[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear all - please see the photographs on page 1 very carefully. The location of start of the fire and the progression path is clearly seen. The rear wheel cap has not even melted! What say guys?

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear all - please see the photographs on page 1 very carefully. The location of start of the fire and the progression path is clearly seen. The rear wheel cap has not even melted! What say guys?

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

Hello sirji! So can it be confirmed it is a battery short circuit? I had mentioned this thread in social media and there were comments that there are other M&M vehicles including Scorpios which have had fire incidents.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Hello sirji! So can it be confirmed it is a battery short circuit? I had mentioned this thread in social media and there were comments that there are other M&M vehicles including Scorpios which have had fire incidents.

Dear Jaggu - hello there after a very long time, it's indeed nice to catch up.

Why do you want me to answer your question when the photographs are already talking?



Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

PS: all my sympathies are for the owner, I hope he does not have to run from pillar to post, poor fellow!

[lejhoom]

A couple of days back here in Hyderabad there was a news of 3 school buses parked in their parking lot burnt to ashes. Police initially suspected sabotage and an enquiry started.

There were several buses parked in the lot for the night and the place is secured with security personal as well as CCTV. Only when the police ran the CCTV recording did they realize it was an accident.

The CCTV showed that sometime in the early morning the indicators of one of the buses started flashing. Within a few minutes there was a fire in it and in a short time it spread to other two buses, burning down all the three.

How does one account for self-activating indicators?

[confused_soul]

BD Sir, is this a serious concern for existing and new Mahindra owners?

[1100D]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear all - please see the photographs on page 1 very carefully. The location of start of the fire and the progression path is clearly seen. The rear wheel cap has not even melted! What say guys?

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Jaggu - hello there after a very long time, it's indeed nice to catch up.

Why do you want me to answer your question when the photographs are already talking?



Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

PS: all my sympathies are for the owner, I hope he does not have to run from pillar to post, poor fellow!

Dear DB Sir, We know what you are probably hinting at. But, rather than dropping clues, please share your expert opinion directly. Besides, whatever you say on this forum will not be held against you in any court!!

So please educate some of us poor souls.

[confused_soul]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Dear DB Sir, We know what you are probably hinting at. But, rather than dropping clues, please share your expert opinion directly. Besides, whatever you say on this forum will not be held against you in any court!!

So please educate some of us poor souls.

Agree. It is very important for people to know the truth specially since there is no formal Automobile recall policy in India. SUVs are not cheap with the current tax regime and the Thar comes with no safety features for its cost hence keen to know your views.

[Parm]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Jaggu - hello there after a very long time, it's indeed nice to catch up.

Why do you want me to answer your question when the photographs are already talking?



Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

PS: all my sympathies are for the owner, I hope he does not have to run from pillar to post, poor fellow!

The rear wheel cover has not melted and the tyre itself has not burnt, means the fire started from the front of the vehicle and moved towards the rear.

the front of the vehicle has the battery, which supplies power to the rest of the vehicle. Suggestions are made that maybe the PDI was not done or handled properly and hence the short circut or spark from the battery/terminals ignited the fire?

[DirtyDan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Attachment 1228235

- After bringing the car home from the showroom, it was driven within the compound and parked in the lot at around 11.30 pm. About 10 mins later, neighbours came running, informing Pawan of a fire in the bonnet area of his Thar.

Attachment 1228236

Attachment 1228237

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

Every once in awhile a battery will decide to catch fire. You can throw a match into a cup of diesel fuel and it won't burn. Probably electric origin as opposed to fuel. Unless it's arson.

In a Thar the battery is located on the left rear corner of the engine bay against the firewall....."firewall"....?!?"

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear all - please see the photographs on page 1 very carefully. The location of start of the fire and the progression path is clearly seen. The rear wheel cap has not even melted! What say guys?

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

The evidence clearly shows the origin. This is obviously the work of a coven of witches operating swiftly and stealthily in the neighborhood! Maybe Pawan inadvertently insulted one of them one day. Maybe the witches just prefer Maruti Gypsies....this would make sense, gypsies are known conjurers and witchcrafters.

