[ACM]

We do have instances of leading manufacturers like even Toyota not being true to the job of self investigation and delaying sharing the result:

For Example:
Source: NY Times

By NICK BUNKLEY

DETROIT — Toyota said Wednesday that its investigation of about 2,000 vehicles reported to experience sudden acceleration found evidence that sticking accelerator pedals and interference by floor mats — the subjects of two big recalls — did indeed cause some of the incidents.

It is the first time since the recalls that Toyota has acknowledged that its internal review, which is continuing, had found sudden-acceleration complaints to be valid. The carmaker did not disclose how many of the incidents were caused by the sticky pedals and floor mats.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received about 3,000 complaints about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles and is conducting its own examination of them. The agency said in a statement on Wednesday that it had reached “no conclusions” about the causes.

A Toyota spokesman, Mike Michels, said the company’s investigation involved inspections of the vehicles and downloading data from onboard recorders if a crash occurred. Mr. Michels said the investigation found sticking accelerator pedals in a small number of vehicles and a larger number with floor mats that interfered with pedals.

Read more: [COLOR=#0000ff]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/business/global/15toy...[/COLOR]


ALSO
The below link speaks about lamborghini crashes and the manufacturer (VW Group)remaining silent about their chash worthness? So we do have a reason to doubt almost all manufacturers and the likelyhood of them coming clean upfront incase of a self investigation of problems with their cars - expecially ones that are are a threat to life.

Lamborghini Murcielago Crash

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Amit its all got to do with the chalta hai attitude that we have in India. No Government agency takes up their work seriously because at the end of the day they know they be receiving their salary and no one question them what you did.
There are no strict laws or guidelines which could help the consumer in anyway. For instance many Indian soldiers and policemen sacrificed their life while fighting terrorist and capturing Ajmal Kasab. And what is GoI doing, spending crores on him to keep him safe and feed him for what.
Everyone is concerned about themselves only and nothing about country on a whole. Sorry for going a bit off topic mods.

In India the major issue is Human life does not have any value. In US even if one citizen gets struck the entire ministry is shaken and action is taken. In India action is taken only on highlighted cases.

We don't know the exact reason of fire, it could have been a faulty ICE fitting or a lighter issue or anything else, but RCA could and in all possibilities will save some other guy from losing his/her life. In case it was a man made/driver error then this could be a lesson to users irrespective of the make and model of car they drive.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ACM

We do have instances of leading manufacturers like even Toyota not being true to the job of self investigation and delaying sharing the result:

Another takes on this. I read it in TG.

TOYOTA IS BEING USED AS A POLITICAL FOOTBALL IN THE USA, WHERE GM-SUPPORTING BIGWIGS ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO IGNORE THE FACTS AND STICK THE BOOT IN

Imagine a lethal fault might exist in your car. On average, this fault will result in a fatal accident, for each single car like yours, once every half million years of your driving it. Would you keep it?

I suspect you’d probably take a deep breath , swallow a brave pill, and carry on driving. After all, every day you take far bigger risks than that. Overtaking where maybe the margin of error isn’t that big. Staring a bit too long at some foxy pedestrian. Trying to retrieve a snack that’s slipped between the seat and the transmission tunnel. Keeping going when drowsy. Tapping in a satnav destination at motorway speed. Yes you do. We all do.

This is the context of the peril of runaway Toyotas. There have been 50-odd deaths attributed worldwide to the issue. Roughly 10 million cars have been recalled, and given they’re on average several years old, that’s how I calculated the approximate probability in the first paragraph.

Those deaths are a tragedy. But they represent a vanishingly small proportion of overall road accidents in Toyotas, and of break downs in cars. And that’s Toyotas problem. As the story has developed, its gone from floor mats jamming the throttle, to a sticky pedal, to ‘ghost in the machine’ accusations over the drive by wire electronics. How do you chase down a ‘ghost in the machine’ ? Especially when there are so few of these ghosts out there. And, in cars that have gone out of control but not crashed, the ghosts stubbornly refuse to reappear when test engineers try to replicate the incidents.. I’m not sure if Toyota will ever get to the bottom of this.

Toyota is well aware that Public Relations theory says you should never, ever blame your customers, and so it isn’t. But actually some of the high profile runaways might have been a simple matter of someone pressing the throttle when they thought they’d press the brake. Someone once T-boned the car I was in by doing exactly that. We were manoeuvring in the hold of the Isle of Man ferry. It was a Ford Fiesta that hit me, but I guess if it’d been a Toyota Yaris the driver might now be tempted to add his list to the ‘unintended acceleration’ claims against Toyota.

Yes, its beginning to turn into a witch hunt. There is evidence, for sure, that Toyota’s obsessive focus on reliability might have been distracted during the spectacular growth years up to 2008. But it’s one thing to very slightly lose focus. Its quite another to be aware of a lethal flaw and deliberately hide it, which is what a lot of grandstanding US politicians have alleged. There have been angry congressional hearings. It has become political for another reason: Toyota’s main competition is General Motors (GM), and US taxpayers own GM, so its now OK for politicians and union leaders to partisan in GM’s favor and even revive the sort of reflexive Japan bashing I thought had been justly buried 20 years ago. Meanwhile District Attorney Tony Rackauckas of Orange California has filed a lawsuit alleging that Toyota is endangering the public with its defective vehicles and business practices. Toyota bosses have known for years that a cover-up of a major flaw simply wouldn’t work in the information age. Faults in cars become public, and get exaggerated out of control in the blogosphere and 24 hour media. That’s what does the big scale damages to a company’s reputation and sales and profits, not the possible cost of lawsuits and damages. If Toyota has made faulty cars it’s a cock-up not a conspiracy.

