[varunroy]

Sorry for the long wait guys,

I was waiting for the appeal ( & more importantly admitted) to be filed at the Higher court and I have now appealed at the State Consumer Forum and requested them to set aside the " Order " of the lower Court . The case was filed on 16th March and was admitted today. Notices would be sent to all the 3 opposite partys and the next hearing would be on 21st June 2007. The long date is because of the summer vacations of the Court.

Shall give you the details of the order very very soon.

So long....

[Desert fox]

Varun,I would be intrested to know the status of your vehicle(Sumo victa).How is the vehicle faring now? performance,mileage etc.

[benbsb29]

......the next hearing would be on 21st June 2007. The long date is because of the summer vacations of the Court.

Excuse me??? Summer vacations??!!! Are they school kids or something?
No wonder justice keeps getting delayed. They complete their summer vacations, then someone doesnt turn up... infinite number of ways to keep dragging on a case.

Varun, do keep up the fighting spirit.

[varunroy]

My car's condition is deteriorating by the day.
The engine is extremely noisy and smoky.
The mileage was 7.6kmpl on my last 80 litres fill.
First and reverse gears fail to engage frequently. There's a rattling sound in the second and fourth gears and this disappears as soon as you shift to third or the overdrive. The gear-box also has a puttering sound when the car is first started in the morning or after a long halt of about six hours. The noise ceases as soon as the clutch pedal is depressed or after the car has run a few kms.
The power-steering unit makes an embarrassing loud pharting noise, each time the car is turned fully to the left or right. Thankfully, the sound is loud enough for the listener to be convinced of its source
The front suspension makes a jarring noise every time it goes over a speed-breaker or any raised surface. Similarly, the rear leaf spring cluster keeps clanking each time it goes into a pot hole or on rough roads.
The front LH seat belt refuses to retract while the RH seat belt is moody when it has to be released. It refuses to release no matter what you do. But, while you are on the move, chances are that it will release so smoothly that you wonder if there is a problem. I guess its got to do something to do with the level of the car, when it is parked.
The entire body is tilted to the right side by over 35 mm and this is claimed as normal by the tata engineers. One would almost feel that the car has a flat tyre.
The starter motor has conked off again and refuses to crank at times. To make it work, you need to engage the fourth gear and rock the car forward and backwards and then give it a try. This was a common complaint with the age old Ambys.
The AC which the only thing which was fabulous, has buckled under the Bangalore heat. It cools only at higher speeds, that too moderately. I wonder what the tatas would say if I take it to the workshop.

So long....

[rider60]

we in our joint family have used tata vehicles previously and we know the pain of using them(sumos and safari), i would not expect a vehicle scoring 9/10 from tatas, but atleast 8/10 as the mahindras do because they our indigenous companies that seldom work on r&d l.e. unless its required please correct me if am wrong as they may have starting spending on R&D. i am not trying to be offencive here.

well let me tell you guys about the kind of usage done my vehicles, they put on atleast 40k kms every 6 months, as they are used specially for business commutes. and by then the clutch plates are gone the suspensions are gone which make the squaking noises while driving on a little rough surfaces for which we end up spending. and by this time the engine starts drinking a considerable amount of engine oil which is a TRADEMARK OF ALL TATA VEHICLES, ask any tata owner who does 1lac kms in year and a half or twoyears will tell you this or ask cabbie for that matter. this engine oil drinking while still a whopping 60k kms of life is left on the engine, this means a considerable amount of pickup is lost in the engine these are the typical trademarks of a tata vehicle.

for the same kind of use we later purchased Mahindra Marshal (the hard top model), and none of these problems arised till it was 90k kms old and the engine started drinking the oil only when it started dying at 1lac&10k kms. from this we learnt a terrible lesson and never bought a passenger tata car again till date.


i seriously wonder why is it that our government not set standards in building these cars that cost so many lacs and they have enforced laws like the high beam setters to be fixed on all the cars as a standard equipments which in reality is seldom used by all. as earlier mentioned by GTO in a different thread about the build quality of scorpios and they not even being crash tested and the suspension being sent for redesign to korea. this i mentioned because almost all indegenous manufactures compromise on the vehicles's quality be it bajaj (gearbox blues) or tata (also the gearbox being real notchy in comparision to the foriegn counter parts).

and it really tickles me to know that the indicas in America and other countries is making a big time with the advanced engines provided i guess where as in india they fix in only a Extra E.C.U to the engine and nothing else is done why does this discrimination of standards exist to this extent??? it is really so sad.

i would seriously object this incident and would want varun to also question about the raise in standards of the cars to be done in india as well. for this i dont think they would need to raise the price by more than a lac for the indica or sumo... for providing better gearboxes or engine or the suspensions.

i myself before buying my accent crdi viva(red jan 2006) had short listed indigo, ikon, accent, fiesta(was soon to be launched),as my budget was 6-7lacs and i finally went for the accent for the quality, even though it costed me a almost a lac more.even maruthis sell vehicles without such problems. man so frustrating on tata's part!

[Desert fox]

This is what i would say Varun,Tata motors and thier attitude is being sampled by you,so no further comments.What i say is,alternatively take up an issue point by point and solve the vehicle problems as best as you can.

