[rajismine]

I suddenly feel like getting my car checked. Gr8 that you are safe srini,

[bglsrini]

can someone help me with the contact details of TATA motors contact person,Phone and email Id if possible

[hrag]

customercare at tatamotors dot com

You can also try venugopal dot reddy at tatamotors dot com
m dot vickram at tatamotors dot com

The post service call usually comes from 020 4013 2000

[rajismine]

I am feeling so helpless Srini. I had all the numbers but somehow not finding them anymore.

I have just one contact that i can see: Venkat: 9246290935

This guy is the Manager of Tata Motors Customer Support for Andhra Pradesh.

Please see if it can be of some help. May be you can take the mumbai number from him,

I will look at home if I have the mumbai manager number somewhere else.

rajeev

[benbsb29]

Srini, thank God you came out of it safe! Must be really scary when you are cruising, and suddenly all hell breaks loose!

IMO, more than a tyre blowout, it looks like suspension failure, but then i am no expert.

Hope you get to the bottom of the issue, and justice prevails.

[HappyWheels]

(OT & on a lighter note)

Originally Posted by benbsb29

...Hope you get to the bottom of the issue, and justice prevails.

Man! Benb, you made it sound like the TATA had a grudge against Srini and had planned this out!

[ravibhat]

Thank GOD its just damage to vehicle!

If its not tyre burst or recent suspension hit and that resulted failure now, then its same usual case of another TATA quality defect.

I am always scared to buy Safari for that reason, I heard lot of stories :(

Lets hope your vehicle will be back on track again very soon.

Regards,

Ravi.

[rajismine]

u know what Srini. I may be wrong but there might be a logic here.

From the first pic, seems like your alloy wheel was broken. Can it so happen that there was a hairline crack in your wheel which might have come on your offroad expeditions (there were quite a few I guess).

So may be when you were driving at 80-100, the wheel just broke and suddenly load came on to your suspensions and they failed. And finally as a result, whole of this happened.

Why I am bringing this point is because when you claim warranty fix from Tata, they might raise this issue and say that you fixed an unapproved or aftermarket or whatever wheels and that caused an imbalance and this happened....

better you check this angle out as well....

[ak-47]

Originally Posted by bglsrini

can someone help me with the contact details of TATA motors contact person,Phone and email Id if possible

you could try :

Regional customer care coordinator (Mr. Tirumal ?), Bangalore
ph no: 66373424

supportsouth@tatamotors.com

[Mpower]

Tire or wheel damage will not cause this.

I see 3 things broken,

The steering arm that bolts to the knuckle
torsion bar
lower ball joint (I dont see it but looks likely)
Of course the tire and wheel

Obviously, one of these let go first and the subsequently caused the others to fail. My guess...the steering arm.

BAD! because steering and brakes are THE most critical parts of any vehicle

[sudev]

@bglsrini: commiserations

Looked at the pictures again. I do not see the alloys cracked?!

I totally debunk tyre blowout theory as apart form the apparent tyre wall shift from rim there is no picture of a blow. OP would have noticed this when taking pictures and since he did not to assume other wise does not seem to be correct.

To me this is failure of the steering link as the bolts show "fatigue" fracture and rest is consequnetial. Even in case of tyre hitting a side-walk at high speeds and steering linkages breaking the bolts should not have broken. The first component to give way should have been the ball joint- as in ball joint "popping out" - but this does not seem to be the case.

As far as I can make out apart from a cracked rubber bush there is no other damage to suspension. I also recall another guys post of his conversation with a mechanic in summary "bolt lagao tyre badlo aur chalo" Can this be taken to infer that this is quite common or know to happen on Tata vehicles?



In past this sort of thing was much more frequently observed in Abmy's. Interestingly the bolts fracture faces are in opposing directions. See the broken bolt faces on the wheel side.

[dadu]

Originally Posted by bglsrini

I feel its not a tyre blowout.In fact while i was in hosur road,twice the car pulled towards the right when i braked. Then i braked hard and saw for 2 to 3 times and felt it was ok and then i started driving through the chandapura-sarjapura road and came to sarjapura road towards bangalore where it happened.

This points to the fatigue building up due to earlier encounters, so probably the blowout theory might be wrong.

Originally Posted by sudev

In past this sort of thing was much more frequently observed in Abmy's. Interestingly the bolts fracture faces are in opposing directions. See the broken bolt faces on the wheel side.

Yes, I noticed that too and could be something else failed first pulling the rim assembly towards the outside of the body causing such inclined breakoff in the bolts, surprisingly both broke off almost at the same angle, pointing to an outside pulling force, rather than up/ down forces.

Originally Posted by sudev

As far as I can make out apart from a cracked rubber bush there is no other damage to suspension. I also recall another guys post of his conversation with a mechanic in summary "bolt lagao tyre badlo aur chalo" Can this be taken to infer that this is quite common or know to happen on Tata vehicles?

Yes, but the broken end of the bolts are now stuck in the assembly, will need a lathe machine to scrape them out and rethread, unless you are changing the whole wheel assembly or is anyway required to change due to damage.

[sudev]

@dadu: The summarize was just used as a pointer to what mech's opinion was not as action point 8-)

[suman]

Originally Posted by hrag

I may be completely off the mark but a case of an unnoticed suspension component damaged and eventually giving way? Question for the experts - what happens if a broken bush on the tie-rod is left unattended?

Well, there are symptoms that one should heed - play in the steering, the steering wheel goes slightly off-centre, the jerks are stronger than usual when you hit a pothole etc etc..........if you do not notice these symptons & keep on flogging the vehicle, who knows?

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by suman

Well, there are symptoms that one should heed - play in the steering, the steering wheel goes slightly off-centre, the jerks are stronger than usual when you hit a pothole etc etc..........if you do not notice these symptons & keep on flogging the vehicle, who knows?

Is this what you are referring to, Suman?
I tend to think that there was some early warning which went unheeded.

Originally Posted by bglsrini

I feel its not a tyre blowout.In fact while i was in hosur road,twice the car pulled towards the right when i braked. .....

That is clear indication that the 'problem' had begun.