[GTO]

Pawan Kumar Thapar has a horrific 24-hour ownership experience with his Thar. Worse part is, he's not satisfied with the support from Mahindra & the dealership either.

Pawan's story is as follows:

- Booked a Mahindra Thar in March 2014 at the authorised Mahindra dealership of Sri Durga Automobiles, Rama Road, Moti Nagar, New Delhi.

- Thar was delivered on 2nd April, 2014 with the registration number DL10-CT-0603.

- Absolutely no electrical accessories or after-market fitments.

- 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.

- There were many cars parked around the burning Thar. Owners of those cars moved them away & cleared the area. The Fire department and Police were notified too.

- The area was successfully cleared, except for a Maruti Zen which was just beside the Thar and got engulfed in the flames. A part of a nearby house also got burned.

- By the time that the fire personnel and police reached the spot and controlled the fire, the damage was already done. Pawan informed the showroom manager about the incident immediately.

- Neither the dealership nor Mahindra have been supportive. Pawan has written several emails directly to Mahindra's customer care. He's even contacted their regional office.

- The owner of the Maruti Zen and the house owner (whose portion of the house got burnt) have filed police complaints against Pawan.

[commonman]

GTO ,Some observations.
Have you noticed the gas pipe line near the cars? How is that a diesel engine catches fire like this? Had he given an insurance claim? He can ask for third party claim also so that he can get the payment to the Zen owner .Isn't it? What about the FIR?

[mints21]

This is very sad. Not only has Pawan suffered loss of car but adding to his woes is the police complaint filed by the neighbours. I think Pawan should go ahead and file a FIR against Mahindra & Mahindra as well as against the dealer. He has a solid case.

Given the fact that the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) pipeline of the cooking gas were so near the scene, the extent of damage could have been far more had any of the pipeline got burst with the immense heat that would have been produced by the burning vehicle.

Mahindra's act has been shameful. When a couple of Tata Nano cars caught fire, Tata's were quick to react and even experts were flown in from other countries to analyse the root cause. This does figure in a documentary I had seen on National Geographic under the Mega Factories episode.

I urge Mahindra through this post to at least have the courtesy to respond and investigate the matter so as to give some comfort to a person who has trusted and put his money on to their brand.

[ghodlur]

Thats too shocking. Brand new vehicle catching fire is something unheard of. Surely there's more to it than meets the eye. Add injury to insult the unprofessional and unethical attitude by Mahindra team to unacknowledge the incident and provide any support. This needs to be highlighted by the owner to the media and post the incident on Mahindra's social networking sites too.

Looking at the gas lines nearby, I assume that there must have been a faint gas leak which was undetected and must have contacted the hot surface of the vehicle resulting in a fire. Couldnt undertand though, why was the Thar parked so close to the building?

[msdivy]

It could be anything from faulty PDI to sabotage from jealous neighbor. Somebody got to investigate this. Not sure if the dealership is capable of doing the forensic investigation.

[mints21]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Looking at the gas lines nearby, I assume that there must have been a faint gas leak which was undetected and must have contacted the hot surface of the vehicle resulting in a fire. Couldnt undertand though, why was the Thar parked so close to the building?

No, I don't think this could be because of faint gas leak and hot surface (if your are referring to IGL gas pipe line) because the vehicle is parked away from the pipe line. The fire because of leakage of gas could have resulted in bursting of pipeline and engulfing the Zen which is parked adjacent to the pipeline completely. Moreover, the IGL gas is very light and moves in the upward direction during leakage. (This was told to me by the people who had done installation of pipeline in my premises, Though I am not an expert and not too sure).

Moreover, the IGL pipeline has closure valves at various points which are placed in such a way that they are handy and can be switched off immediately.

According to the owner(i interacted with him on FB),the vehicle started on its own and rolled back.

I am shocked at this unbelievable thing, Really wondering how can a vehicle get started on its own. Can we believe that there was some ignition problem?

