Staff Director Kim Yo-hwan of the National 

Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee

I n the 39th National Assembly session, 36 legislative proposals were made in connection with the Automobile Management Law, out of which three cases were approved either in revised form or replaced provisions, writes Staff Director Kim Yo-hwan of the Land and Transport Committee of the National Assembly in an article he contributed to NewsWorld.

The number of cars on the streets in Korea totaled 20.83 million, at an average of one car per 2.4 people. Comparing the number of cars per person in Korea and the 226,878 auto accidents around the country last year resulting in 5,505 deaths, it shows a need for revision or reform of the Automobile Management Law.

Kim said a car taking off suddenly without stepping on the gas pedal is defined as a pedal accident, which has been on the rise lately, with reports of such accidents up to 135 cases in 2012 from just 34 in the previous year, according to the Transportation Safety Corp. 

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport formed a special investigation team on May 9, 2012 and investigated the cause of such accidents three times so far, but was unable to find the causes, although they inspected the cars for mechanical problems, Kim said in his article. Overseas, too, this kind of accident has happened many times, but the authorities have yet to come up with an explanation for the accidents, except in the state of Oklahoma in the U.S. where the court ruled on Oct. 23 that Toyota’s Camry had a defect causing it to accelerate without having its pedal stepped on, which happened in 2007.

With the accidental start by cars happening so often these days, car owners and carmakers saw their conflicts escalate and the parliament had to do something to calm the situation.

Reps. Kim Soo-young and Lim Nae-yon each proposed to amend the Automobile Management Law to have cars equipped with an Event Data Recorder (EDR), which would show the speed, the movements of brakes, the position of safety belts and airbags at the time of an accident, which is different from the black box in these respects.

The Land and Transport Committee resolved the legislative proposal as proposed after serious deliberation, which will require automakers to attach an EDR on every sedan they produce. Additionally, when those cars are sold the sellers should tell the buyers of the fact that the cars have an EDR and the recordings should be shown to the new owners upon request according to provision 3 of article 29, newly added to the automobile law and officially to be in force as of Dec. 19, 2015. The EDR will show more clearly the cause for the fast take-off of cars without having the pedal stepped on to reinforce the protection of consumers, Kim writes.

Rep. Kim Tae-won has initiated a legislative proposal to amend the automobile law to the effect that the importers of parts for foreign cars in the country should be responsible for submitting to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport detailed material evidence for the fast-start of cars as revised and approved by the Land and Transport Committee on April 24, 2013 and officially declared on July 16, 2013. The revised automobile law satisfactorily resolved the problems of the fast-start of cars caused by car parts and cars imported from overseas, as the importers were not required to take responsibility for these accidents if they happened.

Kim writes that there are a number of legislative proposals awaiting the committee’s deliberation besides those two proposals that were approved dealing with defects in autos that occur in the process of their production. The pending proposals are intended to correct the situation that automakers are not required to take care of defects free of charge or reimburse car owners for their costs to repair defects in autos or repairs after accidents due to defects. Those proposals were made by Reps. Cho Won-jin and Chung Woo-taek.

Publisher Elizabeth M. Oh