[Mile_muncher]

Originally Posted by Rahul9229

Update

I just got a call from skoda representative that my car has been fitted with the new updated fuel pump and will be delivered in the evening. He also mentioned that an official statement on the issue is coming out tomorrow including a recall for all vehicles running the faulty fuel pump sensors. Let's see if it's true. I'm sure they will not do a recall without having an actual working solution. Hoping for the best.

That's good news (seemingly so). Let's wait to hear from Skoda. And yes, wishing you trouble free ownership going forward.

[sarav100]

The number of complaints posted here and the fact that we already have 17 pages of this thread is alarming. People are expecting XUV700 to have niggles in initial batches but imo Kushaq has already beaten XUV by a sizeable margin.

Skoda ought to resolve this asap as owners have invested their hard earned money into their defective products.

OT, last year I brought a Korean competitor of Kushaq from first/ second batch itself (car was launched in February and mine has March manufacturing date). Touchwood, it has been a reliable workhorse except for a few small issues that were not critical in nature. This could partially be due to the fact that I brought the variant with least complexity/electronics - 1.5 NA petrol - S model.

[Rahul9229]

Finally, I received my car today after my second EPC failure. Car is driving better than before. The pickup is better at lower RPMs with this new setup.
I also got to know that from today, global skoda kolkata has started calling in customers yet to face issues and are proactively changing the faulty parts and they have called in 5 cars today for proactive replacement of faulty parts. All kushaq owners should get in touch with their dealerships and ask for change of fuel pump to jump the queue.

[maverickNerd]

So, it is a fuel pump issue, and official communication is coming.

[srikanthmadhava]

Originally Posted by maverickNerd

So, it is a fuel pump issue, and official communication is coming.

Great to see that they have a final resolution for the EPC issues.

But Zac is subtly hinting here that the issue was because of varying fuel quality in India and not because of any inadequate testing or premature part failure.

Did the fuel quality in India start varying drastically post testing phase of Kushaq?
Did they test with only single source of fuel?
Is it not expected that their vehicles would be refuelled from various parts of the country, from different brands of fuel?
Is this test case not added to Kushaq even after 20 years of Skoda being in India?

Skoda does have a history blaming issues on Indian fuel quality. May be it is too much to expect a CEO to openly admit that they messed up. At the end of the day, we are all humans.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by maverickNerd

So, it is a fuel pump issue, and official communication is coming.

Basically it seems Skoda will just not admit it's own inadequate testing process before rolling out the Kushaq. From Zac's statement, seems the fuel quality in India has suddenly taken a hit and Kushaq is the bakra! All other cars across the country run like a charm on the very same fuel, except "holier-than-thou" Skoda. What a bowl of nonsense!

[M00M]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Basically it seems Skoda will just not admit it's own inadequate testing process before rolling out the Kushaq. From Zac's statement, seems the fuel quality in India has suddenly taken a hit and Kushaq is the bakra! All other cars across the country run like a charm on the very same fuel, except "holier-than-thou" Skoda. What a bowl of nonsense!

Fuel quality in India even with a RON 91 - 95 is always going to be adulterated and thats something we have to live with. Local sellers continue to mix and make small gains in small cities.

While I am not a Kushaq owner, I am currently finalising one and I am moving over from Honda / Toyota because unlike them atleast Zac is taking the effort to email you back and acknowledge the problem because in other places like Honda / Toyota they dont even respond or reply to our emails. And with Kia and Hyundai the least said about their maintenance and safety the better. I have owned Hyundai's and theyre not as easy or not as cheap or not as reliable as they are made out to be.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

The fuel pump that failed had been extensively tested - but could last only about 2000 kms on these cars. This new 'robust' fuel pump has now been rushed in due to these failures and possibly not even tested that much!

How sure can we be that the issue is 100% resolved, unless a few cars cover 10k+ kms?

I would prefer to wait and watch 6 months. Meanwhile, there could be some updates too - like the rumoured Monte Carlo variant.

[Venkatesh]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Meanwhile, there could be some updates too - like the rumoured Monte Carlo variant.

Much awaited Kushaq Automatic with 6 airbags combination, Style variant to be launched in coming weeks.

[eccentric]

If the solution was to replace the fuel pump as Skoda claims, then this is a classic case of new vendor development that has gone wrong accompanied by poor QC and QA of the OEM. IMHO, they are reverting back to the fuel pumps made by the regularized vendors.

And the blame on fuel quality is just another hogwash since the same engines in other VW/Skoda cars are munching miles effortlessly.

Kushaq owners,

1.If you people could keep an eye on the manufacturers of the old and the new pump and report anything interesting, it would be great!

2. Whether the ASCs are replacing the primary or secondary fuel pump or both?

3. Whether they're replacing the fuel filter too?

4. Whether any tweaks are being done to the ECU say software patches?

Had replaced the Fuel filter of my Swift 09 VDi last week. I was surprised to see the existing and the new OEM filters are made by Bosch in Spain! Hunches like these on the Kushaq are welcome.

[Chetan_Rao]

I doubt the poor fuel pumps that gave up the ghost on brand new cars even had a chance to try the 'varying quality' cuisine being blamed.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I doubt the poor fuel pumps that gave up the ghost on brand new cars even had a chance to try the 'varying quality' cuisine being blamed.

Its not so simple. Depends on which pump failed. If its the high pressure pump then its quite sensitive to bad fuel especially lower octane fuel. The TSI engines need minimum 95RON to work optimally and if all the tests have been done using higher octane petrol, then the lesser octane number along with some additives would not have worked well with the pump coming from a new vendor. Hence it is going to be rolled back to the old vendor who would have been supplying pumps for the existing TSI engined cars.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Its not so simple. Depends on which pump failed. If its the high pressure pump then its quite sensitive to bad fuel especially lower octane fuel...

I'm not claiming it is, nor blaming the part or its supplier.

I'd blame Skoda as the owner of the part specification. It's their job to ensure parts used in their products are tested for their intended operating conditions, and India's variable fuel quality (esp. on the highways) isn't exactly a new variable, is it?

It reflects poorly on the manufacturer if parts they claim have been 'extensively tested' are prone to pre-mature failure. For customer cars that had pump failures, I wonder how many even had an opportunity to get fuel from a source other than those they've frequently used before, without issue on other vehicles they've owned.

If a certain part is overly sensitive to the point it will fail entirely and quickly if certain conditions aren't met (like RON requirements you mention), it's again up to the manufacturer to make it specifically clear upfront, so customers can make an informed choice.

It makes little sense for a customer to buy a car acutely sensitive to fuel quality, if said customer generally lives and drives in areas where required fuel quality can't be reliably guaranteed.

[Venkatesh]

Faulty fuel pump will be replaced for customers once the service centres have enough stock.

[Hayek]

Glad to see that Skoda seems to have moved fast to fix this problem. Agree that the jury is still out until the new part has been tried for at least 5000-10000 kms in some cars and not been found wanting. Suspect that this would have been a QC issue with a new vendor rather than anything else, and so if they are reverting to the previous version used on the Vento or Rapid, they should be fine. The fact is that even if they tested the car extensively, it would not encounter all conditions you see in the field - and such failures are not unusual. Don’t see a reason to panic or avoid buying these cars because of that.

But I do think that blaming fuel quality is disingenuous- even imports or CKD cars from BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Skoda, VW et al run on Indian fuel, and the pumps used are clearly robust enough to cope with them. You know that fuel in India is variable in quality and will design for that. Just as they redesign suspensions or add a rough road package even on imports that are to be sold in India.