eSAF: How a market-leading brand was able to “forget” consumer safety
Maybe the title above is a bit confusing for readers who don’t live in Indonesia. Allow me to explain in a minute.
Honda Indonesia, or AHM, introduced the eSAF frame for its scooter lineup in Indonesia. The frame is said to be stronger and lighter because it uses a special type of alloy and because it is lighter, it is expected to produce better performance in lower- or middle-class scooters in Indonesia. This eSAF frame is starting to be installed on scooters by Honda in the year of manufacture 2020 and above, and until now they are still using this frame.
Honda’s website says that the eSAF frame was created so that consumers can get a cheap, high-performance scooter because of its lightweight and ergonomic design. If we look at the frame, the riding angle is sharper, so someone is more comfortable when using it.
This frame is also designed so that users can maintain it and replace spare parts easily, or at least that’s what they say. What is clear is that the eSAF frame has been used on almost all Honda Indonesia scooter lines (except some flagship types or scooters above 160cc) and is most commonly used on 110cc scooters Most Indonesians are commuters because the price is cheap; you can get a new Honda BeAT in Indonesia for less than USD 1,500.
Honda itself has been the market leader for motorbikes in Indonesia for several decades, along with Yamaha. Like in other countries, Honda is trusted in Indonesia because it produces motorbikes that suit the needs of local people (cheap spare parts and economical use of fuel). Just like in Indonesia, I think most people choose Honda in other countries based on the same reasons.
It’s just that there is a problem with the Honda eSAF frame, which causes it to rust more easily and eventually break with daily use. This case has shocked the Indonesian motorbike world because Honda scooters are the best-selling motorbikes there and many people are worried about their safety (this is understandable; Of course you don’t want your motorbike to break while using it, right?) and consumers are asking the government to investigate and demand that Honda be held responsible for this incident. As far as I know, there have been several people who have been injured because the eSAF frame is easily broken and many photos of it have been spread on social media.
Some people say that the root of the problem lies in the frame material, whose quality has been deliberately lowered (perhaps for the sake of profit) and the anti-rust coating is not thorough enough so that the frame is more prone to rust over time. The water drainage paths in the frame are also not made properly so water seeps through more easily and becomes trapped in the frame. This causes the rust to be more prominent and there have been several cases where the frame has rusted even though the service life is less than 2 years.
Naturally, Honda avoided this and didn’t say anything about the incident; they instead offered a replacement frame for USD 100 for those who experienced a broken frame, which is quite strange and has never happened in the world of motorcycling in Indonesia. I mean, when have you ever seen a motorcycle company deliberately offer a new frame to replace a problematic or defective one? Usually, they will do a recall for it, especially because the product is still new.
But the recall hasn’t happened until now and slowly the case or story of the eSAF frame on social media has been forgotten by people, yet there are still some who are loyally fighting for their rights, especially those who experienced broken frames on their motorbikes, even though up to now there has been no light on this case.
This all happened because Honda and several other popular brands have become cartels in the world of motorcycles, especially in Indonesia. This all happened because they sell so many motorcycles that things like that won’t affect their sales.
They may feel there is no need to carry out a recall because they feel it is less profitable and there are not that many damaged units (even though in essence it is wrong and lives are at stake) and they can dodge that. It must be admitted that Honda is a cartel in the Indonesian automotive world with “ hands” or a fairly wide field, so if you just pay attention to what motorbikes in Indonesia sell best, you will already know what their actions or responses are about that.
A case that is almost the same (although not too dangerous) is a Yamaha motorbike, which has a flawed design on its engine so that the oil will slowly burn and run out. This has been happening since 2015, when many people have complained about this yet if Yamaha (one of the leading manufacturers in Indonesia) doesn’t redesign or revise the engine, they will still sell lots of motorbikes because consumers don’t have many choices. There are other brands like Kawasaki or Suzuki but they are playing in a niche market.
This cartel practice has been around for decades, where these two manufacturers can be said to be quite stingy in their innovation and the public is only given cheap motorbikes that are less powerful and lacking in features at expensive prices. I know that in the end, demand will determine this, but if the manufacturers don’t become cartels and “ regulate” sales from within the government, there may be many other brands to choose from.
The manufacturer will not carry out a recall because it requires quite a lot of time and money. This case reminds us of the Takata airbag scandal several years ago, when it almost bankrupted Takata.
Abroad, with strict regulations, perhaps the manufacturer could not do anything, but in developing countries, they can be more “free” because of their position as market shareholders and their power to lobby the government.
The lack of regulation and the fact that they hold “power” over a country’s market share make them "invincible." When cases like this occur, naturally, there will be those who reject Honda motorcycles and don’t buy them. For some Honda motorbikes with eSAF frames, the used selling price has decreased yet they still sell lots of new scooters to this day. This all happens because people don’t have many choices to switch to another brand; they don’t want to sacrifice ease of mind, starting from the number of workshops and better resale prices, so Honda won’t do anything about that. People still “eat” their products, whatever they offer.
Just to put it all together, Honda has become an automotive cartel with a government whose safety regulations have not changed from several decades ago. Honda is comfortable dealing with this because they hold the key to sales in Indonesia, unlike Yamaha or Suzuki, where if there is a problem, they immediately recall their motorbikes. An example is the Yamaha MT25, which had problems with the clutch housing, and Yamaha immediately carried out a recall. All this was done so they didn’t lose market share. Honda, on the other hand, took it easy because their motorcycle was selling well.
An example of the same case happened in the US with the Ford Pinto in 1972, where there was an error in the design of the tank so that in an accident the tank could immediately explode when hit, Ford did not fix it because they felt it was cheaper to compensate the victims than to redesign the vehicle. At Honda now, instead of re-designing the eSAF or recalling it, it’s better for them to “silence” consumers or provide other narratives through bloggers and influencers, basically whichever is cheaper and quicker to do considering that recalls and redesigns also can’t be done quickly; it all happens because they have strong power for that.
Automotive cartel practices like this often happen and sometimes we don’t realize it because their power is too great. Just like other cartels, they can silence dissenting voices when there are problems or errors with their products; it does happen when they have control and we depend a lot on their product(s).
So yeah, it can happen to any of us so as consumers, we should be more critical when receiving or using goods, especially in the automotive sector, lest our dependence on a brand make them forget their obligations as producers who must prioritize consumer safety.
