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-   -   XUV500 safety issue: Weak alloy wheels. EDIT: Mahindra starts silent recall! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/161521-xuv500-safety-issue-weak-alloy-wheels-edit-mahindra-starts-silent-recall.html)

On the XUV500 niggles thread, I had shared a pic of an XUV accident with a broken alloy. Some bystanders had claimed that the alloy broke and caused the accident.

Here's the link:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post3652297

Yesterday, a owner Rakesh from Chennai reported a very similar incident with the same design alloys from Mahindra.

In his own words:
Here are the 4 pics he shared:








Source: Facebook

This being the second incident with the same design alloys breaking in the exact same fashion, I have started to doubt the sturdiness of these particular alloys. People who have these particular alloys from M&M, please be careful.

See the broken alloy in the pic? The post says that some onlookers mentioned that the alloy broke off while the car was in motion and that caused the accident.

The alloy wheel design might not be strong enough to hold the weight/stress on the centre. That's a pretty big folly.

This is weird. I hit a pothole at speed on NH1, the tire burst, the alloy bent too, but no breakage at all. Looks like a quality issue.. or rather quality Feature.

Are these alloys cracking in or around coastal areas?
If so, this could be a case of Stress Corrosion cracking, as some aluminum alloys can be affected by Chloride. Coastal areas have high chloride concentration.
Different alloy concentrations are susceptible to different levels. The manufacturer used may not have factored in the "chemistry". But then, today, many companies ignore glaring mechanical defects, expecting them to understand chemical science is a bit too optimistic.

If this is indeed the case, this also shows, how every little thing matters in vehicle design. The manufacturer may have altered the alloy constituent ratios ever so slightly, without knowing. It could also have been accidental due to source material concentrations varying due to machine aging.

But the first thing to know is, are all these cases "coastal"?

EDIT:
I found a paper which found stress corrosion cracking to be the cause in case of bike aluminum alloy frame
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...50630710001317

It's indeed a very risky affair for the xuv owners who have these alloys. This accident didn't occur in a major way as the owner was travelling at 30km/hr. But what if he was travelling at a higher speed on a highway? :Shockked:
I remember seeing a post in which an XUV's alloy broke while being driven on the highway. The car toppled few times if I'm not wrong. But luckily, the occupants came out alive. Mahindra should try to rectify the problem or else it could be dangerous for occupants travelling in an xuv with these kind of alloys as well as for others who are on the road.

And to top it all mahindra was charging 40k for them when xuv was launched. Thank god I went for reliable alloys from outside that too way cheaper than these . This looks like a design flaw. These alloys can't take the weight of xuv. The contact point of the rims looks very less maybe that's why they are not holding well.

SDP, thanks for sharing! Considering the seriousness of this issue, and based on Gannu_1's suggestion, I'm moving your post to a new thread.

Here's another report of a damaged alloy wheel - link to post. It's not bent, one part of the wheel seems to have just fallen off! Mahindra replaced it with a new rim:

Anybody know who makes these alloys for XUV and for Scorpio? Who's the OEM for alloys?

That is pretty dangerous and discouraging sight for any motorist. The driver can hardly do anything to control a vehicle in such failures, esp. when they happen on a highway when the speed is on the higher side. And since alloys are brittle when compared to normal steel rims, they are most likely to break. That is especially true in case of an impact. Mahindra should really go back to the drawing board to sort out this issue immediately and offer replacements to current owners. This is a major safety concern. For people looking to buy the vehicle, better opt for after market reputed alloy brands as of now.

GTO, the alloy in the pic you shared is not the same alloy mentioned in first two cases, which should make us worry even more.

The first two cases mentioned by SDP has the M&M alloy as part of the accessory. This is for W6 & W4 models where owners would like to swap their steel rims.

The image shared by GTO has the factory fitted alloys which comes on W8 and W8 AWD models.

So in short all types of alloys has this potential risk :deadhorse

+1. When a friend bought an XUV W8, he was keen on the optional alloys but I persuaded him to stick to stock design as the options looked 'delicate'. Looking at GTO's post now makes me wonder if the beefier 5-spoke design is safe either. Definitely worrying.

Exactly my worry Suhas. I have always stuck to OEM alloys and believed that the manufacturer knows their car best and would be the most appropriate entity to endorse a critical part like an alloy wheel. But seeing the W8/AWD standard fitment alloy failing like that is indeed a scary thing. I don't think I can drive my vehicle with the same confidence until Mahindra comes up with an explanation. It might be a manufacturing defect for a certain batch of alloys.

Quite possibly bad metallurgy (quality of casting). M&M should insist the OEM (or a good third party) to do the fatigue tests of this wheel from a batch of these cars that were sold. If it fails at their premises, they should recall the vehicles and replace these wheels, no questions asked.

Since failures were reported from multiple owners, it cannot be that the car went over a pothole at high speeds causing the spokes to crack.

GTO, thank you for the dedicated thread! Perhaps someone can tweet this link to Anand Mahindra.

Wild guess - Enkei.

EDIT: Not. Don't see M&M listed under their OEM supply.

Mahindra wouldn't spend money on Enkei wheels. Enkei is Japanese and Enkei OEM in India makes quality wheels for the Jap brands - Mitsibishi, Toyota, Suzuki and Honda.

Could be Neo wheels. Mahindra is listed under OEM & corporate partners (link, page 2).

Definitely disturbing. :Shockked:
I always thought if over -tightening of wheel nuts on these brittle alloy designs could have any adverse effect ?