[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

I just became a victim of this infamous interior plastic quality.

Sad to see this. If you are sure this isn't related to any rough usage/abuse, escalate, be firm yet polite that you aren't satisfied with this. Workshop may try to brush it under the carpet, saying it's not covered. But you will have to hold your ground and escalate to TSM. It may take time, but be firm. In summary, make sure your voice reaches MSIL, who in turn are very much active to fix things for customer's happiness, even if it's not covered under warranty. I am recently in the same process of replacing a huge part of my XL6, which had a minor issue, but I was unhappy about it, and Maruti has approved that part only for customer satisfaction. Another incident happened recently where they changed tyre damaged due to my brother's negligence, under goodwill warranty because the car was a week old. We never asked for it, but they did it anyway.

Glovebox is cheap, but for armrest, you will have to change a significant chunk of center console which costs Rs. 4800.

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Sad to see this. If you are sure this isn't related to any rough usage/abuse, escalate, be firm yet polite that you aren't satisfied with this. Workshop may try to brush it under the carpet, saying it's not covered. But you will have to hold your ground and escalate to TSM. It may take time, but be firm.

…

Glovebox is cheap, but for armrest, you will have to change a significant chunk of center console which costs Rs. 4800.

Thank you dear LeoShashi for your post. In my 25 years of driving experience, nothing has broken in this manner, so soon, ever.

I love automobiles and never abuse them. I am a solo driver.

Infact I have done 4 services already in 13000km (third service was done at 5600km so I still had 2600km to drive before 4th service).

This car is used mainly on the highways. So, around 8000-9000km (out of 13000) were done without fiddling with glove box or the arm rest.

I have sent the images to the service centre and waiting for their response.

[PaddleShifter]

Update: The service centre told me that since the parts are broken, they wont be covered under warranty. I asked, “so can I replace any other part under warranty that is not broken?” The lady just laughed gently and we left this conversation here with I being not interested in making anyone understand over a few thousand (6k for both parts).

I will fix these myself as replacement parts may also not last very long based on my experience. For other parts costing a few hundreds, I will opt for replacements if ever they break.

Learnings: What is the use of warranty, dear Maruti? Can’t a manufacturer own up for atleast 20,000-30,000 or 2 years of usage by a customer?

[ajay_satpute]

That is unfortunate. I think you got a lemon. My Scross is in pristine condition even after 7 years. All parts are in great health (none have been replaced yet) and there is no squeaking or rattling anywhere.

[gokularakkal]

I believe it's something that's got to do with the service centre folks. They may have fiddled with it broke it. I have a 6 year old S Cross here and by God's grace nothing has broken yet.

[pgoyal1996]

Sad to see this cheap parts situation going upto the most expensive product as well.

But, Is this not what warranty is for?

You had mentioned in both the cases that, you observed that something was off after your vehicle came back from service centre.
If this is the case, then you need to take up with the service centre!

If they are denying a claim, ask them on what grounds?
Ask them to prove that the said failure is due to physical abuse and not some underlying quality problem plus, ask them to give you the same in writing.

You should not give up, quality is your right.
When it comes to quality, MSIL is no VW/Skoda or even a match with koreans but, when it comes to customer satisfaction, they are still amongst the top, if not no. 1.

Pls escalate this issue asking for the escalation matrix and contact details from service centre itself. Don't be an easy customer!

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

I just became a victim of this infamous interior plastic quality.

Sad to see this. Please escalate.

But I think something suspicious has happened. One such thing could be taken as a defective part, but 2 such incidents in the same car (may be in a short span of time?) makes me doubtful.

Seems like some hyper-active kids played inside the car? (It has happened to me - the armrest, glass tray and A/C vent sliders in my car were broken by some "ignorants"!). Or has someone else entered into the car / driven it in your absence? Or any service center guy's play? "Wallet parked"? Or any DIY thing tried by any inexperienced hands?

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

That is unfortunate. I think you got a lemon.

Lemon is a strong word dear friend. The car is otherwise good and just as reliable as yours. More explained below.

Originally Posted by gokularakkal

I believe it's something that's got to do with the service centre folks.

Originally Posted by pgoyal1996

Don't be an easy customer!

Thanks guys. The Arena service center is owned by my cousin (his paternal grand mother and my maternal grand mother were real sisters).

I trust this service centre. All services have been done in my presence. My brother’s Brezza is also serviced here.

Yes the glove box lid “got broken” during service when cabin air filter was replaced. But its not the service center technician’s fault. I was not present inside the car when the glove box lid was removed to change the filter as I was standing near the engine bay. I only discovered it when I examined the glove box to see the issue for non existent damped opening of the glove box. Else I would have demanded the replacement before I signed the bill and took the car.

I haven’t yet found the time to escalate to Nexa. I will do that once I get some free time later this week.

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

But I think something suspicious has happened. Has someone else entered into the car / driven it in your absence?

