 25 years and for vehicles carrying 10 or more people (including the driver) - passenger cars, should not exceed 20 years.

The vehicle's useful life is calculated from the year of manufacture. According to the drafting agency, it is necessary to legalize the useful life of vehicles for transport business. This will create a legal framework to build more specific legal documents under the law.

Talking to VietNamNet reporter about this proposal, Mr. Dao Cong Quyet, Head of the Communications Subcommittee, Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, said that in the long term, there should be no age limit.

“Because the quality of each vehicle’s safety assurance is different. This depends on each vehicle brand as well as the different maintenance and repair conditions of each vehicle,” said Mr. Quyet.

Therefore, Mr. Dao Cong Quyet recommended that the Government should develop clear regulations on the responsibility of users to perform vehicle maintenance and repair in accordance with the manufacturer's regulations.

“Manufacturers are responsible for providing products and maintenance and repair services to customers according to the law. State management agencies develop regulations and conduct vehicle quality inspections to ensure safety, and eliminate unsafe vehicles based on technical standards, not by age,” said Mr. Quyet.

Expressing his opinion, Dr. Khuong Kim Tao, former Deputy Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee, emphasized that this regulation aims to gradually eliminate old and dilapidated cars and replace them with new ones. Because in reality, new cars are always safer and have more outstanding features.

“Using old cars not only affects safety and the environment but also causes many other problems. Therefore, this regulation is necessary to eliminate poor quality cars,” Mr. Tao analyzed.

Cars are somewhat like people, Mr. Tao cited that there are people who have to retire at 45 years old due to health problems, but there are people who are 60 years old and still have good health to meet the job requirements. Therefore, if the car is strictly regulated by the year of manufacture, it is not necessarily accurate.

“If the regulation is enforced, many good cars will be scrapped. Meanwhile, there will be situations where cars are not yet due for scrapping but are of very poor quality.

The quality of each vehicle depends on the exploitation process and maintenance and repair regime of each vehicle owner. Therefore, if all trucks are used for only 25 years or 20 years for passenger cars, I think we have not fully utilized the material facilities of society to serve people," Dr. Khuong Kim Tao expressed.

Mr. Tao suggested that there should be a solution to control vehicle quality as well as vehicle emissions using technology - based on the quality of each vehicle to decide whether the vehicle is qualified to continue circulating or not?

“In my opinion, after the 20 or 25 year period, we should check and evaluate which vehicles are still qualified and allow them to be used. The evaluation of which vehicles are qualified and of good quality for continued use will be carried out by the authorities with accurate evaluation machines. However, there must also be specific regulations for this to avoid negative consequences,” Mr. Tao noted.

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