[Dieselritzer]

Hi, i have shared the link of this thread on my FB page asking friends to spread it. Its a shame that faulty products are rolled out in our country and our law doesnt protect us from such companies. I am going to spread this thread as wide as I can. If Chevy wants a great future in this country, I hope (and i am sure) they read this thread, reach out to you for the right compensation, and start working on all existing Captivas in the market. Just today i was going through the classified for a used Captiva.

[embee]

Hi Rk Ranjan,

By God's grace, hope all is well at your end..!! Really sad to see the car go up in flames and you were lucky enough to get out the car in time with your good presence of mind.
This kind of experience really dents the confidence of the customers in Chevy.

[aqualeo2040]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

Dear All
While the former's office sent the engineering team to inspect the vehicle, all they came up with is "fuel leakage as the suspected cause" and nothing beyond this.

Doesn't Captiva have a 2.0L Diesel heart?
It would be really interesting to know how did diesel fuel leakage cause fire and how did the engine compartment reach such high temperatures to ignite diesel without burning up the rubber/plastic bits first!

[NKN]

Thank God you are safe. Cannot even imagine what I would've done in a similar situation.
Appalling attitude from GM India, no wonder they don't succeed in India.
Taking them to task means a long drawn battle with the system. Please keep updating us on the progress and i am sure you will have a positive outcome.

[yo_shiva]

Appreciate you presence of mind under difficult circumstances! It's purely god's grace that has saved you from a life threatening situation.

We are all here with you in your effort to make this go viral and help save many more people who could face the same situation if GM doesn't do something soon.

[i74js]

With my limited understanding I would say that almost all car manufacturers selling premium product range in India either through assembly or through CBU imports consider Indians not worthy of their product, even if we have been paying a higher price for the same product due to different tax / import duties treatment.

- The companies consider that they are lending a favour to Indian buyers by making these cars available in India

- They do not maintain adequate part inventory as well as trained service staff; "hit and trial" is the only approach adopted for electronic faults else the car is kept in the service centre until someone with a bit more exposure / experience is made available to look at the fault

- Picking up smaller issues to make warranty void is their only approach - one of my friends got his car serviced after driving an excess of 500 km post the due km suggested in the service manual; this delay in getting the car serviced was used as an argument to drop a warranty claim

- If it is correct that this car was also part of the global recall done by GM, why the Indian management of GM was sleeping on it?

Even now, had it been EU / US, the dealer as well as the manufacturer would have been on their toes to resolve the issue at the earliest and without any legal intervention. Off late I have seen consumers making a good headway through consumer courts these days and would strongly suggest if no resolution is provided by GM in a short period, this should be taken to court.

Cheers

[ank.nsit]

Great, that you are safe and sound.
Gives me a shudder when I think what would have happened had you not rolled down the window.
Do keep the thread updated.

[radkrish_1978]

Thank God!! You are safe..

Hope you would get the right compensation in right time

[Wanderers]

I am sorry but what do these Americans engineering/manufacturing company think of we Indians or for that matter the so called developing world.

Are we the Guinea pigs of the their trail and error or just derivative of their nightmare that we would soon take them over in everything may be except oil & gas.

Don't they learn from the success of IT companies that growth could be collaborative & win-win for both like we have Google & Microsoft.


I think the companies taking us for granted, giving us inferior outdated product and most important compromising on safety should be taken to task. Indian Law may not be able to help much but we can take them up in their country itself as lawsuit can be filed in US for US companies act anywhere in the world.

[vipinendran]

Happy that you are safe Ranjan. I have also shared this on my FB page and asked my 2000+ FB friends to do the same so that it can spread across the world. Wish GM takes note and reaches out to you. It is their choice to remain a "Mediocre" company or a "Great" company where a customer is really the "King".

[rattanw]

RK-
first of all, amazing presence of mind on your part. This just sounds straight out of an action flick, pardon the attempt at humor. I know those few moments must have been extremely traumatic to say the least. My best wishes are with you.

