[CARDEEP]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle5397226.ece

India's leading car manufacturer Maruti-Suzuki is recalling 1.5k vehicles (see below for model details), manufactured between 19 Oct 13 & 23 Oct 13, for defect in steering column. These include:

1. Ertiga: 306 numbers,
2. Swift: 592 numbers,
3. Dzire: 581 numbers, &
4. A-Star: 13 numbers

The new steering column has been despatched to dealer workshops, who will contact owners of all vehicles in the above range.

[Aditya]

Maruti Suzuki has recalled 1492 vehicles for an inspection of their steering columns.

Link to News Article

[tsk13]

Need to appreciate the swift response by MSIL, the Indian Car Industry is coming of age in terms of Proactive Customer Centric Approach. I'm sure few of these vehicles would still be in dealer yards.

Any further information as to what went wrong as I remember Hyundai's issues with i20 which involved replacement or addition of Yoke Spring and Urethane Pad.

[KALINGA]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[cpbopanna]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle5397226.ece

India's leading car manufacturer Maruti-Suzuki is recalling 1.5k vehicles (see below for model details), manufactured between 19 Oct 13 & 23 Oct 13, for defect in steering column. These include:

1. Ertiga: 306 numbers,
2. Swift: 592 numbers,
3. Dzire: 581 numbers, &
4. A-Star: 13 numbers

The new steering column has been despatched to dealer workshops, who will contact owners of all vehicles in the above range.

Mahindra - Please Rise AND LEARN

We have all upgraded our Thar Brakes on our own, since you DO NOT want to recognise the problem!

Oh, I almost forgot, there is CMVR to your rescue!

[rahul4321]

Extract from Indianautoblog article on same topic

http://indianautosblog.com/2013/11/m...-recall-106620

"The company said today that 13 units of the A-Star, 592 units of the Swift, 581 units of the Dzire and 306 units of the Ertiga are affected by this recall. The 1,492 affected models were manufactured between October 19 and October 26, 2013. The recall doesn’t pertain to vehicles that have been exported in this range."

I find it a little hard to believe that the exported vehicles come with a different steering column than the ones for India. Sure the RHD and LHD concept is there; but the actual steering column which only provides a linkage does not change, does it?

[Sutripta]

Interesting in that the IIRC, the first ever recall in India was also by Maruti over a steering component problem. (Rack not properly hardened if memory serves me right).

Regards
Sutripta

[paragsachania]

There were a few complaints reported by customers & Service advisors on steering hardness for a few of these models due to which certain ASC raised a "Field Technician Report" that reaches some of the top levels of Maruti's R&D and Technical department.

Over the last few days, there have been a Video conference in all of Maruti's Regional offices or their Driving School classrooms where they explained the issue & the solution to all the Works Managers.

The problem seems to be with the steering column joint that may result in hard steering. MSIL has already dispatched the new rack systems to the workshops and the process of replacement has begun.

[Gotham_City]

If indeed there was an issue with steering of a few Ertigas, it could explain some of the incidents figuring in 'Accident Pics' thread

e.g.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post2966103

It happened in broad day-light and he was doing good 3 digit speeds. His wife and kids were in the rear seat. It happened when he overtook a lorry and while switching back to the left lane, seems he had panicked as the steering did not respond and he had told his wife that the steering has locked and eventually it dragged him to the left extreme, hit the pillar and toppled over.

He was still conscious at that time and had called his home to report on the accident. The truck whom he overtook stopped over and called 108 for help and left the scene.

No one has any clue on the steering failure.

It will be very disturbing if some lives were lost due to steering issues. However, I could not access any investigation report on the said accident which conclusively establishes that.

[jinojohnt]

While this is a welcome move, I am wondering how the 'defect' is restricted to a very few number of cars. Component defects and failures normally affect a batch of cars, and manufacturers generally recall large number of cars, and not a few thousands like this one. Could it be that Maruti is trying to cover-up some thing?

[paragsachania]

^^
1. Ertiga: 306 numbers,
2. Swift: 592 numbers,
3. Dzire: 581 numbers, &
4. A-Star: 13 numbers

That means they are specifically referring to a batch between 19 Oct 13 & 23 Oct 13, aren't they? Plus the fact that a particular vendor having manufactured the steering rack assembly that as gone into only so many vehicles.

Very unlikely that they would pick and select few models only to cover-up. For that matter, there is no Ritz that uses similar platform as the Ertiga.

[johndy]

This is an old problem on the Swift. I own a 2012 May, Swift VDI and had some irritating rattling noise creeping up in the initial week. I pointed this out to Varun Motors, Begumpet , who after a thorough investigation by the Marti Service Engineer agreed to replace the steering column under warranty. But after a year, the same noise has resurfaced.

