The Competition Act of 2002, was introduced to control the anti- competitive behavior in the Indian markets. A Competition Commission was established under this Act as a market controller to conduct investigations and issue appropriate remedies for anti-competitive practices. The CCI has initiated investigations into various anti-competitive practices of enterprises that have adverse effects on consumer interest, but it is still a question whether the CCI is able to discover different modes of anti-competitive behavior in different markets and thereby better serve consumer interests. Consumers, mostly, have a limited knowledge of anti-competitive practices happening around them. Often, the lack of consumer awareness and failure of competent authorities to recognize anti-competitive behavior is taken advantage of by corporations. One such anti-competitive behavior is the recent alterations in car designs by car manufacturers by adopting bumper-mounted headlights which is different from that of previous designs where headlights are placed near the bonnet or hood area rather than on bumpers. Bumper-mounted headlights have set a recent trend in the car markets and have been incorporated into design by various car manufacturers. But at the same time, it’s a doubt whether the trend has received sufficient consumer appeal. It has to be noted why the car manufacturers have introduced such a change and many other car manufacturers incorporated it in their latest car models despite limited consumer desirability. Bumpers, first appeared in 1897 and later commonly became part of cars since the mid-1910s to protect other components of cars by dissipating kinetic energy when met with an accident. Initially, metal-made bumpers were used which were replaced with plastic (polycarbonate) bumpers considering factors such as pedestrian safety, fuel efficiency, cost affordability, manufacturing, and repairing process. The bumper although being the vulnerable part of the car is made out of less strong elements i.e., plastic, primarily focusing on pedestrian safety according to the regulations adopted by countries across the world including India. This raises the question of whether the design modification into bumper-mounted headlights is a deliberate move by the car manufacturers towards the advancement of their profit motive and hence harming consumer interest.
When a car gets into an accident the first portion that is immediately vulnerable will be the bumper. Considering the previous car designs where the headlights and bumpers were not mounted, but instead, the headlight mounting system was directly attached to the car’s body using nut and bolt mechanisms, the chances of damage to bumpers are higher than that of headlights. This further results in comparatively less cost of repair. But, at present bumper- mounted headlights are designed where the headlight assembly is fixed to the bumper itself with two- three screws, the vulnerability of damage is not only to the bumpers but also to the headlights mounted along. This structural change causes higher damage impact on the bumper as well as headlights with the bumpers hence increasing the cost of repair. Consequently, this attracts more profits to the car manufacturers by just changing the position of headlights and mounting them to the bumpers as the customer’s necessity to replace the whole bumper unit along with headlights is higher. The customer is forced in such a way to change the entire bumper unit even for minimal impairment resulting in higher financial liability on the consumer side while higher profitably on the manufacturer side. It should be noted that this practice has been incorporated by a major group of car manufacturers recently thereby posing a serious threat to consumer interests collectively. This further raises the question of whether this collective change in design by car manufacturers is an anti-competitive practice by the abuse of the dominant position where the consumer is not left with a choice but to buy cars with bumper-mounted headlights. The Competition Act of 2002 in India prohibits such anti-competitive practices and abuse of dominant position. Section 4 of the Act of 2002 prohibits the abuse of a dominant position directly or indirectly by imposing unfair conditions. The car manufacturers are at collective dominance and have abused the dominant position by leaving no room for choice to the consumer by the unjust and unfair practice of imposing a particular design irrespective of the fact that it causes an adverse effect in the market as well.
In light of this matter, it is worth understanding that many other anticompetitive practices around us go unnoticed. It’s time we start questioning such behavior which probes investigation into such unattended areas. As far as the bumper-mounted headlights are considered, there must be a detailed analysis of aftermarket sales data of the cars and their components post the alteration of design into bumper-mounted headlights. The consumer feedback on such modifications should be taken into account seriously as it is relevant to understand the nature of behavior and whether something is deliberately imposed despite a lack of interest. The automotive sector is a significant market that affects the vast majority of its consumers as it has transformed into an essential part of daily life. At the same time, it must not be overlooked how much impact a slight modification can have on the market and consumer
choices.
Author: Ajmi. S / Law student at Ramaiah College of Law