Now to the more important part. All auto manufacturers have made it a practice to provide only second rate products in India, barring the CBU / CKD assembled products. Apart from being sub standard products relative to the same model product being sold in US / EU / other markets, these "sub standard" products are mostly sold at a price which is equal to or close to equal to the India price. All this is apart from the fact that these auto manufacturers save huge costs on setting up test facilities hence compromising security, provide much stripped down versions devoid of basic security and comfort features, and have to conform to easier emission and other regulatory standards. If one views the entire scale of benefits offered to auto manufacturers in India plus the benefits they derive (by hook or by crook), in the absence of any meaningful laws, relative to the situation in other countries, one cannot help but notice the sheer magnitude of profits they must be raking in each periodical accounting cycle.

I feel you should do any or all of the following:

1. Launch Social Media campaign with facts of all 5 incidents (Twitter / Facebook / pinterest)

2. Send correspondence to all major newspapers and magazines with details of all 5 incidents and prior recall asking for coverage

3. Send correspondence to each and every senior official / board member at GM (India and the parent organization). You may send the letters by post or email or both. This may mean making 40 - 50 copies of the original letter and may be a logistical problem but believe me it may be worth it (I am willing to help here if needed). Keep proof of delivery safe with you.

4. File case in consumer court simultaneously (this will give GM the scare that your threats are not hollow and you mean action)

These are just my thoughts. Really pains me to see one lose their hard earned money and risk their life over someone's callousness.

[bobbafett]

Dear RK, relieved to know that you and others on the road came out safe, inspite of such a horrific occurrence.

It is truly shocking on part of GM, given that there was recognition of fire risk with the same vehicle in other parts of the world. I would say that this amounts to criminal negligence on part of senior management of GM India. We are used to seeing such stories from that german car maker with the czech subsidiary, but I guess it is not surprising that we see similar stuff from GM. Afterall as you mentioned they cheated on pollution control norms in India and also have had a mega recall in the US on account of faulty ignition switches which were hidden from regulators and the public by GM.

Looks like GM is not a company that believes ethics are important, either in its home country or elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately the judicial situation in India makes it very difficult for folks like us to get retribution for wilful acts of negligence by corporations.

Measures suggested by other members on this thread are all great and I would really encourage you to take this up, at least till you receive a sufficient and satisfactory response from the company, including compensation if you feel that is warranted as well.

Welcome to tbhp btw!

[INJAXN]

The image looks really scary, you really were quick in thinking of rolling down the glass and opening the gate from outside.

as already mentioned in some tbhp threads we should always keep a pointed hammer (to broke the glass ) and a cutter (to cut the seat belt)

[Srikanthan]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

Dear All

Thanks for your support. Just to let you know, I have made desperate attempts, right up to the contacting the GM India MD, Arvind Saxena and the Global CEO, Mary Barra. While the former's office sent the engineering team to inspect the vehicle, all they came up with is "fuel leakage as the suspected cause" and nothing beyond this. Multiple tweets and emails to Mary Barra have gone unacknowledged.

I am now taking the legal route and am trying to get in touch with as many Captiva owners as I can, as all of them are at risk. Moreover, if I can 60-80 Captiva owners on board, that will be grounds for a PIL, forcing GM to conduct a safety recall in India.

Requesting for support by putting me in touch with all Captiva owners you know...

Ranjan - Thank God you are safe.

I would suggest you to give a multi-pronged fight to GM.

Filing a PIL will save future customers, but what about you as an owner? I would suggest to look for an option to file a case with Consumer Redressal Forum as well - to receive compensation for the mental agony you suffer, in addition to the loss.

Your insurance guys will also try to play their coin - You may need to be careful there as well.

But, never stop your communication with the company. Emails, Registered posts with AD etc will be appropriate, and please preserve ALL the communications. It will be certainly helpful in court of law.

[anshul26]

As you mentioned there was a recall made by GM in other countries I see it is a serious laps on the part of GM.
I also expect that they will do try to ignore considering your case to hush up the matter. If you have any friends in media try to highlight the incident in news papers or TV. Share on social media. Readers of this post should not be restricted to t-bhp community.
Bad publicity of GM will surely galvanize GM to take corrective actions(like Tata did in case of Nano). It is bad that to see renowned companies treating India as third world countries.