In the last eight years, no good quality vehicles have been produced, the head of the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran announced.
Mehdi Eslampanah added that nine standards were suspended in the previous government, which led to a decline in vehicles quality.
“The issues of safety, quality, performance and evaluation are among factors inspected for evaluating quality. ISIRI is responsible for developing this system, but we are not responsible for what happens during the designing and production stages,” Eslampanah was quoted as saying by Car.ir.
Supervisors determining vehicle safety include the General Command of Iran’s Law-Enforcement Forces, Industries Ministry, ISIRI, Department of Environment and Iran Fuel Conservation Company.
Automakers are mandated to produce vehicles as per standards.
According to the ISIRI chief, there are so many violations in terms of standards in the auto manufacturing industry.
“If auto producers do not fulfill their obligations, we will stop assigning license-plates to vehicles with the help of the Iranian Traffic Police,” he said.
"The standards constitute the minimum [acceptable] quality required, which is not observed [by automakers].”
Eslampanah added that steel sheets used in domestic vehicles are not subjected to mandatory standards.
Iran National Standards Organization does not approve of steel sheets used in car bodies by domestic producers
“Interestingly, the car gear number is subjected to mandatory standards, but the vehicle’s body and its steel plate are not subjected to mandatory standards,” he said.
At present, Iran National Standards Organization does not approve of steel sheets used in car bodies by domestic producers.
The official noted that even assuming domestic car production is observing standards, there is no control over the smuggling of low-quality and spurious parts into the after-sales service network.
“In the last two weeks, we tracked and disbanded one of the largest gangs injecting smuggled recycled disks into the distribution network and after-sales service by faking the standard emblem and packaging. In such cases, there is no supervision at all,” he said.
“We have created a market monopoly in which there is no competition and the consumer has no other choice but to buy or pre-order [the low-quality vehicles and parts].”
Eslampanah stressed that the standard organization is only a supervisory entity and declared that the monopoly of domestic automakers should be abolished.
Low Quality and Technical Inspection Test
When domestic vehicles are produced with low standards and unacceptable quality, the cars’ overall lifespan declines.
According to domestic media reports, only in Tehran, 31% of vehicles failed technical inspection tests. One-third of automobiles in Tehran failed emission and safety tests, during the first seven months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Oct. 22).
Hossein Moqaddam, CEO of Tehran Vehicle Technical Inspection Bureau, said that during the period under review, 928,000 vehicles visited the capital's technical inspection centers, of which 702,000 were under four years old and underwent their first technical check, ISNA reported.
"Thirty-one percent of the visitors, numbering 287,680 were rejected, 14% of which did not receive the certificate due to high emission, 9% for wheel alignment, 4% for shock absorber failure, 11% for brake system problems and 14% for appearance issues,” he added.
The official noted that during the period, 667,000 technical certificates have been issued, of which 529,000 were regular and 138,000 were premium.
The premium certificate has higher standards than the regular technical inspection certificate. While under normal tests, vehicles’ emissions are monitored in a low-speed performance, the carbon monoxide emission of cars is assessed at 2,500 rpm for receiving the premium certificate.
Announcing that cars visiting the inspection centers amounted to 5,100 per day, the official said the test duration has reduced to less than an hour after an online booking system was launched and centers were increased.
According to Moqaddam, 8,000 visits during the month ending Oct. 22 were booked online, which constitute 34% of the total online reservation system’s capacity.
The official noted that people can save more time by finding less crowded centers on the inspection bureau’s website.
The official said that during the period under review, 1,621 heavy-duty vehicles have also undergone road tests, out of which 24% did not have the mandatory technical license and 23% of all tested vehicles failed to meet the minimum test standards.
Since the beginning of the current year, 645 trucks have been fined for substandard operation.
Moqaddam said the commercial vehicles were subjected to tests in collaboration with Tehran’s traffic police in November 2018 to curb the suffocating air pollution in the metropolis.