If not by dealers,by other sources.End of the day it is YOUR vehicle you bought out of YOUR hard earned money and you have(deserve) to enjoy the vehicle better.

I will start the ball rolling in my next post in my capacity as a long term Tata Tcic range owner and also a Sumo victa Tcic owner-Bought last May.

[Desert fox]

Engine noisy and smokey with a mileage of less than 8-Your vehicle i assume comes with a Tvs pump-Have your pump recalibrated through a proper diesel pump shop and not the garage this time,because the calibration of a pump,no matter what a Dealer/TASP says,are not competent(most of the times)and are dependent on such Authorised points.

2)Engine or gearbox rattling-See this is generally reffered or rather 'dismissed' as "Marching" or an "operational" noises by Tata motors and most Safari owners are familiar with the noise.If further interested i will tell you why it happens!But the bottom line is we have to live with the sound.

3)Power steering noises-It definately requires a look-see in the power-steering belt area,as i suspect slipping of the belt uder full lock.

4)Suspension-tilting and rear leafs making sound-Please get the leafs re-cambered and this problem gets solved,as even i had a similar problem and got solved this way.

5)Starting problem-Yesss thats a age old Amby problem-solution is similar-get the starter rewired of get a new one.If going for option 1,go to a authorised TVS shop and get it done.

6)A/c-It tends to loose a little gas in summer,get the gas topped up,but through a competent garage as if there is a air-lock,setting the FICD(which compensates the idling during A/c on and off cycle) is not every one's cup of tea!So if they end up playing with the FIP it becomes a headache.

Hope this helps you,because most of these are things regularly faced and attended to.

[hell_rider]

Originally Posted by varunroy

The power-steering unit makes an embarrassing loud pharting noise, each time the car is turned fully to the left or right. Thankfully, the sound is loud enough for the listener to be convinced of its source

great to see your (noisy )sense of humor is unaffected by this frustrating experience. keep up the good spirits my friend. you have our best wishes.

[varunroy]

Desert fox;408162]This is what i would say Varun,Tata motors and thier attitude is being sampled by you,so no further comments.What i say is,alternatively take up an issue point by point and solve the vehicle problems as best as you can.

I wish it were as easy as that.

Would you like the body Shell of your brand new car cut open, tinkered ,welded and then painted by the dealer's engineers with their half baked crude and shoddy jobwork ?

Instead of acknowledging the fact that the Seat belt bracket, on which the motor unit is mounted, is defective, they just take pleasure in replacing the seat Belt assy. again and again. In my case about 4-5 times. They then blamed the Maker ( IFB) of supplying defective seat belts. Even a kid would know that 5 sets of seat belts that have been replaced can't have the same problem. The problem lies elsewhere, which they are unwilling to accept.

The Mico FIP has been taken to the authorised Mico service centre by the dealer himself. The Service Head of Mico even offered a new pump as replacement but he was sure that the problem was elsewhere.

By taking the vehicle to an outside source other than Tata network I would be breaking the terms of the warranty and I am sure these guys are waiting for me to do just that so that they can wash their hands off.

You would be surprised how many people just give up and take their vehicles to some other garage to avoid the harrassment caused to them. These guys were hoping I would do the same. All the more reason for me to hold up and teach these guys a lesson. Only wish more and more people would do the same to wake up these manufacturers from their slumber.

After studying the system minutely I have come to the conclusion that the Dealers are only taking advantage of the lethargic system of Tata Motors. BTW, A Safari Dicor with 19000 Km on the odo had to be towed from Shimoga because the Engine have conked due to back compression. Can you imagine the hard work of steering this huge vehicle without Power Steering for over 300 kms.The Owner was breaking his head with dealer to get a new engine, No Tata officials were available because I was told that they were all busy with some conference/seminar, probably thinking of newer and novel ways of shaving their customers clean.

So long....

[Technocrat]

Please pardon my ignorance but What's the status of your case Varun ?

[varunroy]

The appeal has been admitted in The State Consumer Forum, which is equivalent to an High Court. The Judge handling my case is a Retired High Court Judge. I hope to get a favourable outcome this time. The next date is June 21st when yhe matter would come up for hearing. Thats the status of the case;

As far as the status of the car goes the Starter Motor was repaired and the AC Condenssor Fan Unit was replaced under extended warranty Free of Cost(FOC). The Dealer initially refused to carry out these repairs FOC but when I gave him the Photocopy of the Extended warranty terms which clearly stated that the Starter motor and AC unit are both covered under EW, they had no choice other than carrying out these repairs FOC.

So long....

[sbasak]

and it really tickles me to know that the indicas in America and other countries is making a big time

Could you please elaborate? I thought Indica doesn't sell well anywhere in the developed world!

[binz]

It sells rebadged as the Mg rover

tata.com : MG Rover mulls Tata Indica diesel sourcing too

[condor]

Originally Posted by varunroy

By taking the vehicle to an outside source other than Tata network I would be breaking the terms of the warranty and I am sure these guys are waiting for me to do just that ...

And sometimes the reasoning that is used to say that the wty is void can defy all logic. ..

[rider60]

Originally Posted by sbasak

Could you please elaborate? I thought Indica doesn't sell well anywhere in the developed world!

thanks binz for giving the link

sbasak ithink you got your answer and the state of tatas in india