[Anghammarad]

Wow.
Praise the Lord you escaped unhurt.
Do not let GM get away with this. You and if possible, we should all inform other Captiva owners of this issue, so they can appeal to GM to get it fixed AND get you and others who were affected by this issue suitable compensation from the company by way of a new vehicle or cash plus damages.

This is ridiculous and you should absolutely not take this lying down.
Ang.

[Fullrevs]

Extremely scary to read RK. I am glad you are OK. A lot of people in such panic conditions wouldn't even react in time to open the door from the outside. Don't spare the showroom and the manufacturer until you get what you are seeking.

Did the fire department arrive on the scene?

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

Dear All- (this is a rather long post, but I promise you will be wiser and safer as a car owner and car buyer after reading this...)

I have narrowly escaped death from a burning Chevrolet vehicle, by a margin of a few seconds, and have pledged to expose the callousness and malpractices of GM India. Read my blog https://burningchevroletcaptiva.wordpress.com/

Sorry to hear about your travails. Mary Barra is in India for the Talegaon export facility inauguration, and she has clearly indicated that GM is open to conducting more recalls if necessary. Escalating this issue to her should help. Here's her Twitter handle-> Mary Barra

Cheers,

Jay

[Equus]

I used to think of Chevrolet as unlucky and had sympathy for them - not after today. They are cheats, giving ridiculous reasons. If there is no formal recall, thats fine too as long as they do it while you service the vehicle!

[johy]

And I used to like this SUV! :-(

Good you have dug and come across facts of the fires and cover-ups. I would say dig deeper.

[an_and]

I was just about to close a deal on a well maintained captiva, but now I am out!! We should not encourage such companies at all.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

Sorry to hear about your travails. Mary Barra is in India for the Talegaon export facility inauguration, and she has clearly indicated that GM is open to conducting more recalls if necessary. Escalating this issue to her should help. Here's her Twitter handle-> Mary Barra

+1

Use Twitter and Facebook to the full extent to spread this news and get attention of the right folks.

The recall that they did was for the batch manufactured betwen Oct'09 and Apr'11. Your vehicle is 2012 made so not sure whether the same reason applies but with the few Captivas catching fire lately, something is not right!

[mahesh_sn]

Thank god! you came out unhurt. That was scary to say the least.
Such fire stories sends shivers down my spine whenever I read those. I seriously don't understand why seat belts or central locking should get jammed in case vehicle has caught fire. On the contrary, it should automatically open up so that vehicle occupants can come out quickly. Isn't that a serious design flaw or am I missing something? What should one be doing if one finds him/herself stuck in such a car?

[arun27g]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

I have lived to tell the tale....

Dear Ranjan,

Thank heavens that you have scraped through this episode by the thinnest of your hairlines. Truly amazing presence of mind and hope that you emerge stronger at the end of this episode.

Unfortunate that your first post in TBHP had to be about this scary episode.

In your next course of action, I suggest that you include the following in addition to your list:

1. Please get yourself a good lawyer (even if you are one, hire one).
2. Preserve any documentation that has been issued by GM or ASC or any of its representatives, however trivial they may look. eg: service history, repair reports, recommendations.
3. Document any and every interaction with the GM people (make notes, minds tend to forget). Make minutes of meeting for any official interaction and insist on getting verbal promises or statements in writing by authorised representatives (Manager and above)
4. Please take up this issue on as many platforms as possible. Good to have your own blog, additionally engage them on FB and twitter.
5. Form an objective as to a what kind of a solution you are looking for (I suggest a new Captiva, same to same), and continue negotiating with them in that direction.
6. Send all communications to GM via registered post.

Also, request you to keep this thread alive and keep us updated with whatever information you can disseminate (as to in other forums).

Good Luck

Arun

PS: I link a post for your reference, though the event is different in nature, the care and mindset adopted by the member is commendable and it might help you with your own cause.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...mangalore.html

[driving_smartly]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[Hayek]

Take care. If the fire was due to the same part that was subject to a global recall, you should be able to get an attractive settlement or consumer court order out of them. Unfortunately, as I have said before on another thread, automotive fires are fairly common and occur due to various causes. Manufacturers are not going to admit guilt unless you prove their guilt, so be prepared for a long fight.

[skyrocket003]

Dear Ranjan . We all thank the Almighty that you came out unhurt. I always perceived Chevy as a decent brand with not so much luck in India despite having some nice cars in their stable. (Captiva being one of them). My perception has taken a hit after reading about your incident.
You should take this to a logical conclusion for sure and get the support from other Captiva owners. My friend works with GM in Pune in the Finance division.
Please let me know if i can help in any way.

[andydude]

It's truly scary and thankfully due to your presence of mind and stars you are safe.

Our legal system is so out-dated and delay prone that these cos. can get away easily and hence this step mother treatment towards indian consumers of not recalling vehicle in India by GM.

Please involve media and hope they highlight this indifferent attitude of large corporations towards indian consumers.

[dass]

Holly Molly, that looks very scary and kudos to your presence of mind in getting out of the vehicle and also ensuring that no one else was hurt.

If companies do not treat their premium customers appropriately, I shudder to think how they would respond to people who buy their not so premium products. Please keep the thread active and post updates as frequently as possible.

[ravradha]

Rajan - Great presence of mind and thanks for sharing.

Other cars also have the same issue - in case of fire the doors will get locked and the windows cannot be rolled down.

Surprised and shocked that there is no manual override as a safety backup. Is there any particular reason?