Chery, Great Wall cars found with asbestos in Australia

**timrev** · August 15th, 2012 03:33 PM

SYDNEY - Some 23,000 cheap Chinese-made cars were Wednesday recalled in Australia after asbestos was found in their engines, with unions demanding to know how they came to be in the country.

Importer Ateco Automotive instructed all Chery and Great Wall dealers to stop selling affected vehicles, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) closely watching developments.

The asbestos was found bound in gaskets in the engine and exhaust systems.

"Asbestos is a prohibited hazardous substance and these engines and exhaust systems should only be worked on by qualified personnel using appropriate safety procedures," said ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard.

"The ACCC will monitor the recall, and Workplace Health and Safety authorities will monitor the workplace safety issues."

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said it was unacceptable that the cars were allowed into Australia, which has banned the importation or use of asbestos since 2004.

"Asbestos kills people, it's that simple. It should not be in homes, construction material or cars," national secretary Paul Bastian said in a statement.

"If companies cannot guarantee that they do not have deadly substances in their vehicles, then simply they should not be able to import their products.

"We call on prosecutions to be served on anyone who imports asbestos into Australia."

The ACCC said customs officers detected the asbestos, which triggered a safety investigation that led to the cars being recalled.

Prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant lung cancer.

Rickard said the automotive industry was experienced in managing the asbestos risk.

"The automotive service industry is experienced in managing this risk, as cars sold in Australia before 2004 often had gaskets that contained asbestos," she said.

"However, consumers and automotive repairers must be made aware that the risk may be present in these much newer vehicles."
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/...stos-australia

**niky** · August 15th, 2012 03:42 PM

Aussies shouldn't come to the Philippines, then. We still have lots of cars on the road using asbestos head gaskets and exhaust gaskets.

**timrev** · August 15th, 2012 03:51 PM

diba some great wall cars have Mitsubishi engines?

**1D4LV** · August 15th, 2012 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by timrev

diba some great wall cars have Mitsubishi engines?

I've seen the Tiggo with a Mitsubishi lancer 1.6 SOHC engine.

**jjmd3_787** · August 16th, 2012 12:27 AM

Melamine sa gatas, cardboard sa siopao, lead sa mga toys, fetus sa soups . . . ngayon ay asbestos sa mga cars.

This is an issue wherein Philippine authorities should keep an eye. Just think about it, products that goes into developed countries like Australia have higher quality standards compared to the ones going into 3rd world countries like ours. Baka hindi lang gaskets at exhausts ng Chinese cars ang may Asbestos dito sa atin.

Asbestos must not be used in any application because it KILLS! Sadly, our government is not that interested in protecting the lives of its people. Walang kita dun e.

**cktlcmd** · August 17th, 2012 12:02 PM

Like Sir Nicky said... di lang sa Cherry at Greatwall cars yan... kahit na yun ibang brands meron sa atin nyan... di naman kasi nag check dito sa atin ng mga ganyan.

...

**dct** · August 17th, 2012 12:17 PM

kala ko pa naman great wall pinaka ok na chinese brand so far dito satin

**niky** · August 17th, 2012 03:30 PM

Great Wall is okay. It's likely that they mixed up a batch for domestic sale with a batch for export.

If China doesn't have an asbestos policy for automobiles, they probably make all domestic Chinese cars with asbestos gaskets.

**cripple_rooster** · August 27th, 2012 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by niky

Great Wall is okay. It's likely that they mixed up a batch for domestic sale with a batch for export.

If China doesn't have an asbestos policy for automobiles, they probably make all domestic Chinese cars with asbestos gaskets.

China seems to not have any asbestos policy for anything, they still use it widely in many industrial applications altough safer options are currently available.

But since Australia requires RHD to the cars, it might have been another issue which led to the use of asbestos gaskets, maybe the importer was deliberately violating the law to save some bucks...

**niky** · August 27th, 2012 10:53 AM

Perhaps they were meant for an ASEAN market? Probably on thr importer side, yes... or perhaps they simply incorrectly assumed the cars were legal. Something that's easy to correct, and would only add a little to the price of the next batch of cars.