[tsk1979]

A car straight out of showroom, catching fire on the day of delivery is a lot more worrysome than a car catching fire 1 year after purchase. In the latter cases, there is some benefit of doubt to the mfr, as faulty ICE installations, LPG kits etc., can be the cause of fire, but in case a car catches fire minutes after delivery, there is no excuse for the mfr!

[Gansan]

Hi Cardeep!

I am not entirely a Maruti fanboy! When I have a budget of > 5 - 6 Lakhs for a car, I would not look at Maruti twice! And I am not putting down all TATA cars man! The Indica is indeed very comfortable. And I did say I will have no issues with buying any of their current diesel cars. But I neither need, nor have the budget for, a diesel car right now!

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by funkykar

What is ICFP?

In Car Fire Protection, ain't it Clevermax ?

[funkykar]

Some family members and friends are really freaked out about seeing this incident on TV and insisting me not to buy the NANO

I will watch this thread closely next two days and see if I can get some positives.

[Sudan_NFS]

There is another possibility of Rat bite causing a faulty wire and Nano might have caught fire on the way.So let wait for the full report.

One question: in a fully burnt car what evidence can be caught to identify the original cause for this issue.

[stanjohn123]

Now the biggest doubt is will TATA start a recall or will they wait for more such accidents to take place ?? I'm pretty sure the govt. is not going to make any issue out of this as we don't have any strong governing bodies like the one in US .

Imagine the poor owners plight if the biker had not warned him ?? This has to be a very serious issue God Forbid !!!

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by Gansan

@anachronix

The Santros in question were parked on the sides of open roads, one was even on the shoulder of a highway. Not inside closed garages!

I know about the Omni incidents because when I worked at Bangalore, our company had a LPG division. Many Omni taxis had these cylinders fitted and when there were frequent accidents, a probe was done about this. Almost all cars that burnt had cylinders fitted, though not always ours!

I agree with you almost any car will have some incident associated with it. Nano issues get highlighted because of the number of incidents vis a vis the number of cars on the road!

A350XWB has detailed it well! Thanks.

Is there any initiative from Tata to identify the root cause for the fire?

[arun1100]

Is Tata Nano's makeshift plant the root cause for all this?

[CPH]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

, but I would like to see news articles of other manufactures where a brand new car caught fire shortly after purchase.

Even McLaren Mercedes caught fire and needed a recall because of overloaded alternators.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Hi Gansan
...
Being a Maruti fanboy is explainable in your case, but, this does not means that all other manufacturers are sleeping.
...

That is a good one! Gansan, never knew you were a Maruti Fanboy!

Not sure if it was because you are always identified with that beautiful Alto.

@CarDeep,

I think you have mistaken Gansan. The note about Cielo's is true. I have personally seen one right after the mela of being toasted. And I reckon there were ~5 that the papers report.

And lets not forget all those LPG Omni, which used to go up in flames.

Originally Posted by funkykar

Some family members and friends are really freaked out about seeing this incident on TV and insisting me not to buy the NANO

I will watch this thread closely next two days and see if I can get some positives.

Funkykar: You want to know about how senseless this talk about after market fitment on the Nano is - just head to that snowman's thread where he drove from Mum - Delhi in a Nano and ended up pimping it with what ever he got his hands on.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

...but in case a car catches fire minutes after delivery, there is no excuse for the mfr!

My dooms-day theory: knowing TASS QC process and an equally horrible PDI process, I would not be surprised if someone forgot to remove some packing material or something that catches fire easily, from the engine bay at the back. Maybe the fire was not caused by short circuit, or fuel getting sprayed or anything, might be just driving on an (I assume the locale is hot) dry afternoon at 3, engine heat + climate caused this to happen. We have seen packing foam and card boards left out by the PDI before, this might have been something like that. (something new for all of us to chew on!)

[funkykar]

Originally Posted by stanjohn123

Now the biggest doubt is will TATA start a recall or will they wait for more such accidents to take place ?? I'm pretty sure the govt. is not going to make any issue out of this as we don't have any strong governing bodies like the one in US .

Imagine the poor owners plight if the biker had not warned him ?? This has to be a very serious issue God Forbid !!!

Engine placed in the rear, so the driver is less likely to notice a fire. Moreover, the fire increases when the vehicle stops(Learnt while seeing some train fire incident on national geographich channel). That should be the reason why it went up in flames as soon as they got off the car.

Does Indian car manufacturers have a recall policy? If there is no governing body for such issues, what next?

[vinaydas]

and most people had a problem here with Toyota's recalls. At least they had to courtesy to do so unlike Tata who is basically trying to sweep matters under the carpet.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Suzuki has been in passenger cars business for decades, as compared to Tata who are there for not more than 2 decades. I am sure tat Tata will improve a lot in the next decade.

Being a late entrant does not give any manufacturer the right to use early-bird customers as Guinea pigs.

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Regarding the Nano in Flames (Mumbai) incident, I believe that it could be because of the faulty workmanship at the dealership itself.

Or there could be something covering the exhaust or engine, say some sticker or other thing that might have got stuck there & caused the overheating (please observe the pictures again & you would see that fire has caused damage to the rear only).

If you are referring to the incident that happened over the weekend in Mumbai, the car was completely burnt out. Check out the pics in the following news article:
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/mar...ss-highway.htm

[greenhorn]

Time for TML to do the Pinto analysis and decide which road to take