[rameshnanda]

Indian recall: Maruti Suzuki to replace fuel gaskets in 1 lakh A Stars

PUNE: It is the Indian version of a recall that global automobile manufacturers are in the midst of. Maruti Suzuki, the country’s biggest car maker by sales, is replacing fuel pump gaskets of one of its small car, the A Star, following reports of anomalies in the fuel tank.

Approximately 1 lakh cars, manufactured during a certain time frame, will get new fuel pump gaskets and O rings. An e-mailed reply from the company spokesperson said the company came across this issue last November as part of a regular quality monitoring process.

“In November 2009, we came across an anomaly reported in the fuel tank in some of the vehicles and by December 2009 we started contacting the customers. These vehicles belonged to lot made till August 22 2009,” the company spokesperson said. In Pune, customers received phone calls and SMSs from the dealers, asking them to bring in their cars for the replacement.

A gasket and ring replacement means that the rubber part is defective, leading to leakages or as the company said, the likelihood of a leakage.

The spokesperson added: “As a proactive step, we decided to check all vehicles from the lot, around 1 lakh units, including those exported. We are changing the fuel pump gasket and O ring at no cost to the customer. We are midway through the checking activity and hope to complete it soon,” although there is no fixed time line for the replacement.

The problem occurs when fuel is filled to the brim, beyond the fuel auto cutoff position, creating the possibility of fuel leakage from the fuel pump mounting area. The company official maintained this was a proactive step and no problem has been reported by customers.

The A Star, an A2 segment, is a five-door hatchback and is part of Maruti Suzuki’s ‘global’ car lineup. Being Euro V compliant, it is also being exported. In fact, at the time of its launch in July 2008, company officials had said a major chunk of these cars would be exported with a smaller volume being sold on the domestic market. The car comes with ABS and airbags, the only one in its price segment to do so. It is priced at Rs 4.3 lakh, ex showroom, Mumbai.

The Maruti Suzuki spokesperson added that the final cost arrived at on this account will be shared with the supplier partner. “It is still too early to say what that cost will be,” he added.

<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/auto/automobiles/Indian-recall-Maruti-Suzuki-to-replace-fuel-gaskets-in-1-lakh-A-Stars/articleshow/5605434.cms>

[mohandas]

MARUTI QUALITY at work!!!

[MutantX]

yes, just read this news on economictimes! how bad is it.. i guess time would only tell.

Any A*s from t-bhp?

[shishir_bn]

here we go....now India is on the run with the recalls. What is happening. Are we headed to automobile collapse (similar to what they say for 21st dec 2012)..LOL

[rkg]

thread would have been more than 10 pages long by this time if it is TATA in place of maruti.

[shishir_bn]

They could have hidden the fact since they were midway in the checking process. I still don't know why they leaked this. May be it is a tactics. There are so many things that are wrongly placed and fitted in the whole range of models then why only A-star. That means all other cars don't have any problems???

[Johnny_]

Let it be Maruti only this time, leave the TATA in peace.

[SamtheLeo]

Guys pardon my ignorance, is this the first time when an Indian brand is doing a recall?

[shishir_bn]

@Sam, there might have been instances where the products were recalled. But here it has taken a mammoth proportion or has been talked off only due to the fact that many other manufacturers like Toyota/Honda/BMW are in the race. If this was a one off incident then none would have talked off this much. But whole major companies are calling for recall this is talked off. For ex. There were many instances of Tsunami previously but no one talked off much due to the fact that it didn't do that much devastation of affected places were very less. But recently when the same thing hit many places and devastated the whole system then everyone started to look at. So same thing holds good here also IMO

[glenrox]

[quote=rameshnanda;1747111]Indian recall: Maruti Suzuki to replace fuel gaskets in 1 lakh A Stars


Thanks rameshnanda for posting this here. Just checked with the Bimal auto Mahadevapura. They seem to have no clue about the problem yet. Have sent them the link as well.

As stated in the article, the probable chance of leakage is only when the tank is filled to the brim, which I never do. In any case I got my car in Nov 2009, need to check manf. date. Hope I dont need to replace the fuel gasket.

These recalls are very much appreciated by customers on manufacturers openness in accepting their mistake, at the same time such an inconvenience which could have been well avoided!

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by SamtheLeo

Guys pardon my ignorance, is this the first time when an Indian brand is doing a recall?

Nope, For our old indica way back in 1999-2000, Tata issues a recall to fix some suspension issue. It was leading to uneven repair of rear tires.
Later in the day, Last year tata did a tata safari recall to fix new ECU software which solved the problem of bogus service light.
This recall also involved Power window changes, AC fuse changes, timing belt related changes etc.,

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

a lot many parts for OEM is sourced through suppliers, hence blaming Maruti alone does not solve the problem, a majority of the cost incurred in this recall will be dumped on to the supplier whoever he is.

Spike

[tsk1979]

No company makes all the parts of a car. Many parts are sourced from external sources. In the end its companies responsiblity.
However, a recall to replace the said part in all the cars is better than "We will fix only those cars where there is a leak".
That said, recalls cannot be completely avoided. Though cars are tested thoroughly, 100% testing is never possible. There is always a slim chance of something creeping through.
Overall a wise move, fix the problem in the bud.

[supremeBaleno]

Did they even manage to sell 1-lakh A-Stars in India ?

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Did they even manage to sell 1-lakh A-Stars in India ?

Nope. It includes exports as well. The A Star export model did fairly well.