Uber knowingly rented recalled cars to drivers in Singapore: report

Uber rented more than 1,000 defective Honda Vezel SUVs to drivers in Singapore despite knowing that the vehicles had been recalled, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 

The Vezels had been recalled by Honda Motor Company in April 2016 because of an electrical component at risk of overheating and catching fire. 

Concerns over the cars’ defects became a reality in January when a vehicle’s dashboard burst into flames, melting the interior of the car and putting a hole in its windshield. 

The Uber driver in that vehicle, Koh Seng Tian, escaped from the incident unharmed.

{mosads}In the days after the incident, Uber executives in San Francisco were told about a response plan to deactivate the defective devices and allow the cars to stay in service while the company waited for replacement parts.

Under that plan, Uber would seek approval from Singapore authorities, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“We took swift action to fix the problem, in close coordination with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority as well as technical experts,” an Uber spokesman told the Journal. “But we acknowledge we could have done more—and we have done so.”

Because Uber purchased the Vezels through more than a dozen small auto importers, rather than authorized Honda dealers in Singapore, Honda said it was not legally required to do the repairs — a fact also acknowledged by Uber.