China issues return conditions for household-use cars

China has issued the Regulation on the Responsibility Involving Repairing, Replacing and Returning of Household-use Vehicles on Jan 15, specifying the "three guarantees" conditions, xinhuanet.com reported Tuesday.

The "three guarantees" stipulates that a seller should be responsible for the repair, change or refund of a defective product within a given time limit and under certain conditions. The "three guarantees" for vehicles has been incubating for eight years since the end of 2004 and it will officially come into force on Oct 1.

According to the regulation issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the "three guarantees" are valid if the vehicle has been purchased within two years or is within a mileage of 50,000 km. During the valid period, consumers can replace or return their vehicles with their "three guarantees" certificates and invoices if the problems are in line with the conditions. The sellers must respond within ten days or it will be regarded as a purposeful delay.

The quality watchdog listed four specific situations qualifying vehicles for replacement and return:

First, the vehicle has problems such as steering system failure, brake system failure, body cracking and leakage of fuel within 60 days of the seller issuing the purchase invoice or within a mileage of 3,000 km.

Second, serious faults in the safety performance cannot be removed or new ones appear after the vehicle has been repaired twice.

Third, there are still issues after the engine gearboxes have been changed twice or the same major parts of the engine gearboxes cannot be used after being changed twice.

Fourth, the same major parts in the steering system, brake system, suspension system, front and rear bars and body cannot be used normally after being changed two times.

Consumers have the option to replace or return their vehicles in accordance with the situations above and the sellers should be responsible for replacements and returns.