This week in Auto: When recall becomes a bad word

The recall was made to inspect and replace, if need be, a possible fault in the brake vacuum hose of the two cars. Not a serious safety issue as per guidelines issued by the company immediately thereafter. This is would perhaps explain why Maruti Suzuki refused to call it a recall but instead labelled it as a service campaign.

A voluntary recall code issued by the auto industry’s apex lobby body SIAM was announced as late as 2012, just before what would be the start of an unprecedented number (50 million as of last count) of recalls announced by Toyota, Honda, Ford, BMW, Nissan, Mazda and Chrysler over Takata airbags.

A Member of Parliament elected form Tiruvannamalai, R. Vanaroja, raised questions last year in the Lok Sabha on whether the government is considering to levy fines for faulty vehicles in the absence of any specific provisions in the law over recalls.

In response to it the Minister of State, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Babul Supriyo said that there is no such proposal under consideration in the Department of Heavy Industry to bring fine for faulty vehicles. He said this even as he agreed that there is no vehicle recall policy in the country drafted by the government.

In the five months of the year so far, the automotive industry witnessed more than 141,000 recalls stretching across motorcycles, cars and sport utility vehicles. This is much higher than the 80,000-odd recalls done by the industry in the whole 2017.

In the absence of an exhaustive and detailed law from the government at the centre automotive companies exercise free will over the issue of vehicle recalls. Even definition of recall is determined by the companies and decision of what constitutes a recall is completely theirs.

While the word recall has a positive connotation in developed countries as it shows that the manufacturer is positive about rectifying the flaws in the cars made by it, in India however, recall carries a negative overtone forcing manufacturers to often use synonyms instead. Given the fierce battle for market shares and brand building it is understandable why companies do not wish to be seen as somebody who compromised on quality.

The decision on recall takes into account the degree of seriousness or severity of occurrence of any possible hazard involved’ that will be decided by the vehicle manufacturer, a SIAM statement said.

SIAM has left it to individual members to decide on the minimum number of vehicles affected to constitute a recall and also whether to announce such an exercise or not.

Transportation laws in the US also seeks a voluntary admission from manufacturers followed by corrective measures in the event of a recall. Despite this there have been violations.

Volkswagen’s infamous emission scandal remained undetected for nearly six years under the nose of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is tasked to oversee vehicle safety standards in US. The German giant deployed a cheating software that could manipulate emission data.

Will Road Transport Ministry sit up and take notice now?