All vehicles should undergo preventive maintenance

There are three elements in any road or vehicular accident—the driver, the vehicle and the environment. The environment consists of the weather, the road condition, man-made structures over and alongside the road, trees and other vehicles or conveyances, including people and animals on the road.

This letter is about the second element—the vehicle. A vehicle in motion, especially when running at highway speeds, is a potential man-killer. Very often we hear and read about buses falling off a road, colliding with others, running over people, ramming a fence or house, etc.—all because of faulty brakes, faulty steering, tire blow-outs, etc. Many bus and jeepney operators have heard of preventive maintenance, but just ignore it. They resort to repair or replacement of parts only following a breakdown while warming up the engine or starting a trip. This is very expensive because the trip is aborted. It is also fraught with danger because attention is focused only on what is apparently wrong while other components need looking into and may break down during the trip. This is where preventive maintenance comes in.

Preventive maintenance locates potential sources of trouble and repairs them before a breakdown occurs. The buyer of a new vehicle, whether this be a passenger car or a chassis and engine truck that will ultimately be converted into a freight truck or a passenger bus, is provided with an owner’s manual. The manual contains instructions and descriptions of the different parts and systems in the vehicle. A very important portion of the owner’s manual is devoted to maintenance. Here, scheduled maintenance services are indicated on the basis of the number of months or mileage, whichever comes first, and are explained in charts that are easy to understand and follow. Unfortunately, these instructions from the vehicle manufacturer are totally ignored. Whether the owner has only one vehicle or hundreds of them, especially when engaged in freight or passenger service, ignoring the manufacturer’s instructions on the matter of preventive maintenance may result in loss of human lives, costly indemnities, financial losses and cancellation of franchises.

In-house automotive mechanics, electricians, electronic technicians, body repairmen, tiremen, etc., may be employed. In some cases, contract-job arrangements take care of preventive maintenance work. For small businesses, on-call arrangements are made. However, in all these schemes, preventive maintenance cannot be supplanted by repairs when needed. One successful bus company in the ’50s to the ’70s, practiced preventive maintenance consistently. No unit earmarked for preventive maintenance was allowed to leave the premises without undergoing the scheduled maintenance work. The company had an excellent record of safety.

If airline companies seriously practice preventive maintenance, their road-based counterparts should be like-minded. The latter should not wait for the government to resort to draconian measures aimed at ensuring the safety of the riding public and those on the road.

—APOLONIO G. RAMOS,

42 Mindanao St.,

Marikina City