[gemithomas]

For those who are really interested in such things and if you wish to have a peek at the "outside" world just google "rust on new car complaint" and you will get to know that there could be a big quality lapse in every other brand, you could probably have heard of, that deals in normal on road cars.

Me too replying just because this thread was started by sidindica. Thought it would really be another "revelation thread" like usual.

What i dont understand is why is this thread still running. I remember quite a few threads being taken off citing lack of authentic data for proof. Probably Mods are celebrating Christmas.

[dadu]

Hardness in water is a biggest killer and moreso in coastal areas wherein rusting is an accelerated affair, with our daily wash of cars this is bound to happen on the door and inside trims.

No surprises here.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by lejhoom

With regard to sidindica I must admit that I am huge fan of his. However, isn't this thread cobbled up in a haste? One can show umpteen instances of such issues with almost all automobile manufacturers.

Most of us do not have acess to hundreds of car owners spread across brands. When we see a pattern, we become curious. Thats where forums like Team bhp comes in , where we can check if this is really true ?
Similar questions have been asked before here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ems-alert.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ak-clutch.html
These issues were discussed and nowhere was the OP criticized.

I am very curious to know what prompts this sparring when it comes to Fiat?

I would like to ask you the same.

Sometimes I see a lot of grouse vented in other sites with regard to the treatment meted out to them in team-bhp.

I'm a member of a few other sites too, and its the same there too
Do note that sid is just asking for independent confirmation from others. If you think this is hasty, how long do you suppose he should wait to ask then? when the cars are out of warranty? when they have rusted to the ground?Sid has been very courteous, and is not blaming fiat as such. He's asking if there is a QC issue in the Jointly operated plant which fiat might not be aware of.

What one has to look up to is the speed with which such concerns are addressed by the manufacturers.

well, we are waiting

Spot on. Then why are the issues, for example I mentioned above, exist with manfufacturers of all shades?

The interesting bit is that there are two brands of cars made under the same roof, and only one of them faces the rusting issue, hence the doubt. And do note that the other brand is generally acknowledged to have QC issues, and generally low quality product.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by sidindica

T today I received about 12-13 odd phone calls from my friends/ relatives who own lineas (also in south India), majority in flamanco red and vocal white shades.

Are you sitting in Fiat-First customer care?? Its interesting to note that 12-13 relatives called you up in the same day and all had to say the rusting stories of their Lineas!! How come man? Please, an explanation to this!!!

Originally Posted by gemithomas

What i dont understand is why is this thread still running. I remember quite a few threads being taken off citing lack of authentic data for proof. Probably Mods are celebrating Christmas.

You said it. This is interesting to note.

[ms001]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Are you sitting in Fiat-First customer care?? Its interesting to note that 12-13 relatives called you up in the same day and all had to say the rusting stories of their Lineas!! How come man? Please, an explanation to this!!!

exactly , what a coincidence !!
mods can we please lock his thread unless we see some proof ?

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by ms001

exactly , what a coincidence !!
mods can we please lock his thread unless we see some proof ?

Yea man, if one receives a dozen odd calls in a day out of the blue, and all saying the same thing that my 'Linea is rusting', then who should be that person? May be some top official in Fiat with good PR skills who has advised hundreds of his relatives/friends to buy Linea. He has some little probability in getting such calls in a day...

sid, I've been a good follower of your scoop threads.... I had to read your name twice to make sure you were writing this.

Well I have a retro Palio and a few months old Punto, my bro has a Flamingo red Linea. None of these cars have any rusting problem whatsoever. We live in hot & humid Kerala, and near to the seashore as well.

[Klub Class]

Originally Posted by sidindica

In addition to 2 cases of rust on vocal white Lineas, today I received about 12-13 odd phone calls from my friends/ relatives who own lineas (also in south India), majority in flamanco red and vocal white shades.

Hmm...! How on earth did you end up receiving 12-13 calls on the same day from your friends and relatives saying that their car is rusting..??

Was it a typo..? If no,then Interesting,Very interesting I must say rather admit.Would like to hear your input on the same SidIndica.

No offences meant..Apologies if my words offended you in anyway.

Originally Posted by clevermax

Well I have a retro Palio and a few months old Punto, my bro has a Flamingo red Linea. None of these cars have any rusting problem whatsoever. We live in hot & humid Kerala, and near to the seashore as well.

+1 to that CleverMax

I too live in in hot and humid Kerala, and we're almost near to the seashore too.But having owned a Fiat Uno S 1.7 D for almost 3-4 years,Fiat Palio 1.9 D ELX SP PS AW for almost 3 years and currently Fiat Punto for almost a couple of months,I have never and ever faced any kind of rusting in my cars.