I am a single guy so there are no kids etc in the picture. This car has not even been driven by my parents or my brother. I am the only driver of this car and as I said before I have been driving for almost 25 years now. I stand besides my car every time its serviced. I do not avail pick and drop facility because I am an old Fiat customer (previously) and have been burnt by TATA and Fiat ASCs in the past.

The 13,000km have been very gentle on the interiors since most of it were done on the highways (350-400km one way journey everytime). Glove box etc were not even touched during most of these commutes as payments are via Fastag these days.

The glove box lid has been broken during periodic service but I dont blame the service technician as it could have happened to anybody. Its the plastics that are of doubtful quality in my opinion.

The arm rest lever got broken because of the plastic quality (again) but whats surprising is that Maruti says broken parts are not covered under warranty. Why would I or anybody want to change a perfectly fine part then? Do the plastics fade in sun, too?

Around 20,000-30,000km and minimum two years support must be given to a customer.

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

Lemon is a strong word dear friend. The car is otherwise good and just as reliable as yours. More explained below.

Hey. Sorry if I hurt your feelings. I did not mean it that way. What I meant is that you may have got a low quality fitted directly at the factory.

Hope it gets sorted soon. Its a great product and will age really well for sure.

[ajayc123]

In my 2015 Baleno, the door fabric had come off. I could see that the thin layer of foam behind the fabric had disintegrated into powder, could be attributed to Delhi heat, and average foam quality. I removed the fabric, scraped off the foam powder and pasted the fabric back with Fevicol. It has been holding well, for more than one year now.
Likewise, the plastic of the gear knob has started cracking, and pieces falling off, for the time being I used some electrical tape, and will consider a change during the next service.
Also, the reverse parking sensors have stopped functioning, thought I can hear two repeated mild beeps, once I put in the reverse gear, but as such, the loud beeps that used to increase in frequency, when approaching an obstruction are gone. I will consider getting these checked during next service, but any feedback, suggestions or hacks from tbhp members are welcome.

[searacer932]

It's a bit of a shame that the leading 4 wheeler manufacturer in India has this issue. Are they not taking some proactive actions to address this issue?

Is the issue specific to certain models only (S-Cross or Baleno) or is it a common issue across all models?

[TSIched'Out]

Well this happens when you give unrealistic cost and weight reduction targets to your vendors. Basis my discussions with a leading supplier of plastic parts and wiring harnesses to MSIL, there is a year on year target to reduce weight of every passive component by 3% (through design) and price by 3% (through efficiency gains) so that MS can save on material costs and produce lighter vehicles for better efficiency. And this cost reduction has been coded into MSIL's DNA. If you recall, MSIL tried its hands with launching premium sedan Kizashi. However, it turned out to be a big dud thanks to not so premium interiors and plastic parts (looked like same guys who purchased parts for M800 were given task for Kizashi). MSIL learnt its lesson, quickly course corrected to what it does best: De-engineer Suzuki's design and produce mass market cars.

[aniketi]

I am using Maruti cars for last 20 years now and never faced such issues at all. All my cars like M800, Dzire, 1st gen Ertiga and latest new 2nd gen Ertiga serving just fine. Never ever faced any interior related issues or any mechanical issues. I am a normal user and take normal care of my car, nothing special or extraordinary. In fact I am lazy enough that I do service my car only once in a year or when required kms are done. Still never faced any issues.

[darklord]

After about 12 years and 85K kilometers of use, the Swift VXI of my sister ended up with a torn gear lever boot and a broken gear knob. I know 12 years is a lot, but our other cars, an '08 Safari 2.2 with twice the mileage and a '09 Santro with about the same mileage still runs on original boot and knob.

The knob:


The boot:


Since I had the car for a few days with me, I decided to do a minor DIY, even though I am not much good with that.

Boot was ordered from Boodmo.com:




I thought of going with an aftermarket fitment for the knob and ordered this from Amazon:


The Amazon link.

Even though it says Sparco, I don't think it is an original product. The packaging is poor, just says Sparco, no other details, not even manufacturer details:


The finish is uneven in places:


It comes with rubber inserts of three sizes and screws and a hex key:


Since the knob and the boot were broken, they had removed themselves, leaving only the insert of the knob behind:


This insert itself was split vertically till the bottom lip, so it came off with light pressure with a flat head screwdriver. I guess the bottom lip could have been removed as well, but it was snugly fit, not broken, and I thought it would work well as a bump from the top of the boot slipping down:


The largest of the rubber insert was the one that fit the lever, albeit very tight:


Inserting the boot was as easy as aligning the clips on the ring to the slots on the console and pushing in:


As I had hoped, the remnant lip holds the top of the boot in place, preventing it from slipping down and exposing the lever.

The knob was inserted, the screws were fixed with the hex key and all done:




The only disadvantage as of now, as I see it, is the lever height has increased overall by a few centimeters, but my sister finds it a convenience.

Overall cost, about a thousand rupees.

[Mortis]

The IRVM on my 4 year old Dzire has started oxidising from the edges... It's really a worse quality car than the previous gen Swift VDI it replaced