I have seen battery fires. I have seen them go up like a blow torch, easily capable of making steel red hot very fast. You will note that the area of the left rear bonnet is blacker than the rest. This is where the battery is. It looks like it went up....cause or effect, dunno.....anyway, the first post clearly states where the fire started. Hi, D.B.! Nice to see you back on these 4x4 pages. I hope "project X" is going well.

[dark.knight]

Cars have evolved over time becoming safer, more aerodynamic, quieter and comfortable. An anomaly which is on the rise these days is something which causes not only complete damage to a vehicle but also equal if not more collateral damage. This kind of harm to vehicle is not only financially draining for the owner/company but also an environmental hazard. Fabrics, plastics, parts of sheet metal etc can never be reused in case of fire and cannot be recycled either, as it is India knows zilch about recycling. Harm to life is of course the biggest worry.

Cars have caught fire starting from a Tata Nano to a VW Vento all the way to a Mercedes S Class in Germany and now we have this. I'm in no way stating that these are the results of manufacturer error/customer tampering or sabotage, I don't know what was found. What I do want to say however is whether manufacturers are taking interest towards the reasons why, instead of focusing on platform sharing, lean manufacturing and peaking output. There are many revolutionary raw materials like synthetic fire retardant resin/rubber skins for wires, better emergency protocol software in the BCM and better cooled engines which are not tapped to the limits for power.

Again I've no idea why these happened, its upto the manufacturers to either own up and fix the issues or let us know if it is a sabotage. Being mute will bring up more doubts than trust on Mahindra so they better not take their sweet time on this. As far as what a customer can do, one should ensure that the vehicle is parked in a safe place (level ground not incline/decline) and that its monitored either by security in a flat or its easily visible from the home window. I really wish that there are no more vehicles bursting in flames after this. Its about time manufacturers are made to think hard about this. You can have airbags, radar detectors, LDW, ESP among many safety kit.. unfortunately a fire might disable every one of them.

[DirtyDan]

Ford Motor Co. makes very fine quality light trucks, pickup trucks. This is their bread and butter vehicle, this is where they excel and make money. These trucks are superb and a joy to drive, as attested to by this thread...

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ve...sel-truck.html

In 2003 Ford had a major engineering foul up and miscommunication with their engine supplier, Navstar (International). For the first 6 months of 2003 the new diesel engine was a colossal bust. Note, none of them caught fire, they just ran very poorly, ran very rough and could not handle cold weather starts among other things. Many engines just self-destructed.

What did Ford do when the complaints starting coming in? They immediately responded by sending special teams of engineers consisting of factory personnel and recently retired engineers right out to the customer to investigate THE NEXT DAY after the customer contact. Ford voluntarily replaced hundred of engines and in many cases, just sent the customer a whole new truck, in some cases an upgraded truck... For no cost to the customer.

This is a moderately enlightened international company realizing what is in their best long term interest and acting accordingly. Wake up Mahindra, or die in your sleep.

Is there any further update to this woeful story?

[pavan_jacob]

Such a terrible thing to happen, especially since its a brand new vehicle. All that enthusiasm and excitement built up over a period of time for the love of the Thar, burnt down within 24 hours of ownership. And to make matters worse, retards who actually make life more miserable for the poor fella. I really hope his luck changes for the better. Waiting for updates on this incident.

[Parm]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

Ford Motor Co. makes very fine quality light trucks, pickup trucks. This is their bread and butter vehicle, this is where they excel and make money. These trucks are superb and a joy to drive, as attested to by this thread...

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ve...sel-truck.html

In 2003 Ford had a major engineering foul up and miscommunication with their engine supplier, Navstar (International). For the first 6 months of 2003 the new diesel engine was a colossal bust. Note, none of them caught fire, they just ran very poorly, ran very rough and could not handle cold weather starts among other things. Many engines just self-destructed.

