[beast_within]

Official response has been released on the Twitter Handle

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by beast_within

Official response has been released on the Twitter Handle

It is similar to Apple Inc's battery issue. Apple initially ignored/denied that it is intentionally slowing down the batteries, but later it was forced(The company only admitted the slowdown feature existed after independent Reddit users and bloggers tested devices) to release a statement admitting the same. Slowing down the batteries was in the interest of the company, but Apple said it was in the interest of the users and also gave a justification.

[Nithesh_M]

Or you know its similar to the brand new Yamaha R15 catching fire after filling up at a gas station but the culprit turned out to be the cloth that the owner forgot to remove after cleaning his bike which he had shoved into the side fairings which caught fire from the hot engine?

Not everything has to be a conspiracy. People wanted a statement from the owner, owner puts out statement and suddenly he's part of the conspiracy. People then claim the manufacturer is silent, manufacturer puts out a statement and even that is a conspiracy.

Tomorrow if that independent team of investigators release statement matching this then even they will be part of conspiracy. There really is no pleasing the conspiracy folks.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by beast_within

Official response has been released on the Twitter Handle

Attachment 1960778

Hmm, so it seems like the driver/cleaner, after cleaning the car, left the cloth in the engine bay and the cloth went near the manifold and caught fire. Going by the region where the fire originated, this seems like a reasonable explanation. Now let's hope that they conduct an investigation on the Mumbai car as well, and come out with an explanation as soon as possible.

In my opinion, the fact that the car caught fire is not really the main issue- we have seen the best of cars catching fire, after all it's a machine- things can go wrong. But the real issue here was the way they handled it.

They manipulated the media and ensured that the news doesn't spread far and wide. They should have released a clarification on the day this news surfaced. They could have simply said that their investigations are under way. I think the main reason why MG was bashed so much in this thread was because the brand hasn't built its reputation as yet. As they say- a good reputation takes years to build, but a single incident can obliterate it.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

..Not everything has to be a conspiracy....

If they instituted an internal and an independent external investigation quickly as claimed in the statement, all it would've taken was a quick Twitter post saying that, and this thread would be about MG's responsiveness, in a positive light, while everyone waited for details. We know what was done instead.

Conspiracy or not, MG's initial response is a perfect example of how NOT to handle a potential PR disaster.

Precisely why I said earlier that they need a better PR team.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

all it would've taken was a quick Twitter post saying that, and this thread would be about MG's responsiveness,

So now its no longer about the lack of official statement but the delay in said announcement? The goal post has been shifted isnt it? I don't remember any manufacturer releasing a statement on the same day of their product going kaboom. Most send out a press release during or after investigation to quell rumours in the press.

I'm sure if the response on twitter was handed out on the same day as the fire, there would be some theories asking how the manufacturer came to know about the fire so soon to have already sent a team of 2 to investigate in the first place.

Like I said, conspiracy theories are never ending. Its not that I don't like conspiracy theories its just that when you put out a theory you have to back it up with some proof that holds any merit.
Shifting goalposts from one theory to another isn't really going to help anyone's cause.

In this case the theories discredit the owner, the manufacturer and possibly the independent investigators whomsoever it was. Who is the victim now?

And yes shutting down news articles isn't the right way in quelling unfounded rumours. They need better PR for sure.

With 17000 cars on the streets, if this was a product design issue the failure rate would be far higher than 2 cars in 1 year.

[DieselAddikt]

Wow.... So the rumour of bad engineering has been put to rest. They conducted an investigation on the same day and found out that it was due to foreign debris that where in "completely charred" condition. One look at the statement and it is clear how it came out.

1. A government agency helping in the investigation and coming out with a response on the same day. Dream on buddy.

2. How can "completely charred debris" be identified as foreign particles as it would need an elaborate forensic investigation. It would take days, if not weeks.

But for now, the owner is happy, MG is happy, they will continue to sell the car without any changes and people will continue to buy them. We are happy too. Who am I to judge !! 😊

Originally Posted by coolkurt

Well, most of the people on this forum bought the car after reading the Team BHP review, which was fairly positive for the diesel variant.

The one thing I'm thinking about is the plethora of wires connecting to the touchscreen infotainment system tab. I'll probably go and get it opened up and checked if that could potentially be at risk for any short circuit or high flammable substances.

