Vehicles Over 15 Years Require Mandatory Checks - MP

During a session in Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau) proposed that vehicles older than 15 years should be required to undergo mandatory inspections before their road tax can be renewed. This measure, he argued, is necessary due to safety concerns associated with aging vehicles.

Puah highlighted that older vehicles are more likely to experience breakdowns, which can lead to traffic congestion and pose a risk to other road users. To further encourage the removal of old vehicles from circulation, he suggested that the government should provide financial incentives to car owners who choose to scrap their vehicles. Recent figures indicate that Malaysia now has more registered vehicles than people, with approximately 36.3 million vehicles total—including both active and inactive vehicles—beyond the country's population.

“This means nearly every Malaysian owns two cars,” he said.

Puah cited data from the Malaysian Automotive Association, which shows that the total number of vehicle registrations is expected to reach 800,000 units in 2025. This will worsen the current traffic congestion on our roads, including the North-South Expressway, especially during weekends and festive seasons, he says.
In 2022, a team of experts from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) proposed scrapping cars ten years or older to reduce traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur. However, the then-transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong argued that urban traffic congestion is a complex issue requiring a comprehensive solution, including a fully functional public transit system, and not simply solved by scrapping old cars.