[black12rr]

I read that "the engine stopped and steering locked in the middle of nowhere, and the truck behind braked just in time".

How would you feel when a truck or couple of trucks run over you. Then they would provide compensation and replacement? This is unacceptable for the brand and engineering he paid money for.

He is right to ask for replacement. He has no confidence that the car will not lock up once again. The owner might not be alive to tell the tale.

We need strong consumer laws and manufactures should stop treating Indian consumers like garbage.

[puchoo]

I would probably side with Audi here as well , a replacement engine is a fair response from the company providing they are not charging anything for it. True its a big event in the life of a car but to get a brand new car i think is stretching it.

[Grr7]

Originally Posted by black12rr

He is right to ask for replacement . He has no confidence that the car will not lock up once again . The owner might not be alive to tell the tale .

Sir, in that case what are the odds that a new car from the same manufacturer would instill confidence in the customer? There is no way to guarantee that a new replacement car wont ever lock up. Cars are after all a nicely engineered set of machines which always has the probability to fail (howsoever small that may be). That is the very reason of manufacturer giving warranty to protect the customer in case of any manufacturing defect gone unnoticed during assembly of car.

In that case, the owner needs to demand a full refund so that he can invest that money in any other manufacturer's confidence inspiring car (which again has no guarantee of zero failure).

Regards

[Santoshbhat]

A bizarre story indeed. More details would certainly be welcome.

But to return 9 cars, coz one of them developed a problem seems to be an extreme reaction. United we stand divided we fall?

If Audi has indeed agreed to replace the engine FOC, that to me is a reasonable resolution.

They are just trying to bully the company to submit to their demands. Don't think that's fair. The affected person seems to be quite influential too (politically). I am sure if he was just another regular businessman the other Audi owners would not joined him in such bullying tactics. They would have seen this as an opportunity to score brownie points with the local politico.

[anandpadhye]

A4 uses a timing belt and not a chain???
Seriously? Come on Audi, shame on you.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by julupani

I dont think a perfectly healthy car, with no abnormal systems, would have had a catastrophic failure leading to an engine seizing.

Audi has clearly mentioned V-Belt failure. We can safely assume that the belt snapped, damaging the engine.

[raveesh_k]

Originally Posted by asr245

Believe me, if such a case were to happen in any western country including Germany, Audi would have a new car with express delivery + a whole lot more.

Taking no side here, I think this comparison is slightly unfair. We cannot expect the same consumer relationship from brands which pose a better treatment in the West. Though we are separated by a few thousand miles, I am sad to say our environmental and stimuli response is different from our fellow earth'ians in the west by more than a light year.

Driving habit/etiquette for example.

As a given, majority of the Audi's, Beemers, Mercs, Jags drive on city roads with high beam on. Not saying that other segment cars don't, but people expecting a 'segment-apart' behavior from their car dealers should instill and engage the basic behavior etiquettes on road, no?

Also, IMHO I think owners (majority) of high segment cars are a lot less carefull (I wanted to write - lot more careless ) about their cars when directly compared to westerners.


We as Indians, show considerably less respect to, be it nature, women or automobiles. Talking about respect and automobiles, I think the same is perceived by the car dealers and that being the reason, you take to them an Audi or an A-Star, they will take your part of the story with a pinch of salt.

'We are like that only' - By Rama Bijapukar.

Cheers!

[2cents]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

By the way, there is no mention of the fuel type. Remember when an A6 belonging to a doctor was filled with adulterated diesel, and the estimated repair costs were upwards of 11 Lakh Rupees? Seems like there is something similar (poor quality fuel) even in Mr. Chaudhari's case.

And what if the fuel was filled in one of Mr. President, Municipal Council/bizman's own outlet! Just guessing.

[9thsphinx]

I think I know how this works.

It's all about "company policies". Dig in to Audi's company policy journal for India and you'll find a statement there somewhere that such an issue wouldn't warrant a new car replacement.

That same Audi company policy journal will explicitly mention a new car replacement if the same issue happened in the EU or the US. Without asking many questions.

It's simple, really. Out here in India, a customer is taken for granted. We're a gullible lot. Things like these are bound to happen. These big multinational car companies are here to make a profit. Not serve customer interest - at least not inherently.

In this particular case, unless more details emerge, nothing much can be said on who really is at fault. But I can bet, if this goes to court, the customer, no matter how far up in the political echelon he belongs to, he ain't getting a new car! Not here in this country.