What did Ford do when the complaints starting coming in? They immediately responded by sending special teams of engineers consisting of factory personnel and recently retired engineers right out to the customer to investigate THE NEXT DAY after the customer contact. Ford voluntarily replaced hundred of engines and in many cases, just sent the customer a whole new truck, in some cases an upgraded truck... For no cost to the customer.

This is a moderately enlightened international company realizing what is in their best long term interest and acting accordingly. Wake up Mahindra, or die in your sleep.

Is there any further update to this woeful story?

That is a very fine example of consumerism at its best and where the consumer is your customer and king.

Like a wise old man once said.."customer is doing us a favour by buying from us". Ford did the best possible thing to take care of the complaints and sorted out with the best possible solutions.

Compared that scenario with India where consumerism hasn't settled in and the customer is certainly not the king as of now. Also M&M knows that their product is the only product in the market in its segment and one fire here or there won't dent its name and reputation.

Not a fine example of "Rise" by M&M.

[schakravarthy]

I found this post in the Facebook Mahindra Thar 4x4 open group. Its dated May 21st and is (supposedly) from the victim.

" Sir,*
This is to inform you that after the incidence of the new Thar burning on the next day after purchase that is 3/04/2014 . It has been more than 45 days and i have not recieved any relief measure from your side all what has been happening is my misery is increasing along with wasting time and phone bills.

I have complied with all the documentation that was required from my end.
Almost a month ago a team from Mahindra comprising of Mr Prafullo (Mahindra) and Mr Chauhan (Sri Durga Automobiles) visited me and also met the owners of the Zen car which was charred alongwith my car and the house owner whose portion of house was damaged in the fire. They had promised me a new Thar and assured my neighbours that their losses would be borne by Mahindra within a week. Since then I have been coordinating with Mr Rajiv and after more than one month of talks I have been told that Mahindra will not be paying me for the 3rd party losses at all and the best that they can offer me is a discount of the difference of amount I get from the insurance with the invoice value of the new Thar which would not be more than 1.5 lakhs at maximum.

This proposal is not at all acceptable to me.

I have been paying the EMI for my Thar to the bank and I am being deprived of the vehicle for which Mahindra recieved it's payment. As a result I am forced to travel in public transportation which is resulting in more financial losses and troubles.
And since that week of waiting for my neighbours is over, they are constantly coming to my house and workplace fighting and asking me to pay them which is further adding to my harassment and mental agony.
But , after taking legal advice and consultation i have got to know that Insurance is not a subject matter of Mahindra autombiles or the showroom for their vehicle . Insurance is my personal matter for which i had paid the premium amout for my satisfaction thinking that if tommorow something happens to the car then i do not suffer from much monetary loss . Insurance and their financial matters with me are my personal matters with the insurer , it does not in any ways concern with the car or its manufacturing problem or the accident which took place.

As I was requested by Mahindra to stop using online forums I stopped it immediately thinking you guys would be helping me all out but I was totally mistaken.

I being a doctor by profession will have to miss onto my patients and work which will amount to further financial loss if I am forced to go to the court and if the resolution to my problem offered by you is not what I was initially promised then I would explore legal options applicable in my case without any further delay because I am without any vehicle all this time . And in court I would sue the company for all the harassment over and above my demands as on present day.

I have the report with me made by the police forensic experts which clearly state that the car burnt due to electric short circuit in the engine.

Since the salvage of the car is also with your company and that your technical team has already inspected the burnt Thar I am sure there should not be any further delay in taking any decision and implementing it as soon as possible.

So I would request you to kindly let me know whether what I was promised initially by your team (new car and all 3rd party losses which don't exceed 40000rs in total) will be fulfilled or the proposal given my Mr Rajiv is final so I am able to decide my further course of action without any further delays.

An early and timely response would be appreciated because I have no intentions of waiting any longer considering it's already more than 45 days and counting.

Thanks and regards*
Major Pawan Kumar Thapar
09999703397
09818645599. "

[Kandisa]

Looks like Mahindra just wanted the issue to settle down a bit with false promises. The unfortunate owner should immediately resort to legal actions, else as he has rightly feared, he will be in the same situation after another 45 days!