The motor vehicle industry in Sri Lanka has not seen proper regulation in terms of importing suitable vehicles and roadworthiness, and after four years of an import ban on motor vehicles, the country’s ageing vehicle fleet is facing serious issues regarding roadworthiness, which have resulted in avoidable deaths.

The most famous incident involving faulty items was reported in February 2023, when a scientist from the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) was killed in a road accident at Kumbuka in Gonapola, Horana due to a fault in the airbag of the vehicle.

Following the incident, the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) revealed that over 700,000 vehicles identified to be in the category of vehicles with faulty airbags, which manufacturers had recalled, were currently in operation in Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, 47 categories of vehicle models have been identified with faulty airbags and measures have been taken to recall these from their owners, after having obtained information from local vehicle dealers regarding the owners.

At that time, the DMT said that several models of cars and SUVs had been identified to be in operation within the island, in which the faulty airbag could be fatal to the driver.

According to a 2021 World Bank report on ‘Delivering Road Safety in Sri Lanka,’ most vehicles that are imported (these have to be less than three years old) to Sri Lanka are not tested for fitness in order to minimise delays at the port of entry.

The report said that some vehicles were assembled in Sri Lanka using imported parts for which no conformity certificates were required and the type certification of vehicle parts prior to the import of vehicles was constrained by the absence of a national testing centre that could test all parts.

No proper regulations

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association (CMTA) Chairman Charaka Perera said that although vehicle imports were banned, vehicles were nevertheless being imported through other routes which were not facing proper regulation due to the absence of a process to select which vehicles were suitable for the country. 

He said that last year’s death due to the faulty airbag highlighted the lack of regulation, since ultimately, the responsibility for that individual’s death had not been taken by anyone. 

Moreover, he said that 95% of vehicles that were arriving through the electric vehicle scheme for migrant workers were coming through the grey channel.

Last month, the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) revealed that vehicle importers had used a legal loophole to undervalue vehicles imported under the aforementioned electric vehicle scheme in order to avoid the Luxury Tax, causing the loss of millions to the Treasury.

Perera added that electric vehicles were like computers on wheels, which could require many regular software updates and safety factory recalls among other needs, raising concerns as to who would be undertaking them.

He bemoaned the fact that there was no proper regulatory mechanism whereby the authorities could regulate the importer or the vehicle.

The CMTA Chairman further said that prior to the import ban, there had been many individuals importing vehicles who had not been paying taxes to the Government on profits made, creating any employment opportunities, or contributing to infrastructure.

He said that corporates which imported vehicles should be registered importers instead of individuals who were importing vehicles in bulk and putting them on the market.

“That should be stopped and it should be limited to corporates that are registered companies, are liable for taxes, and answer to the law of the land. These companies should be held responsible for after-sales support and issues concerning the vehicles within the warranty period,” Perera said.

He further added that vehicles that were being imported were not regulated or suited to the country because, considering the tropical conditions, air conditioning systems, cooling systems, etc. should suit environmental conditions when operating on Sri Lankan roads.

For example, he said that the cooling mechanism of a battery of an electric vehicle was different from region to region as the battery was at the bottom of the car and while Sri Lankan roads heated to about 35-40 degrees Celsius, a car running in Europe did not undergo a similar situation. 

“When an electric car used in the UK is imported to Sri Lanka, it is obviously bound to experience some failures,” Perera said.

However, he also said that the e-Motoring system to be launched was expected to have all the control mechanisms to identify and evaluate a vehicle before its importation to Sri Lanka.

System to check roadworthiness

Perera said that in order to check the quality and standards of the vehicles that were already running on the roads, a mechanism such as the UK’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) test that regularly checked the roadworthiness of vehicles should be implemented in Sri Lanka.

In India, it is mandated that all new and used cars have a certificate of fitness in order to be registered, whereby the car’s manufacturer issues the roadworthiness certificate which can be obtained from the dealership for new cars.

The certificate is valid for 15 years, and thereafter, it needs to be renewed every five years. The inspection covers various aspects of the car, including its tyres, steering wheel, engine, suspension, horn, wipers, and pollution levels.

However, in Sri Lanka, the only test done is the emissions test which, although performed annually on vehicles, is not being conducted properly since one can clearly see vehicles on the road ejecting profusions of black smoke.

“There should be a system whereby the roadworthiness of vehicles is tested,” he said, adding that investments should be made in the equipment and testing centres around the country by the Government or the private sector, or both, in order to build such a system.

He further said that the safety factor of vehicles had to be looked into given that at least six to seven people on average die on the road every day in Sri Lanka due to accidents, some of which could be taking place due to vehicle issues which could be rectified if tests were in place to verify their roadworthiness. 

“The test should be regulated to check the roadworthiness of vehicles, at least in a basic form such as tyre and brake pad replacements, before importer restrictions are lifted,” he said.

e-Motoring to provide criteria

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, DMT Commissioner General Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasinghe said that through the proposed e-Motoring system, a prototype should be approved before importing vehicles to Sri Lanka.

He said that in the past, a vehicle could be imported regardless of whether it was approved for use in Sri Lanka and the importers followed none of the measures that were in place.

“In the future, however, the law will be amended through the e-Motoring project to include criteria that should be followed when importing a vehicle,” he said.

E-Motoring involves developing, implementing, and deploying a comprehensive ICT solution to provide effective and efficient delivery of selected citizen services of the DMT and the Provincial Department of Motor Traffic (PDMT).

The project is planned to update and replace the old motor vehicle registration system that is currently in operation, introduce new practices, and streamline vehicle registration and imports.

Moreover, Weerasinghe noted that Sri Lanka had not issued a maximum lifespan for a vehicle to operate, adding however that with the import ban, most vehicles were older than five to 10 years. 

He said that the quality and the standards of the vehicles that were already operating were inspected through quality checks conducted during the issuance of the revenue licence and the annual emission test. 

“We are planning to introduce a mechanism to check the internal quality of a vehicle,” he said, adding that the same proposal had been brought as a Cabinet paper earlier but had not been implemented due to the country’s economic situation, since if the mechanism had been implemented, many vehicles on the road would have been deemed unroadworthy.