Proud to belong to the Montero Sport ‘family’

By Charles Buban January 12,2016

 

EACH participating vehicle was given a number and slogan stickers like “Sudden? What?”, “SUA? Tulog ka ba?”, and “I love this car.”

EACH participating vehicle was given a number and slogan stickers like “Sudden? What?”, “SUA? Tulog ka ba?”, and “I love this car.”

Text and photos by Charles E. Buban

 

Occam’s razor is a logical principle that states one should avoid “stacking” information to prove a theory if a simpler explanation fits the observations. In other words, the simplest answer is often correct.

 

This principle is used in a wide variety of ways as a means to slice through a problem or situation and eliminate unnecessary elements. In a murder case, for example, detectives use it to deduce who’s the likeliest suspect.

 

However, when something shocking or catastrophic happens in our lives, simple explanations just aren’t satisfying as we crave deeper reason and meaning.

 

When that is not given, sometimes we create our own.

 

Conspiracy theories

 

This is how conspiracy theories are often born. Someone doesn’t like the official account of a major event and challenges it with a different version: an unidentified flying object of extraterrestrial origin crashed in Roswell, New Mexico; the 1969 Apollo moon landing didn’t happen; Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t act alone—or possibly at all—in the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963; or the plane that carried President Ramon Magsaysay in March 1957 was in fact sabotaged by a CIA if not a KGB bomb.

 

Somehow, a sort of conspiracy theory is plaguing Mitsubishi’s Montero Sport: a number of drivers reported they weren’t able to control their SUV after it surged out of control and ultimately crashed spectacularly.

 

Quickly dismissing driver error, they claimed their accidents were the result of faulty electronics. Besides, who would appreciate the suggestion that these complainants were drivers who merely panicked and unknowingly committed what experts termed as pedal misapplication?

 

Interestingly, the very nature of such glitches remain irreproducible until now, making it impossible to say whether the fault in the vehicle’s software is to be blamed or not.

 

In many ways, the Montero Sport’s unintended acceleration situation mimicked past experiences of other carmakers (Toyota, Audi) elsewhere in the world: there was the same media firestorm, the same parade of sympathetic victims, and similar tales of wildly accelerating, unstoppable vehicles.

 

And just like these past issues, few theories were also offered. No thanks to social media, even those with less understanding of the issue entered the fray to muddle the issue even more. One lawmaker even proposed to ban the SUV on Philippine roads, even urging the recall of all the Montero Sport units sold.

 

Maligning the badge

 

Despite the sudden-acceleration probe that had yet to find any car defects, the public finds it now easy to malign the badge, according to Montero Sport fan and former club president Gel Angeles, who last Sunday organized “Drive of Confidence,” a fun drive event that started from Mother Ignacia Street, Sgt. Esguerra, and Eugenio Lopez Drive in Quezon City and ended at the grounds of the Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. plant at Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

 

He related that aside from prospective buyers bargaining with drastically lower prices, a number of motorists have been keeping their distance on the road and even in parking areas believing that the Mitsubishi SUVs would suddenly accelerate.

 

“We experience discrimination,” said Angeles, who added that like-minded owners could no longer keep themselves quiet and decided to hold the short morning drive event.

 

He reported that a number of the participants have come as far as Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and even Ilocos. “This is a tremendous tribute to the Montero Sport. The participants have been owners of the Montero Sport for so long—more than 88,000 units have been sold since its launch in 2008—they found it strange that many people believed the issue of sudden unintended acceleration,” he lamented.

 

Working with DTI

 

MMPC president Yoshiaki Kato, who, along with other Japanese executives, was present to welcome the owners, said: “I am sorry about the frustration this experience is bringing to your ownership experience. We are working with the Department of Trade and Industry, and once the outcome is available, it will prove that the Montero Sport has no defect.”

 

Froilan Dytianquin, MMPC VP for marketing services added that the company is currently cascading information to the general public on the truth of this issue and is confident that MMPC will be vindicated once the findings of the independent testing are revealed.

 

Hopefully, Dytianquin said with the support they are getting from thousands of satisfied owners, the company will be able to bring back the public’s confidence in the Montero Sport badge.

 

(Incidentally, MMPC is now selling an all-new, second-generation model of the SUV that now boasts more advanced safety features as well as new engine and transmission package.)

 

Angeles said: “I am proud to belong to this family. And in times of need, as we go through the struggles, obstacles, challenges and problems, we try to take care of each other.”

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