So who’s afraid of the Montero Sport?

Indulge me for a while, as I’m going somewhere here.

Lest we go nuts, people rightfully struggle to make sense of the world’s chaos. We have theories to explain most everything – and scholars pore over, discuss, dissect, and think of ways to critique them. One of the more memorable subjects – to me, anyway – back in college was the study of communication theories.

The late iconic communication professor George Gerbner co-formulated the so-called Cultivation Theory, which basically asserts that the longer you watch television, the more likely you are to believe the “reality” portrayed therein. Our perception of the world is thus heavily influenced by the messages transmitted on the boob tube.

An attendant concept purveyed by Gerbner is the “mean world syndrome,” a phenomenon whereby a heavy consumer of mass media’s violent-related content leads to believe that the world is an “intimidating and unforgiving place.”

Now if you’ve been ogling a lot of TV lately, you must be terrified out of your wits to even go near a Mitsubishi Montero Sport SUV. A media outfit and certain “experts” have been warning all willing to listen and pay attention that these bestselling sport utes are prone to, well, “sudden unintended acceleration” (famously truncated to SUA).

So last week, one of the most awaited press conferences was neither for a controversial star or a love team promoting a new movie. Rather, it was the Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) presser on the whole sordid SUA affair. MMPC is firm and clear on its stand. “Montero Sport vehicles are free from design and manufacturing defects that could cause sudden unintended acceleration (SUA),” it bannered on its public statement. Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) itself defines SUA as being “caused by the unintended release of fuel supply to the engine.”

MMPC cited four possible causes of the phenomenon. Pedal entrapment, which MMPC first VP Froilan Dytianquin called “a recognized issue,” is caused by the use of unauthorized, multiple, or improvised mats “prone to slippage and may cause entrapment” in the gas pedal.

The second, he continued, is pedal misapplication – caused by the “driver unintentionally stepping on the gas instead of the brake pedal.” Here, Dytianquin is careful with his words. “We’re not saying it’s an error… it’s a driver unconsciously stepping on the gas pedal, when the intent is really (to step on) the brake pedal.” The MMPC executive further quipped: “People have long years of driving experience; we will not battle (with) that.”

Third is mechanical and electronic failure – entailing the malfunction of fuel injectors or the vehicle’s electronic control unit (ECU). A defective fuel injector might “continue to feed fuel even if the control unit says to only feed (so) much,” said Dytianquin. However, he maintained that it would a problem that should “manifest time and time again, and not be intermittent.” For all the complainants’ vehicles (close to 100), never was there a defective injector. “Mechanical failure is not a cause.”

Then how about electronic failure? “Cars right now are becoming complicated,” he submitted. “They’re run by computers or to be exact, an ECU or electronic control unit. This control unit dictates everything… (such as) how much fuel should be infused in the engine.” Dytianquin added: “This control unit will rely on inputs. What are the inputs? The engine speed sensor and acceleration pedal position sensors. In our case, we have backup sensors on the accelerator pedal position.

“If one of the sensors fail, the ECU will automatically go on safe mode or what we call ‘limp mode.’ Safe po yan. It will never give you 100 percent (power) in a Montero. Plus, the fact that it’s on safe mode, it will advise you through a warning lamp.”

This warning lamp, averred Dytianquin, cannot be “overridden.” It is significant, thus, that MMPC has “never observed a trouble code in the claimants’ vehicles (and) that’s one of the things (we) look at, because it’s a trace or evidence.”

The conclusion: “Nothing electronic has caused SUA,” he declared.

MMPC imports Montero Sport units from Thailand, which also supplies other territories or countries with identical vehicles. Since its introduction in 2008, 88,000 Montero Sport units have been sold locally – a majority (66,000) of which are automatic transmission variants.

I asked Dytianquin if so-callled SUA incidents have been reported in other countries supplied with Thailand-produced Monteros. “This issue actually surprises us… If you look at the countries (where) Thailand is exporting these vehicles, apparently, there were no cases (of) SUA.”

Still, MMPC welcomes third-party investigators to examine so-called SUA units.

Days after the press conference, the anti-Montero juggernaut appeared to continue unabated. The clash of opinions ensued on social media, with people basically continuing to be unapologetically obstinate with their precious judgments despite contrary evidence. The verdict was out before the Department of Trade and Industry has even turned in its study. The Montero Sport is, in the words of a particularly zealous interviewee, “may sapi” (possessed).

“I believe there are two kinds of accusers,” said Top Gear Philippines editor-in-chief Vernon Sarne, who I interviewed via Facebook. “The flat out scammers who are lying to weasel their way out of culpability, and the sincerely mistaken who got into an accident and now wholeheartedly believe that they stepped on the brakes and not the gas pedal. That is why the video we posted is particularly telling, because it proves how an adamant accuser is actually mistaken all along.”

As the issue has gotten further traction, emotions continue to run high. Even motoring media have been cast in a bad light in the mad scramble to draw battle lines. Some particularly self-righteous individuals questioned why many of us to insist there’s no such phenomenon. There could only be one explanation, came the insinuations. We must be in cahoots with the car companies. Oh, please. We need sobriety, we need calm, and we need to stop unfounded inflammatory statements from being aired. Who stands to gain from those?

Certainly not a legion of Montero Sport owners. A particularly distressed friend of mine texted me out of worry for her vehicle. There’s no such thing as SUA, I replied. To further allay her fears, I told her to have her unit checked at her Mitsubishi dealer. It’s for free, and it should at least give her some added peace of mind. After that, she expressed anger at reports stoking the whole SUA issue.

“SUA does not exist. If it did, it would have been replicated or diagnosed by now,” concluded Sarne.

Our own motoring editor Manny de los Reyes recently wrote: “It is impossible for any car to just take off on its own without somebody stepping on the gas.”

Unfortunately for MMPC though, and I repeat the words of fellow STAR columnist Cito Beltran who said in his CTalk column: “A car is easier to fix than a ghost or a PR nightmare.”

Indeed, what a scary world we live in if we believe it to be one where cars are possessed and decide against the wishes of their drivers. That’s one alternate reality best left on the pages of Stephen King novel.