CCPA Issues Orders Against Amazon, Flipkart, 3 Other E-Tailers for Selling Seat Belt Alarm Stopper Clips

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued orders in opposition to top-5 e-commerce platforms for promoting automotive seat belt alarm stopper clips. The 5 e-commerce firms are Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues and Meesho in opposition to whom the orders have been handed for the violation of client rights and unfair commerce practices.

The clips compromise the life and security of shoppers by stopping the alarm beep when not sporting seat belts.

“The CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, handed orders in opposition to Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues and Meesho for violation of client rights and unfair commerce observe,” the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

Further, Rule 138 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 makes it mandatory to wear seat belts. However, online sales of such items that compromise passengers’ safety by stopping the alarm beep when not wearing seat belts can be unsafe and dangerous to the life and safety of consumers.

“Using car seat belt alarm stopper clips can also be a hurdle for consumers seeking claim amounts in the cases of motor insurance policies, wherein an insurance company may deny the claim by citing the negligence of the claimant for using such clips. On the other hand, using seat belt acts as a restraint that allows the airbag to provide proper cushion and not hit the passengers at full force which also works as a protective shield in case of collisions,” in line with the assertion.

The CCPA is entrusted to guard, promote and implement the rights of sophistication of shoppers. The CCPA took cognisance of the problem of the sale of automotive seat belt alarm stopper clips and with its eagle eye discovered that stated clips had been being blatantly bought on a number of e-commerce platforms in an easy-to-access method leading to direct violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and pose a excessive threat to the dear lifetime of the shoppers. It was additionally discovered through the proceedings that some sellers had been promoting the clips by camouflaging them underneath the garb of bottle openers or cigarette lighter, and so on.

Taking into consideration the severity of the stated product on the protection and treasured lifetime of shoppers, the CCPA referred the matter to DG Investigation (CCPA). Based on the advice within the investigation report and submissions made by e-commerce entities, CCPA has issued instructions to the e-commerce platforms the place they had been directed to completely delist all automotive seat belt alarm stopper clips and related motorcar parts which compromise the protection of passengers and the general public. They had been additionally directed to apprise CCPA of the steps taken in opposition to errant sellers of such merchandise and submit particulars of the sellers together with a compliance report on the above instructions.

Taking observe of the instructions issued by the CCPA, compliance stories had been submitted by all 5 e-commerce entities. Based on the initiative of the CCPA, about 13,118 listings of automotive seat belt alarm stopper clips have been delisted from the e-commerce platforms.

The motion taken within the current instances assumes significance on condition that as per the most recent report revealed by the MoRTH, greater than 16,000 individuals had been killed in highway accidents in 2021 attributable to not sporting seat belt, of which 8,438 had been drivers and the remaining 7,959 had been passengers. Moreover, round 39,231 individuals had been injured, out of which 16,416 had been drivers and 22,818 had been passengers. The report additional supplies that younger adults within the age group of 18-45 accounted for greater than one-third of victims in highway accident instances.