Now Chinese manufacturers are facing another credibility issue: their ATVs. This time, though, they may not be at fault.
According to Bloomberg, Honda Motor *** Yamaha Motors, and other ATV OEMs are asking the U.S. government to implement standard safety regulations.
Interestingly, safety is not necessarily the companies' primary concern. The motivation may be profit, pure and simple. Artic Cat, Suzuki, as well as Honda and Yamaha dominated the ATV segment until 2004. That's when Chinese manufacturers flooded the market with less expensive vehicles. The companies actually spent years fighting any form of federal legislation including lawsuits by regulators over ATV accidents and safety. With such a history, most analysts view Honda's request with less than enthusiasm. Worse for the ATV manufacturers, there's little evidence to support their claims. States Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety and senior counsel for the Consumer Federation of America, "The data does not show that there has been a surge of (Chinese) recalls or adverse incidents. An ATV-import bill alone does not deal with these broader safety problems.''