[wheelguy]

Use of galvanized steel in Indian cars is less than 17%, says IZA

The International Zinc Association claims that despite any technical hurdles, automakers in India choose to cut costs and skip anti-corrosion treatment for vehicle bodies. (Representational pic)

Different standards for domestic market and exports?

Now IZA (International Zinc Association) has revealed a shocking statistic – the use of galvanized steel or zinc-coated steel is as low as 17 percent (or less) for passenger cars being produced by some reputable global OEMs for the Indian market, making them prone to corrosion.

The irony, however, is that the same automakers, says IZA, go all out and treat their made-in-India export models and process them through an anti-corrosion galvanization process that covers up to 70 percent of the vehicle's body shell till the window-line.

In both cases, however, the current usage of galvanized steel in vehicles produced in India is far lower than that of North America and Europe, where vehicle manufacturers use galvanized steel in over 90 percent of the vehicle body even including the pillars, barring just the roof, which is a non-critical area when it comes to the topic of corrosion.

Galvanization is when a protective zinc coating is applied to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing. This is when metal parts are fully submerged in a bath of molten zinc.

A lack of awareness among Indian consumers, says the global metal body, and no regulation from the government mandating use of galvanized steel are cited as the main reasons enabling OEMs to continue with this practice.
"There are no technical hurdles as such. Auto companies already have the BIW pre-treatment setups which are being used to galvanize the export models being built in India. We are only talking about a mere 0.01 percent of the additional cost of the vehicle to include galvanization and offer improved structural safety and longevity to the vehicle," says Kenneth M de Souza, Technical Expert, Galvanizing and Prepaint, IZA.

As per an independent study conducted by IIT Mumbai, on behalf of the IZA, car corrosion surveys in Mumbai and Chennai (two coastal areas) confirm visibility of corrosion in areas such as door sill plates and front cross-members of vehicles after a duration of five years of being on the road.

"Galvanization first started in the automotive industry in the 1980s in the US after multiple class action lawsuits were filed against Ford Motor Company. While people have always related automobile corrosion to the de-icing salt put to use in the North American region, that's not true. We have found similar rusting issues in our surveys conducted in India as well," says de Souza.

"There is a secondary market in India for upper and under-body coatings, which are not done with the best levels of workmanship and also don't offer durability that the paint systems inside a car company can offer," he adds.

Full article at Autocar Professional

[el lobo 6061]

Why don't they specify which manufacturers do and which don't? Pat the back of those who do for domestic Indian car market and shame those who don't.

Article says 17% and leaves you guessing.

Volkswagen India does it for their cars since beginning.

For Vento in 2010 Brochure they mentioned it "Galvanised body with 6 years anti-perforation warranty".

Jetta & Passat used to have 12 years anti-perforation warranty.


Another manufacturer who doesn't do it is Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India on their Activa. Using one and it has developed lots of rust wherever there has a been a small nick. Vento on the other hand even with quite a few nicks and scratches, no rusting anywhere in 8.25 years.

[Brishti]

The Creta in my family had started to rust after an year and we had to get a anti-rust coat done after which the problem was mostly gone.

[humyum]

My 800 had developed rust in the apron after 8 years, the apron had to be changed.

The Swift which is going to turn 11 in 2 months, has rust on some of its parts, the front cross member has be changed because of that.

[ramzsys]

The paint scrape on on the ford's bonnet didn't rust at all.

In the '17 Maruti Omni, it's otherwise.

[coolkurt]

The Honda Civic I have has almost zero rusting, 13 years on. In fact, when I had gone to the FNG to get the running board repaired, he was surprised to find no rusting when he cut it open to weld and repair it. Assembled from CKD kits, the level of localisation was low.
I attribute the durability to that.

The new civic in comparison has a 68% localisation. I've seen rust on a 5 year old Honda City.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by coolkurt

The new civic in comparison has a 68% localisation. I've seen rust on a 5 year old Honda City.

My City is in its 5th year. There is rust, and there is water leakage inside the cabin. Absolutely no rust on my 7 year old CKD assembled Jazz. Seriously, I dread it when manufacturers say they have increased localization.

[J4J]

I feel the cars produced nowadays start to rust from 3rd year.
Only Volkswagen has anti rust warranty. All other manufacturers only provide one year anti-rust warranty and they will never acknowledge this in writing.
We observe rust on car's body only at very advanced stages. By this time the panel has to be replaced.

Shouldn't the car safety rating also consider the type of anti-rust coatings/ material used? A car body that can rust easily will not have much of its structural integrity left after a few years.

[sukiwa]

Check previous posts on related thread (Indian cars with galvanised steel bodies)

and another one about proposed 70% usage. (Use of 70% galvanised steel in cars could be made mandatory)

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Check previous posts on related thread (Indian cars with galvanised steel bodies)

and another one about proposed 70% usage. (Use of 70% galvanised steel in cars could be made mandatory)

Thanks for the related threads, missed those threads during my search because I used a different spelling, used Galvanization instead of Galvanisation in my search.

Mod note: Merge threads if necessary. Missed the pre-existing threads due to above said reasons.

[Col Mehta]

I'm sure Hyundai is one of the culprits. Our four-year old Creta and Grand i10 have rust here and there. Shameful. On the other hand, our five-year old Vento shows no sign of rusting which is commendable - all our cars are used under similar conditions.

As someone said earlier, localization does scare me when it comes to auto industry. We are not known for maintaining healthy safety norms in our products. This is just one finding in the news, only God knows what else are being comprised. I would, anyday, be happier to pay more for something which is not heavily localized and perhaps comes with better quality and safety assurance!