If you take Uber around Singapore often enough, you'll have noticed since around last year that many of the drivers who come to get you do so in a Honda Vezel.

Which looks like this:

You probably see it everywhere, right? Yeaaaa.

Now it's emerged, quite disturbingly, that Uber knowingly bought and leased 1,000 Vezels that came with a fire risk, and one actually did catch fire.

According to an August 3 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report (it's blocked by a paywall, but you can access it by clicking the link through Facebook), Honda recalled that particular model in April 2016, because it was found to have an electrical component that could overheat and catch fire.

However, WSJ says it saw emails and documents that showed the company knowing about this, but still subsequently leasing the 1,000 vehicles to Uber drivers through its rental company Lion City Rentals without making the necessary repairs.

One Vezel caught fire

Unfortunately for Uber, one Honda Vezel leased to a driver named Koh Seng Tian caught fire in January this year. The fire reportedly melted the Vezel's dashboard and blasted a football-size hole in Koh's windshield.

Thankfully, Koh escaped the accident unscathed, and he was not ferrying any passengers at the time.

Still buying faulty vehicles after recall

Perhaps what was more damning was the revelation that Uber Singapore knowingly chose to procure their Honda Vezels from unauthorised sources and continued to lease them after receiving news about the product recall.

According to the WSJ, Uber Singapore decided that it would cost 12 per cent less to buy vehicles from an unauthorised dealer.

After Honda issued a product recall for the Vezel on April 4, 2016, Uber went on to buy 100 Honda Vezels from Singapore-based dealer Sunrita two days later, according to an internal Uber report seen by WSJ.

On May 5, 2016, Sunrita sent notices of the recall to Uber and said it would take until end August to replace all the faulty parts.

The same report alleged that even then, Uber continued to buy some 1,065 faulty Honda Vezels from Sunrita and other dealers.

August 2016 came and the faulty parts were not completely replaced as Sunrita cited shortage of replacement parts.

Here's the clincher: According to WSJ, as of January 2017, all of Uber's faulty Honda Vezels were still being leased to drivers.

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The publication also claimed that after Koh's car caught fire in January this year, Uber's general manager of the Asia-Pacific region Michael Brown urged the company to take the affected vehicles off the roads. 

Singapore general manager Warren Tseng allegedly replied that "Asking drivers to give up their keys with no suggested fix will send panic alarm bells to the mass market".

Tseng also allegedly said the replacement will cost up to S$1.4 million in driver wages, rental fees and parking costs. 

Instead, documents from Uber (that were seen by WSJ) suggested that Uber opted to keep the faulty cars on the road while waiting for replacement parts.

In the meantime, Uber reportedly asked drivers of the faulty Honda Vezel to bring their cars to repair shops to disable the faulty part. The report stated that this 'hack' is not authorised by Honda, but might lower the risk of overheating and catching fire.

Uber acknowledges "we could have done more"

In a statement shared with Mothership, a spokesperson for Uber Singapore said it has "proactively responded" to six vehicle recalls, and also "took swift action to fix the problem" as soon as they learned about the fire in Koh's Honda Vezel.

They also said they have hired three people whose sole job is to make sure the company is fully responsive to safety recalls, and confirmed that all affected Vezels have been fixed.

Here's their statement in full:

“As soon as we learned of a Honda Vezel from the Lion City Rental fleet catching fire, we took swift action to fix the problem, in close coordination with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority as well as technical experts. But we acknowledge we could have done more—and we have done so. We’ve introduced robust protocols and hired three dedicated experts in-house at LCR whose sole job is to ensure we are fully responsive to safety recalls. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve proactively responded to six vehicle recalls and will continue to do so to protect the safety of everyone who uses Uber.

We can (also) confirm that all affected Vezels have been fixed.”

Top image via.