Overall, I am happy about M&M issuing its first ever recall and showing commitment towards customer-safety.
Here are my detailed views about the Mahindra XUV recall:
Indian manufacturers have signed up for a 'voluntary' recall policy in Jul'2012. Here's a news article about it:
http://www.team-bhp.com/news/auto-lo...all-guidelines
Moderator .anushman's post stresses the need for a independent authority to enforce the policy:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2785096 Quote:
Originally Posted by .anshuman Our country needs not only the Recall policy but also a governing authority like NHSTA in US to enforce the policy.
We also need to change our mindset regarding the recalls, whenever a car maker is recalling their cars they are admitting their mistakes and are making effort to correct it but in our country newspapers and media publish recalls as masala news . How many of the manufacturers here are actually brave enough to recall their defective cars?
Some Examples- - Just because we have non existent consumer laws we get just the standard warranty on DSG gearbox in VW/Skoda/Audi, just because of NHSTA and stronger consumer laws in US, VW offers the same gearbox a 10 year warranty.
- Other case, owners of Superb 1.8 TSI with DSG 7(DQ200) continue to struggle with multiple failures every year, still no official recall, some cars are replaced and some get refunds but most other continue to suffer. On the other side, VW China under pressure from some government authority admitted in March '12 that this same DSG 7(DQ200) 'box has some issues and they are working on it.
- Initial batch of Fiat Punto Multijet(including mine) had a known fault. The plastic Clutch slave cylinder was known to fail, so Fiat instead of a full fledged recall adopted a safer way of replacing the part whenever the cars came for servicing, some dealers did do this and others either did not know this or conveniently ignored it. Result: Hundreds of cars including mine were stranded on roads.
- Similarly early Mahindra Scorpio Mhawk had a similar clutch issue. People at Mahindra and dealers knew all about it. There was no official recall, people were stranded on roads including the Mhawk we owned.
- There are countless discussions on the forum on why to avoid initial batch Tata and Mahindra vehicles, just because they use customers as guinea pigs to sort out initial niggles
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Would like to just add the following to .anshuman's point: Owners and families getting stranded on roads, although incovenient and irritating, is actually not that bad when we really consider the worst-case scenario of getting into an accident because of a failed part.
The following article gives an accurate chronology of the most famous recall in the history by the world's largest car-manufacturer.
What is even more interesting is how the manufacturer under-played and mis-represented the issue for years together and how quickly the manufacturer was brought to its knees by the stong regulatory authority.
http://www.motortrend.com/features/a...s/viewall.html
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Coming back to the XUV5OO recall, let me try to present a chronology of events based on our very own " XUV 500 niggles and their solutions" thread.
Please note that we have possibly not more than a couple of hundred XUV-owners as members on this forum. Its a very small sample for the 55,000+ XUVs on road at this point.
15-Mar-2012: One of the first instances of power-steering issues reported by pavan15:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2715210 Quote:
First the power steering is not as "light" as it is in other XUVs - believe there is a problem with some hose that needs to be replaced. Maybe the hose supplying the power steering fluid.
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26-Apr-2012: Another instance reported by moleculez:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2758537 Quote:
Had faced a new issue with the XUV. A few days ago i parked the car for some 3 hrs and when i stared driving again, as I moved the steering the car make weird loud creaky noises. As if metal was rubbing against metal. I called up the RM and he asked me to open the hood and check the Power Steering fluid, and i saw that it was empty. Rushed the car to the service center (some 10kms) and they said the power steering pipe was leaking and ITS A COMMON PROBLEM. They got it replaced in some 5-6 hrs. But guys you need to be careful as this can be a big issue and someone might get stuck somewhere someday.
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Please do note how easily the problem was diagonised over phone and the comment about "its a common problem".
