Re: Critical Safety Components of your Car that you shouldn't ignore Quote:
Originally Posted by abhinavrm >>4) Timing belt
I couldn't agree more with you on point no.4- Timing belt. I had a breakdown of my car 5 days ago on a highway in the middle of nowhere on Aug 15th. The vehicle was serviced exactly 3 days before I set out for a trip on the long weekend. A few guests were accompanying on the trip and imagine my plight when a freshly serviced car's timing belt snaps and we are stuck on the highway!
Maruti On Road Service van showed up after an hour. They diagnosed the problem of a broken timing belt, but could not carry out any repairs. (What a waste if they can only diagnose the problem and not fix it!) Moreover, since it was Aug 15, all workshops were closed. It took a good 3-4 hours to locate a mechanic and replacement parts and convince the mechanic with some $$$ to fix the car. What was supposed to be a leisurely morning drive turned out to be a late evening dash.
What appalled me was why Maruti service station did not take care of preventive maintainence when I gave it for servicing. After all, we give our cars to them to make informed decisions about reactive and more importantly preventive maintainence. When the mechanic was replacing the timing belt, the AC belt also had to be removed and I noticed that the AC belt was almost broken too. I bet Maruti service station didn't check on it either.
Gone are the days when a full service meant the service station would proactively check all vitals. High volumes of cars means the service stations only check something only when you mention that there is a problem with it. In the wake of this, I encourage everyone to insist on vitals being checked during every full vehicle service that @Simple_car has mentioned. |
I would like to begin by thanking you for raising this unpleasant topic. It has become not second, but first nature, that it is considered by quite a few thinkers of late, that they, tend to talk only about the good, great and the cool. It is not considered ok to raise certain topics. There are many who go on to defend why certain things are the way they are and why it is incorrect to question and that one should understand. Questioning hits a raw nerve and it seems it has become unfashionable or unpleasant. But it must also be remembered that progress and betterment or change can only be elicited by questions.
In my sixteen years plus of working with the MASS and other private service centres it has become very clear that with the exception of very few centres (which probably is statistically insignificant), the standards and quality of service has become very poor. What is surprising is the fact that the manufacturers train the mechanics and technicians with state of the art methodologies and techniques to correct or remedy problems. It is not rocket science. If a part x has failed then the client or the customer will complain of 1,2,3.. There are company guidelines for everything. Especially after a product is launched they will come out with revised internal guidelines of systems which are more prone to failure and what to do to remedy them. It can be very effectively argued that, automotive science along with civil engineering is one of the more precise sciences. It has been documented and studied in depth and the results are predictable. Not so, for example in the field of health sciences.
Thus, what prevents authorised service stations (centres) (i used the word stations for the reason that when i am frustrated, the acronym for these stations in plural would reduce some of the heightened state of anxiety (experienced by people who treat their automobiles as family members and having an Emotional quotient - an informal survey led to this factor as the most significant factor in increased stress levels when a vehicle is due for service - under consideration for publication), from adopting standard routine practices is the shortcuts they undertake. For e.g. they have ten bays and accept 35 vehicles. They only have 8 service advisors. Thus, they prefer to change engine oil, replace the coolant, change the air filter and if necessary the fuel filter and perform the wheel balancing and alignment and make money of routine maintenance. Very recently, in fact I asked the works head of the Nexus group based in RMV extension, in Bangalore and he stated there is more money in scheduled service maintenance and that the turnover is faster and they can take in more vehicles. Whereas if they take up vehicles, with lots of complaints or which require fine tuning they require more time and they cannot charge much and even if they do they would make much more money in the same time doing a routine simple service job.
Your post assumes importance as it is a pointer that owners be well informed and read their user manuals and know what is due for that particular service at the mentioned mileage or time frame. It does not have to be a case of ok, i have a car.. these are the compromises i need to make and bear with so and so and such and such a problem as the car can still function, it is getting older, etc (some of the reasons given by these authorised SS as to why the car won't work like new). I hope that one day all car owners take time to read and understand about their vehicles and that day these authorised SS will do a good job - the results of which are statistically significant and which go a long way in improving the quality of life of a car owner.
Thanks for the post - abhinavrm! |