Well, I'd say there is something called due diligence. That's all I exercised. And I believe it is proving to be worthy. Me, being a third party, cannot take risk like a direct investor does. Coz the person who buys the car would have cursed me seeing this thread. They are not new to TeamBHP. Now I have sent them this link pointing out how lucky they were. Honestly, I have gained their confidence more. 😊😊

And for your second point, it is clear from the pictures that the fire did not start from the cabin. It started from the engine bay. So opening your dashboard and checking for the plethora of wires coming to the infotainment unit is going to be a futile exercise. By the way, how did you even see those wires ? For a layman like me, everything seems brilliantly engineered. The engine cover and the engine bay seems to have been well concealed (better than Mercedes). Did you already open the dashboard??

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

...The goal post has been shifted isnt it? I don't remember any manufacturer releasing a statement on the same day of their product going kaboom. Most send out a press release during or after investigation to quell rumours in the press....

'We're aware of the incident and taking appropriate steps to investigate, and reaching out to support the affected customer.' is pretty much PR First Response 101.

This isn't a TV show, nobody expects forensic investigations to be concluded in one episode worth of time.

It's 2020, information suppression is a futile exercise. MG passed up a golden opportunity to use a difficult situation to establish their customer service reputation, they're now doing damage control instead.

Own goal, shifted goalposts or not.

[DieselAddikt]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

[i] 101.
This isn't a TV show, nobody expects forensic investigations to be concluded in one episode worth of time.

Relax buddy. MG is still living under the communist state blanket. They only know about state media and arm twisting. That is all they have seen so far. Give them time to move to the current decade.

[chittybang]

MG response is hilarious. So they conclude that the possible reason for the fire is some cloth left behind by the owner in a high temp area and in their wisdom decide to give a new hector to the owner. Just wow.
So what will they do next? will they give a new car if an owner gets involved in an accident?
And how can anyone be satisfied with just getting the same new car unless the true cause for the fire has been identified? Isn't it just too risky?

By the way what kind of cloth was it to be still identifiable in its completely charred state? If this kind of response works, then this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as coverups are concerned.

[Vians]

Originally Posted by chittybang

And how can anyone be satisfied with just getting the same new car unless the true cause for the fire has been identified? Isn't it just too risky?

Getting some car is better than getting nothing. If I was in this situation, I will probably take it if the other option is to get nothing in return. If I have a chance to prove that it was MG's fault, then I could consider that option but I am not sure if it is possible.

From MG's point of view, they have made the customer happy and hope they at least find the issue (if there is one) and do a silent recall. If there are more such incidents , they won't be able to contain it.

[chittybang]

Originally Posted by Vians

Getting some car is better than getting nothing. If I was in this situation, I will probably take it if the other option is to get nothing in return.

Maybe the owner will sell off the car and at least recover some money but is it really possible to use the car not knowing the true cause. Unless of course the owner did leave a cloth inside that caught fire. If so, he is lucky to have gotten a new car.
All said and done, I agree that if this is a more rampant issue then it will be impossible to cover up. So the best thing to do is wait and watch.

[Nithesh_M]

A cloth in the engine bay is a more believable cause of fire than say "foreign elements in the exhaust system" for a brand new car or even "a ruptured fuel line when the car was driven to dealership".

Not hard to detect a cloth even if its burnt to a crisp. Yamaha did it on a motorcycle that's more exposed to debris.

If the cloth was left behind by a dealer or the service guys then there's good reason for a manufacturer to step in and offer a replacement to avoid bad press.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by DieselAddikt

Relax buddy. MG is still living under the communist state blanket. They only know about state media and arm twisting. That is all they have seen so far. Give them time to move to the current decade. ����

I am surprised that bigotry like this and xenophobia against the Chinese continues.

So western firms don't manipulate the media?

Here is VAG manipulating the media, regulators and rigging tests on orders on their CEO and yet I never hear things like "Germans are so evil right smiley smiley"

www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-44005844

Big American pharma like Purdue repeatedly manipulate politicians, the media and the public causing 10's of thousands to die, do you rail on every American company?

Please let us end this mindless xenophobia and only question the company

[DieselAddikt]

Well, we should not be hijacking MG Hector thread for VAG. So not commenting much about it. But TeamBHP always calls a spade a spade, right ? I remember our members expressing strong disappointment in that thread. No one was spared. There is no bigotry in that.

Now, if you are talking about my take on Chinese govt and industry, they have been doing this all over the world especially in some under developed countries in Africa. So I am entitled to my opinion. Anyways, lets get back to Hector fire incident and the subsequent press release by MG.

Wonder why people get offended so easily these days! Why not consider it my personal opinion and leave it at that? Oh, so you have a different opinion? Well, I am happy about it ! Cheers...