[greenhorn]

It could have been a single, very concerned relative who called him 12~13 times , that he got fed up and posted a thread here

[sparkplug]

Hey a incident or two is not sufficient to blame a manufacturer and entire quality team... it may be just an case of user negligence too..

12-13 such cases is over-exaggerated. We heard of falling plastic levers in linea from many members, not of this one.

[lamborghini]

Few things: All Palio/Siena/Uno/Adventure/Petra owners: These cars were made before Fiats JV with Tata, and thus would not face a problem.
I agree with Sid about the rusting issue, because I have seen it crop up quite often on T-BHP, more so then other car owners complaining. Lets hear him out first instead of accusing him. He has simply asked a question, and has not yet accused fiat of it.
That is evident from the thread title itself.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Few things: All Palio/Siena/Uno/Adventure/Petra owners: These cars were made before Fiats JV with Tata, and thus would not face a problem.

Slightly wrong there, quite a few Palios are made after the JV, including my retro Palio.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

because I have seen it crop up quite often on T-BHP, more so then other car owners complaining.

Yes true. I've also noticed many positive & passionate ownership threads also crop up, more so often from Punto/Linea owners. I guess these guys write a lot!

[smilenow]

Rusting or not but there is a major issue of quality control with the punto,
They should have provided a box of fevi-bond with the car,and stated "paste it up yourself!!!!"

The fuel lid refuses to shut,the rubber beading keep coming off,the plastic panels inside of the car do not fit properly and are perpetually loose,the reverse light keeps falling off[without any damage to it], some of the plastics are of horrid quality,you should see the rear parcel tray locks[you WON'T believe your eyes] ,etc,etc........

Example pictures--






























You might say that i am nit-picking,nope,i am not,i thought i paid 6.5 lacs for a premium hatch.Half of the time it seems the car just keeps falling apart,and these were a few pictures,not the entire set,my mother keeps pondering over her decision on why in the world did she pay money for the car,she calls it "low quality'. She has lovingly named the car LQ.


Pertinent point of the discussion,there is a serious issue of QC with the punto.

[civic-sense]

There are two types of threads here that attract maximum participation from BHPians. They are titled either "HONDA cars are overpriced" and "FIATcars are falling apart". Lets accept it, both these arguments have some truth in it. Fiat cars are not for the quality concious, but for god's sake, they are not the worst. FIATs in India come dirt cheap (Just check how FIAT and HONDA prices their products in UK), and there should be a reason for that. You won't buy a FIAT if it is priced like a HONDA. They have to do the cost cutting somewhere to satisfy your need for a VFM car. And you don't need to start a thread every other month to discuss that. This thread should have gone into the trash bin long ago.

ps: Just to complete what I was talking earlier, HONDA cars are overpriced for the amount of stuff that they offer, but they are not horribly overpriced. Even FIAT would have done the same thing, had they been in HONDA's shoes.

[greenhorn]

guys, can we focus on the rusting issue, and not turn this into another fiat bashing thread?
That is already being discussed here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...iat-punto.html

[Klub Class]

Originally Posted by smilenow

Rusting or not but there is a major issue of quality control with the punto,
They should have provided a box of fevi-bond with the car,and stated "paste it up yourself!!!!"

The fuel lid refuses to shut,the rubber beading keep coming off,the plastic panels inside of the car do not fit properly and are perpetually loose,the reverse light keeps falling off[without any damage to it], some of the plastics are of horrid quality,you should see the rear parcel tray locks[you WON'T believe your eyes] ,etc,etc........

Example pictures--

Attachment 252288

It's a bit sad to hear your experiences.But much to my surprise nothing that you have reported here has happened in my car.ie.No falling parts off in my Punto for the last couple of months :-)

Meanwhile you said that your fuel-lid refuses to shut,right..? I see that someone/something has hit your fuel lid..Yeah,I am able to see the big scratch lines on the fuel-lid and I suspect that it's the reason why it fails to shut.

Btw had a quick glance through your ownership thread too.In the picture that you had uploaded there,the fuel-lid shows no sign of damage and it closes properly.According to me,the fuel-lid might not be closing properly because of the damage.There was no problems in shutting down the fuel-lid then right.?

So I feel it a bit hard to digest why you say that your fuel lid refuse to work..!! Let me hope that your problems will be all resolved ASAP.

Apologies If I'm wrong and No offences meant.I do admit the fact that there are some niggling problems with some odd Punto's and Linea's.

References to my findings :-

1)Picture 1 :- http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...-moto_0762.jpg

2)Your own ownership thread :- http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...o-punto-4.html

3)Picture 2 :- From your own ownership thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...-moto_0551.jpg