[sa_kiran]

Are we not commenting based on the story in which Audi has given its view, but not the owners? How about hearing owners' side of story?

[julupani]

Originally Posted by GTO

Audi has clearly mentioned V-Belt failure. We can safely assume that the belt snapped, damaging the engine.

If the timing belt snapped, the engine would have had extensive damage with broken valves, damaged pistons, damaged cylinder walls.

Its definitely not a simple case of replacing the belt, as the Audi person seemed to indicate. The engine would either require extensive repairs, or actually need a full replacement.

Of course, if the Audi engine is non-interference type, a snapped belt would barely have any long term damage at all.

Even if the car needed an engine replacement, Audi seem to be offering exactly that. So I dont see what is the issue at all.

[Arch-Angel]

I really can't understand what all the fuss is about. Audi seems to offering a good solution by replacing the engine but if this is the first time the car is facing the issue and audi wants to rectify it, why aren't the bizmen accepting it? They seem to be jumping the gun and demanding a replacement. I can agree that an engine replacement might take time but audi might give them a spare car to use in the mean time. No reason to be complaining imo.

[1100D]

Many posts here indicate the lack of upkeep, or maintenaince, suggested to be prevalent mostly in our part of the world.

But what I wonder here, is that root cause of the damage, is a snapped timing belt.

I would like to know, what would have been the tell-tale signs about the timing belt being about to give away?

Secondly, given that the car was just 20 months old (less than 2 yrs), what negligence on part of the owner could have caused the timing belt to snap. The owner seems to have done the requisite services done at the authorised workshop, what else was expected from the owner for a car he purchased less than 2 yrs ago?

Thirdly, since we are talking about a premium German car here, with so-called German engineering backing it up. Is it okay for something like a timing belt to snap within 2 yrs. Irrespective of the usage, shouldn't there be alarms/restrictions, there already is a rev limiter preventing from over-revving.

Even assuming rough usage conditions, isn't less than 2 yrs a very small duration within which this occurred. We do see a lot of Indica's/Safari's/Sumo's soldier on with minimum maintanence for much more than 2 yrs without needing to bank on German Engineering behind them and we are talking about the famed Audi brand from the VAG.

[suman]

Originally Posted by 1100D

We do see a lot of Indica's/Safari's/Sumo's soldier on with minimum maintanence for much more than 2 yrs without needing to bank on German Engineering behind them.

The danger with some of the semi rural customers who buy these high end cars is that they also treat them the way they would treat their Indicas & Safaris. We would probably never come to know what the actual circumstances were that lead to the timing belt snapping.

Would like to share an anecdote here - a neighbour's son was doing a summer internship in a nearby Audi dealership. He saw an R8 that had, ostensibly, come in for an upholstery change. Now he found it weird that an R8 upholstery would get damaged so he asked his senior what the issue was. Turns out that it was a Farmer's car and he had ferried (hold your horses!!!) BAGS OF MANURE in the rear seat. The regular tractor-trailer were probably away on another part of the farm so he just put the stuff in the R8 and carried it to his kheti. Would you believe this?????

So.......municipality hotshot, good knows what the situation was and how many warning lights may have popped up. Some of them even feel that an expensive car should not need any maintenance!

[riteshritesh]

The owner is completely justified in asking for a refund/replacement on a sub-standard product. If you are not going to consider the situational danger that the owner was put into, due to engine seizure, then you aren't aware of the troubles owner must have gone through in avoiding the car getting banged on the highway, getting it towed and getting back to his regular routine. Also the time wasted in getting all this sorted out with Audi, is another issue. The peace of mind you lose because of a " minor incident" as other have put it, is something one needs to consider.

If you say that the owner has faulty driving habits, I doubt if this is the owners first car he has owned. Has it happened to any of his previous cars? When you buy a new car, you will always compare it with your own previous experience ( of your previous car).



I say all this from my own perspective of owning a ' faulty designed ' car.
If you read my posts in the " rat damage" thread, you can see how much troubled I am by owning a German Car ( co-incidentally an Audi). For sure, this is my last German Car and will deter people from buying one too.
If Audi gives me an option of a refund, I will wholeheartedly take it, provided it make financial sense.

The owner will always think ...if it hasn't happened to me earlier, with my old cars and it happens to the current one, the current one is not worth owning.

Whether Audi is correct in offering an engine replacement, instead of a total replacement, put down 30 Lakhs of your earned money, get a lemon and then we will talk.