Now don’t accuse me of being an apologist for Big Auto and unfettered capitalism. Its perfectly true that big business naturally misbehaves if it isn’t held to public account. Uncontrolled multi nationals in many industries have trampled all over democracy and public health - see movies such as Food Inc and The Corporation. I’d love to know why US law makers haven’t gone after the backsides of dozens of far more willfully harmful corporations rather than climbing, without any expertise, on this anti-Toyota bandwagon.

Anyway, the consumer is speaking. In February, Toyota sales in the US when through the floor. People didn’t want to put their families into a dangerous foreign car. In March, the company started offering discounts and low-interest finance, and sales bounced right back. People could now buy a Toyota and demonstrate that most American of instincts: the eye for a bargain.

By Paul Horrell
Top Gear

[VW2010]

In this case, car was given to VW only after RTO has completed their investigation. It is a different question that whether RTO is competent enough to do this investigation. But we can't blame VW for government's perceived inability to do the investigation. So let's stop bashing VW for doing their own investigation

If i am the manufacturer i will do an investigation to ensure the issue is a one of case and not a design fault.

Secondly i will only make corrective measures if its a design fault and install the changes directly on cars coming to service.

If the RTO investigation has cleared the case against VW i have no interest to do an investigation and submit a report to public. To me i am more interested to ensure the fault is not because of design and even if its the design i am more interested to find a fix and fix them in all cars without relating the same to this incident.

What if the issue was due to a modification like a HID or some cut out which is not recommended?

I will publish that information without any hesitation as it just strengthens my stand that modifications will void warranty.

This is just my take if i were the manufacturer.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by VW2010

What if the issue was due to a modification like a HID or some cut out which is not recommended?

I will publish that information without any hesitation as it just strengthens my stand that modifications will void warranty.

This is just my take if i were the manufacturer.

I tend to agree due to the deafening silence on the part of VW till now. Its over 3 weeks now and I wonder why it would take so much time to ascertain the cause and come out with the findings. Would someone familiar with the investigations shed some light on the issue? I am about to embark on a longish road trip and I must confess that am just a wee bit apprehensive due to this whole affair. Just for my mental peace purchased a portable fire extinguisher to accompany me on this trip.

[d_himan]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

My keyring is a glass breaker with belt cutter. the device can be pulled out even if the key is stuck in the dash. I also have a multi purpose pocket knife in the small utility compartment. We can't avoid every danger but we can be prepared as far as we can.

Amazon.com: ResQMe, The Keychain Version of the Original LifeHammer (Black): Automotive

Recently my friend had to cut open his seat belt after it was strangulating his kid (the belt just keeps tightening slowly).

Thanks Vivekiny2k, just got myself one. Superb build quality. I tried it on an old non-laminated windshield lying around and it just shattered. Hope no thief gets his hand on one!

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by d_himan

Hope no thief gets his hand on one!

thieves use en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_rocks

[bluevolt]

It's nearly one month and there is no official word from company stating about the reason of fire!.

Pune-ites, Do you guys have any info from local news channel/papers?

[nanduchitnis]

We will never know unless some T BHP member has insider information.

[souravc]

Update from RTO
No mechanical defect in the car: RTO - www.daily.bhaskar.com

It corroborates some of our views ( including my own ) where from the pics the fire seemed subdued in and around engine compartment / bonnet area. I hope the police comes up with what caused the accident now. A fire starting in the rear seat is a bit strange- though its a possibility if the occupant smokes inside the car.

[mayankjha1806]

This is strange, i was not aware that babus in rto office are trained to carry such an investigation. Even if they are right in their analysis the perception that everyone including myself will carry is things have been brushed under the carpet with some obvious favours made.

This should have been given to forsenic experts by police in the first place to bring in some authenticity to the whole process.

[carboy]

Someone has posted a thread about an Accord catching fire - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ord-burnt.html

[magikrider]

the whole episode is a very unfortunate one.. my sympathies with the family and may god bless the soul of the deceased.

I came across this thread sometime back but didn't write anything then.. was actually shocked to read that such a thing happened. and its also shocking that why wasn't the story published anywhere else or given any more coverage? looks like a big cover up! as the company has spent huge amounts in marketing in recent times and such news can hamper those efforts big time. because I remember seeing a pic of a burnt up tata nano on the front page of TOI! and it was talked and discussed everywhere and almost everyone i know knows about nano catching fire! but this no one knows!

and frankly speaking, this whole thing has actually somehow changed my mindset for the vento, and come to think of it I was very seriously considering a vento till I read this thread! maybe there was no mechanical or electrical failure and maybe the reason the fire broke was something else.. maybe.. but somehow I don't feel for it anymore and all the craze for the car has died! it isn't even on my list of probables anymore! cheers VW!

[selfdrive]

Any update on this yet? There is absolutely nothing reported in the local media.

And after a short hiatus, the Polo ad has reappeared on some newspapers over the weekend. Looks like the efforts at a cover up have worked? In any case public memory is too short here; we have already moved on the next issue which we will forget in due time too unfortunately

[amit_mechengg]

Well something is surely wrong with Vento and its copy Rapid.

A new rapid too caught fire.
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