Altroz DCA gearbox fails in 45 days of purchase: Replaced in warranty

The service center had replaced only one gearbox till now. I was really concerned about their inexperience in handling this situation.

BHPian anand_roy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My worse fears on the Tata Altroz DCA has come true. The automatic gearbox probably needs replacement within one and a half month's of purchase.

We brought home the Altroz XZA+S on 20th October last month.

It all started with a noise last week. When my wife reversed (R) the car and then put it into Drive (D) mode and moved a bit forward, there was a screeching sound.

She thought that it was something in the road and continued. When I did the same sequence of events a day later (reverse and then drive), I also got the same sound.

It came immediately after the car if driven for maybe 50 metres after putting in drive mode (after the car is reversed). This sound is a bit longish lasting for about 2 seconds. It felt like the noise was coming from the back. I felt it was something with the brake pads or something stuck in the wheel. Visual inspection did not reveal anything.

Then when the car is driven, a similar sound comes, shorter in duration and also lower in noise, in speeds of less than 40. Driving the car during the past few days, I noticed that it generally comes when the brake is applied and then accelerated or during acceleration in lower speeds.

Today, the first service was due and I reported the issue to the workshop. We went for a test drive and the SA initially felt it was coming from the back as well - but initial inspection on the roadside did not reveal anything.

They took it back into the workshop and did their investigation. And then, my worse fear came true. The SA reported that it was an issue with the automatic gearbox and it will need to be replaced. They do not have any diagnostics to run on the gearbox. They have tightened all nuts and bolts, checked the wheel and brake pads and per my understanding, came to this conclusion by the process of elimination. Also, the sequence which leads to the noise (reverse and forward leading to a longish noise and slower speeds leading to a shorter noise), is an indicator that this is a gearbox issue.

I had a feeling that the sound was coming from the back; but on another longish test drive when I was sitting in the back seat today, on careful listening, it seemed that the noise was coming from the front.

The Service Center has sent their observations to Tata and will wait for observations from Tata. Based on Tata's observations, they will order the replacement.

I was told that I can drive the car in the meantime. I am not sure how safe that is. But two cars is essential for us. We will try to drive it at a minimum but cannot avoid it altogether.

After coming back from the workshop, I went to my trusted mechanic and he also mentioned that the noise was coming from the front right (where the gearbox is located) and could not find any issue in the tyre or that general area based on visual inspection. He also advised to follow the suggestions of the workshop.

The service center had replaced only one gearbox till now. I was really concerned about their inexperience in handling this situation. Very sad that the only scenario that I feared has come true.

Tata personnel in Pune confirmed that this is an issue with the gearbox and the service center has asked for a replacement.

I also escalated the issue to the senior leadership team of Tata and received a call back from the customer care manager.

The replacement gearbox arrived last Wednesday and I took the car to the Service Center on Thursday for the replacement.

In addition to the Service Center personnel, Tata had sent an engineer from their automatic gearbox division to oversee the replacement.

The gearbox is situated in the lower part of the engine bay towards the left side wheel (the one nearest to the co-driver).

And they had to take out a lot of the parts to take out the faulty gearbox including both wheels as well as the axle.

The replacement job went smoothly and was completed in about 3 hours after which the car was taken for a long test drive and then handed back to me.

Since then, we have been driving the car and it is running smoothly. It has been only a few days only and hopefully things will be ok going forward.

I am definitely very concerned about the reliability of the car.

And a lot of parts were taken out and then put back in to replace the gearbox. That is also a cause of concern.

An automatic gearbox should not fail within one and a half months of operation. That is just unacceptable. That's a question mark on a lot of things.

I am in discussions with Tata Motors to assuage my concerns. Let's see where it goes.

If this replacement was required to be done without warranty, it would have cost 3.5 Lac + INR !!

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