28-May-2012: Reported by Tushargohil
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2790788 14-Jun-2012: Reported by anandtheleo
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2808820 24-Oct-2012: debuda's nephew stranded because of PS failure:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2942576 Quote:
A few days ago, my nephew’s family (nephew is out at sea) had a harrowing experience when they were being driven in the XUV by their driver. Suddenly, the power steering failed and the steering became inoperable. They were stuck in Chembur. They rang up the M&M on-road assistance call centre and after about 1 ½ hours a tow truck and an Innova arrived. The former towed their XUV to the Service Centre in Goregaon and the latter dropped them home.
The steering failure happened due to rupture of a pipe in the hydraulic system with consequent loss of hydraulic fluid. The Service Centre promptly rectified the defect the next day.
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29-Oct-2012: Our very own moderator Zappo faced complete failure of power-steering:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2946292 Quote:
My 6 months old XUV today suffered a failed PS. I went to a nearby diagnostics center today. The place has a parking on a sharp incline. When I came back and started reversing with a full lock turn of the steering on that incline suddenly I found that the steering was rock solid and was refusing to turn. I was zapped. Then the bulb glowed. I put the car on hand brakes and went out to check. To my surprise the PS fluid was pouring out underneath.
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Quote:
Q. Was there any indicator glowing either before or after the incident happened which indicated PS malfunction?
A. Nope. In fact I realized with this malfunction yesterday that M&M still has some scopes for dumping a few dozen more sensors probably in this already sensor laden car. Seriously, they have sensors for every damn thing in this car and yet there is none for PS! Nada. No light nothing, before or after the incidence.
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2-Nov-2012: parsh's friend faces a PS failure:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2951406 Quote:
Finally, the PS went Kaput on my friend's XUV5OO as few others reported earlier. ... The reason given is low quality of the pipe that got burst.
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10-Nov-2012: PS hose leakage in my car:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2958934 Quote:
After Zappo reporting PS failure because of leakage I got it checked in my car during the first service and a rubber-hose in my car was also leaking. The leak was minor, but the part would have eventually failed. ... Because of the underbody plastic cover below the engine and transmission, the leak is very difficult to notice unless it is severe.
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27-Nov-2012: PS hose failure in shaktithakran's XUV:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2973580 24-Dec-2012: Leakage in HotChillyPepper's XUV:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2998218
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10-Nov-2012: debuda's confirmation that Oct'2012 manufactured XUVs have the new-design PS high-pressure hose:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2958977 Quote:
The upper of the two pipes is the High Pressure power steering hose which has a history of leaks. ... The leaks usually take place from the joints between the rubber hose and its steel end connections (the black rubber hose on the right and one of its steel end fittings on the left are clearly visible in this picture). These pipes / hoses are situated by the side of the front RHS wheel-well (below the steering column)....I was informed by the mechanic that the hose fitted in my car is of modified design.
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Summarizing:
Power Steering oil leakage problems are being reported starting from Mar'2012. By April'2012, good number of problems for PS leakage got reported..enough to be termed as "its a common problem" by RMs and mechanics. Around that time, M&M would have figured that the high-pressure hose was the culprit. They must have done testing, analysis, eventual re-design and testing of the new-designed hose after that. The new-design PS high pressure 'fluid hose' seems to have got incorporated into the production from Oct'2012 onwards. Even after that for 5 whole months, a significant population of owners would have been blissfully unaware about the potential safety hazard due to PS failure. What took Mahindras so long to communicate the problem and fix it proactively?
I sincerely hope that the current recall is not a symbolic goodwill gesture and Mahindras are serious about safety, product quality and reliability. To ascertain that, we should be keeping a keen eye on any future recalls. The brake-noise and spongy brake-feel issue is a significantly more concerning issue than the windshield getting scratched due to incorrectly designed wiper part. The siren falling off and getting entangled in moving parts is a borderline safety issue. Would like to see how Mahindras approach these 2 issues.
A GREAT move by Mahindras to issue its first ever recall. BUT, it should have been done a few months earlier. Keeping my fingers crossed for better agility, transparency and a continued focus on making existing vehicles trouble-free by way of regular recalls from M&M.