My 2022 Maruti Brezza breaks down just 15 days after delivery

The car on its first trip to a service workshop just 15 days after delivery.

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I think I might be the one the first few to report a Brezza breakdown here.

I was driving at around 70 kpmh at around 1 AM yesterday when the following sequence of actions happened:

• The amber EPS malfunction light lit up, and the steering became heavy.

• Soon after, the amber Check Engine light came on, and I decided then and there to take a u-turn and go home (around 4 kms away when this happened)

• The car started slowing down by itself and made a juddering noise, almost as if the engine was misfiring.

• At the last signal 500 metres from my house, the car refused to start after stopping. I had to push to P, start the car and immediately shove it to D and accelerate for it to keep from stalling.

• Reached home and thankfully parked accurately on the first go, before fully coming to a halt.

• As soon as it came to a halt, the car stopped one final time and refused to start up again.

• I resigned myself to this and got out of the car and decided to lock it, but it refused to lock.

• The error message now displayed was: 'Key fob not recognized'.

• I immediately took out the mechanical key and locked the door, but the ambient lighting and the ICE could not be shut off.

• I had to urgently go to the airport, so I just left. But by the time I returned around 2 hours later by cab, the battery had been mostly drained and all the lights were off.

I am really not sure if continuing to drive when the EPS & Check Engine lights came on was a sane move, but I think I acted on the instinct to just get home and not get stuck on the highway.

I called Maruti RSA later and they directed Popular Maruti (Arcot Road) to come and service the car, and to tow it away if required.

The mechanic came at around 10 AM and his first response after hearing it out was: 'That's usually because of rats biting the wires.' I told him to check the car first and see what had been bitten by rats, if at all. He could not find anything, and asked a tow truck to arrive.

The tow truck person (not from Popular Maruti, but from a private towing service called Pandian Recovery Services). They charged me 2000, after quoting an initial 750, but at that stage, I was just desperate to get this done as I had to go out urgently in the next 15 mins.

The service advisor from Popular Maruti called me later and stated 'There are symptoms of rat bites after hoisting up the car'. At that point, I asked him point-blank: 'Are rate bites covered under warranty?', to which the obvious response was 'No.' So I told him firmly 'Please send me the photo evidence of the rate bites, I will bear the cost. But if there is no evidence shared of that, you have to honour your warranty and I'll not pay anything.' Quite predictably, there was no more mention about rat bites again.

The job card has been shared with me now, but it does not say what repairs have exactly been done. It only states that I had a complaint of 'Engine not starting', to which there's a comment by the service advisor: 'Engine working now'. So, I'm just biding my time now.

This is what I plan to do:

• Refuse a home delivery of the car
• Go directly to pick it up
• Insist on getting a detailed description of what exactly was the issue and what all repairs have been done
• Request the mechanic to come along with me for a ~20-km test drive before signing off that all repairs are satisfactory.

I request the more knowledgeable folks to guide me on what all I should do now, to ensure that I get my car properly serviced.

What do I ask the service advisor to check, and what all should I do before I take back the delivery of my car? I wish to maintain good relations with the service advisor, so how do I ask for more info while not appearing to be a difficult customer?

The car on its first trip to a service workshop (just 15 days after delivery). I did not remember to click any other photos unfortunately.

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