Why car recalls are not a bad thing

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday recalled a little less than 1,500 cars over possible faults in steering columns. (Read more) Recalls have become a regular feature with auto companies, where companies voluntarily call back batches of vehicles to check and fix possible faults in manufacturing. And all this is done free of cost. Although, it may affect customer sentiment in the short-run, in the long- run it is seen a positive for both the customer and the car maker, say automobile experts. It gives out the message that the company is willing to take responsibility even post sales and making efforts to ensure the customers' safety and satisfaction, said auto expert Tutu Dhawan. Now how does a car maker identify problems once a batch is sold off? "It is mainly through customer feedback which is routed to the company through dealerships," says Mr Dhawan. "Whenever these things (cars) are made, they are made in batches, even the raw materials come in batches and it is all computerised...so once a possible fault is suspected, it doesn't take the company long to act on it," he adds. The recall is done as a safety measure and there may actually be no fault with the car. It is done to eliminate the possibility of any manufacturing defect based on customer complaints and feedback. Automobile companies have been pro-active in recalling vehicles ever since industry body SIAM or Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers initiated a voluntary recall policy last July, taking the number of recalls to over 3 lakh units since then. Car recalls are a regular phenomenon worldwide. German car maker Volkswagen recently recalled 26 lakh vehicles worldwide. Japanese auto major Toyota in 2009 and 2010 had recalled 10 lakh cars in China alone, over concerns about sticky accelerator pedals and floor mats. The last big recall made by Maruti was in February 2010 when it recalled about one lakh units of the A-Star to replace a possibly faulty fuel pump part. On Wednesday, Maruti said it will be recalling 1492 cars across 4 models to inspect possible defects in steering columns. Ertiga, Swift, Dzire, A-Star manufactured between October 19 and October 26 2013 are the models being recalled by Maruti. Recently, General Motors India had recalled 1.14 lakh units of its multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) Chevrolet Tavera, manufactured between 2005 and 2013, to address emission issues. The company had also recalled 4,000 units of the diesel variant of its Sail model to address a potential engine issue. In July, Ford India recalled 1,000 models of its EcoSport diesel variant to rectify defects in the instrument used as an aid in starting the engine, within a fortnight of the car launch. Ford had told NDTV at the time of recall that customers had taken it positively and appreciated Ford owning responsibility for the defect. (With agency inputs)

Why car recalls are not a bad thing

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