[denver85]

You can check whether your vehicle is included in the recall here or not:
http://www.marutisuzuki.com/Recall.aspx

[abhays06]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle5397226.ece

India's leading car manufacturer Maruti-Suzuki is recalling 1.5k vehicles (see below for model details), manufactured between 19 Oct 13 & 23 Oct 13, for defect in steering column. These include:

1. Ertiga: 306 numbers,
2. Swift: 592 numbers,
3. Dzire: 581 numbers, &
4. A-Star: 13 numbers

The new steering column has been despatched to dealer workshops, who will contact owners of all vehicles in the above range.

Automobile manufacturers should have Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) on lines of pharmaceutical companies. This includes where the people involved in manufacturing are told that they have to take highest amount of care in manufacturing since the medicine could be reaching to their family members. In Automobiles too, situation is similar, dealing with the life of the vehicle passengers as well as those on the roads. Is the replacement of the part a solution? What happens if the accident happens before the replacement? This is a food for thought for all concerned.

Originally Posted by amrbor

I've been following this thread for a while & this is my first post here. Got my Vento TDI highline a month back and its been a good ride so far , except perhaps the ICE.

My car came with RCD-310 as the HU, which has been extremely annoying to use.


The Steering Controls (I guess these are new??) have phone controls and won't work without the optional Bluetooth adapter, which is not available yet.


The proprietary connectors for extensions (USB, AUX, Bluetooth) are the biggest problems with this system. USB can't handle iPod connections and since Bluetooth & AUX aren't available, I simply can't connect a iPod/iPhone. (USB extension & proprietary connector in picture)


Replacing the HU
I narrowed down to Pioneer AppRadio OR Pioneer AVH-P3300BT as HU replacements and finally purchased the 3300BT (Ventoman's choice of the same helped my decision).

Questions to the Gurus !!
Will the 3300BT integrate the VW PDC (Parking Distance Control) and the Steering Controls? Will they work? Do I need to buy any more adapters to make them work?

Purchases

Pioneer AVH-P3300BT on eBay Global EasyBuy, at Rs. 21,800/- (USD 440) all incl. (shipping/customs) It was the best price I could find with a reliable seller. (Already recd.)

VW Stereo Fitting Kit on eBay UK (31GBP /Rs.2440 excl. duty) from same seller referenced earlier by Ventoman. (Yet to arrive)

On a sidenote, eBay's Global Easybuy was quite an easy way to import stuff from the States. Very useful, specially if sellers don't ship to India. Though I'd recommend buying from only from very good, reputed sellers.

Still Pending Purchases
Still to buy speakers, amp, sub-woofer; but don't have much knowledge regarding the same yet. I have a budget upto Rs. 15,000/- for the same and would appreciate any suggestions here.

Warranty Issues / Cabling Purchases
Would appreciate any suggestions regarding precautions to take to avoid warranty issues, etc.

I'll install all the items after Diwali, after 27th October, and will update accordingly.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by abhays06

Automobile manufacturers should have Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) on lines of pharmaceutical companies. This includes where the people involved in manufacturing are told that they have to take highest amount of care in manufacturing since the medicine could be reaching to their family members. In Automobiles too, situation is similar, dealing with the life of the vehicle passengers as well as those on the roads. Is the replacement of the part a solution? What happens if the accident happens before the replacement? This is a food for thought for all concerned.

I beg to disagree... what you are suggesting should be done ideally, but why would a manufacturer do this if it can profit on saving few bucks at cost of lax standards & laws.

Not just in India, but everywhere, including North America, Europe & China, it has been a regulator/ Government Agencies, which have forced the manufacturers to undertake corrective steps after the product is sold (technically a Recall) in case of defect. There are hundreds of recalls in US for petty issues, which any manufacturer won't care to do in India. e.g. - sometime back, few vehicles (if I recall correctly, of Jap make) were recalled in US for brake-light reflectors which would get faded overtime & thus the visibility of the brakes/ indicators won't be good. Similarly, the grade of alloy used in manufacture of XUV500 is different (superior) for Australian market as compared to Indian market (as confirmed by Australian reviewers, who reviewed the same in India), making it compliant to stringent safety standards of ANCAP.

Coming to pharma companies, they are bigger sinner, not in case of the product sold (but other malpractices at R&D, Sales Promotion, & other business areas), but follow the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) only because it could help save much more money in case of litigation & compensation to affected parties.

I hope you would agree that any business would do follow a practice which affects it revenues, only if there is a law or regulatory agency, like the one that came up in India re recalls.

... & it is high time, TML, M&M, VW & the like are forced to follow suit.