Sabotage factor from a jealous neighbour also needs to be explored. As one member mentioned this is also an important point.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thats too shocking. Brand new vehicle catching fire is something unheard of. Surely there's more to it than meets the eye. Add injury to insult the unprofessional and unethical attitude by Mahindra team to unacknowledge the incident and provide any support. This needs to be highlighted by the owner to the media and post the incident on Mahindra's social networking sites too.

Looking at the gas lines nearby, I assume that there must have been a faint gas leak which was undetected and must have contacted the hot surface of the vehicle resulting in a fire. Couldnt undertand though, why was the Thar parked so close to the building?

According to the owner(i interacted with him on FB),the vehicle started on its own and rolled back.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by mints21

No, I don't think this could be because of faint gas leak and hot surface (if your are referring to IGL gas pipe line) because the vehicle is parked away from the pipe line. The fire because of leakage of gas could have resulted in bursting of pipeline and engulfing the Zen which is parked adjacent to the pipeline completely. Moreover, the IGL gas is very light and moves in the upward direction during leakage. (This was told to me by the people who had done installation of pipeline in my premises, Though I am not an expert and not too sure).

I was referring to the hot engine since the Thar was driven in the compound for a while before being parked. As per the fire triangle, there was heat, there was air. The only source left was source which I assumed to be the gas. Can this be a case of sabotage?

Originally Posted by akshay4587

According to the owner(i interacted with him on FB),the vehicle started on its own and rolled back.

Werent the hand brake applied? Maybe the car rolled due the fire pressure.


I am shocked at this unbelievable thing, Really wondering how can a vehicle get started on its own. Can we believe that there was some ignition problem?

Sabotage factor from a jealous neighbour also needs to be explored. As one member mentioned this is also an important point.[/quote]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

According to the owner(i interacted with him on FB),the vehicle started on its own and rolled back.

[1100D]

Gosh, this contraption of an offroader even wasted a priceless original Zen.

[ad3952n]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Gosh, this contraption of an offroader even wasted a priceless original Zen.

Truly a sad sight! But, after seeing the pictures I feel that the owner should thank his stars as a major disaster has been avoided since the flames from Thar did not reach to the fuel tank of the Zen. Had it been otherwise, then, Flames + Petrol + Diesel (Thar) + LPG = A major disaster which would have led to an imaginable loss to property and people.

Thanks

AD

[ashishy]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

According to the owner(i interacted with him on FB),the vehicle started on its own and rolled back.

Started as in the engine started? Or the car moved from it's place?

[roy_libran]

We Live Young, We Die Young!

I picked up this tragedy first on Facebook, and of course, there is an outpouring of rage over there.

Regarding the formation of Fire Triangle, I might be wrong, but isn't it difficult to ignite Piped Natural Gas, when it is leaking in an open area, because of the high temperatures needed to ignite it?

To me, this probably started somewhere in the vehicle, due to a short-circuit or sparking in the OEM harness or equipment, and took a while to spread.

Waiting for the M&M guys to educate the forum, on what could have led to this tragedy and how the corporate bean counters, and not engineers, are to blame.

[Jaggu]

Shocking and saddening! A company like Mahindra should have more accountability towards such incidence. Since its a new vehicle, the insurance should cover most of the expense including third party claim but nevertheless the owner would lose money on road tax etc.

Who will compensate for all the mental agony? Maybe the owner should file a case against the manufacturer.

[the VTEC guy]

Sad to see such an incident. Just imagine the owners happines turning into sorrow in matter of hours. As far as I remember this seems to be first fire incident with Thar reported. So many things that could have happened. New vehicle with incomplete PDI, owner new to the operation of various controls in the vehicle, may be wrong operation of 4WD controls, may be owner did put in some accessories but doesn't want to disclose, etc.
Need Mahindra to investigate and publish to everyone.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by the VTEC guy

may be wrong operation of 4WD controls, may owner did put in some accessories but doesn't want to disclose, etc.

How can wrong operation of 4WD controls lead to fire? I can imagine damage to the TC gears, axles, bearings, but FIRE!
I certainly can't spot any accessories from the pictures. In any case, if there were any accessories they would definitely come out in the insurance inspection.