Proton to provide 225,930 rear seatbelts free

Proton will fit rear centre lap seatbelts for 225,930 units of cars which it manufactured between 2004 and 2008. The seatbelts will be supplied to owners free of charge and installed at designated service centres nationwide.

"As a responsible car manufacturer, Proton supports the government's move [to make rear seatbelt usage compulsory from January 1 2009] and believes that it should not burden the car buyers to pay for the extra seat belt," said Proton’s MD, Dato' Syed Zainal Abidin bin Syed Mohamed Tahir. He added that the exercise would cost the company about RM7.3 million and it was being done as part of the company's corporate social responsibility initiatives.

The affected models, which did not come with the centre seat belt are the previous generation of the Proton Saga/Iswara manufactured between 2004 and 2008 (144,000 units), and the Gen2 manufactured between 2004 and June 2008 (81,930 units).

The retrofit exercise will commence on December 1 2008 for Peninsular Malaysia and on January 1 2009 for Sabah and Sarawak. Assuming every one of the 225,930 owners claims his or her seatbelt, the exercise is expected to take about 13 months to complete. All Proton Edar and Edaran Otomobil Nasional Berhad (EON) service centres as well as all authorised Proton service dealers nationwide will be able to undertake the retrofitting. Retrofitting work will take approximately 20 minutes per car.

Dato' Syed Zainal Abidin advised car owners not to rush to the service centres as the installation will only be done upon prior appointment. To make an appointment, customers are required to call the nearest service centre. For information on service centre locations and contact details, customers may call the Proton i.care at 1300-880-888 (toll-free) for assistance. Alternatively, customers may also register for an appointment via Proton Edar's official website at www.proton-edar.com.my. Upon online registration, personnel from the nearest service centre will contact the customer to confirm an appointment date and time at the nearest service branch. Customers are also advised to write down their car chassis number and the preferred colour, before making an appointment either by phone or online registration.

Source:Motor trader