Vehicle recalls in India cross the 2.3 million mark

The total number of vehicle recalls in India, after the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ (SIAM)’s Code of Voluntary Recall came into effect in July 2012, has crossed the 2.3 million mark.

With Ford India's recall of 48,700 EcoSports and Maruti Suzuki India recalling 20,427 units of the S-Cross, the total number of recalls in India now stands at 23,13,676 units (see detailed table below). 

The 1.75 million units mark was breached in December 2015 and the next 500,000 recalled units took just another two months. The last month of 2015 saw two big recalls – on December 11, Honda Cars India recalled 64,428 units of diesel variants of the City sedan manufactured from December 2013 to July 2015 and 25,782 units of diesel variants of the Mobilio MPV manufactured from June 2014 to July 2015 to replace the fuel return pipe.

On December 15, 2015, General Motors India recalled 101,597 units of its Chevrolet Beat diesel, suspecting faulty clutch pedal levers in the hatchback manufactured between December 2010 and July 2014. And, on December 23, India Yamaha Motor recalled 9 motorcycles which comprised 7 YZF-R1s and 2 YZF-R1Ms over a faulty gearbox issued reported by parent company, Yamaha of Japan.

In 2016, till now, a total of 172,980 units have been recalled.

On February 19, Honda Cars India recalled 57,676 vehicles of the previous generation models of the City, Jazz and Civic to replace the driver’s side airbag inflators. The recall was part of Honda’s preventive global recall campaign involving airbag inflators. The recall comprised 49,572 City sedans (made between January 2012 - June 2013), 7,504 Jazz hatchbacks (made between February 2012 – February 2013) and 600 Civic sedans (made between January 2012 – August 2012).

On April 1, 2016 Volkswagen India announced a recall for 3,877 Vento cars powered by the 1.5-litre diesel engine and manual gearbox. The recall, according to Volkswagen India was "due to inconsistent Carbon Monoxide (CO) emissions that were observed to be sometimes exceeding the threshold limits during the Conformity of Production (COP) tests done by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI)."

In the same month, Ford India recalled 42,300 Figo and Aspire models due to a software issue in the Restraint Control Module (RCM). The software glitch could result in the airbags not deploying in time in certain types of collisions.

While some of the recalls in India are part of a global exercise, they have been made by 16 OEMs – 12 four-wheeler OEMs and 4 two-wheeler manufacturers.

Growing recalls point to a maturing market

Between July 2012, which is when SIAM’s code came into effect, and June 2013, the industry saw 246,495 vehicles being recalled. In the following year, the number increased by more than 100% to 522,299. The July 2014-June 2015 count stood at 250,904 units, a reduction of more than 50% from the preceding year. Then, for the July 2015-May 2016 period, the count rose substantially to 12,45,278 units.

In India, there is yet to be a law by the government that makes recalls mandatory, in case of any technical snag. SIAM's voluntary recall code, however, has paved the way to a structured vehicle recall exercise in India. It also reflects Indian OEMs’ proactive efforts to address technical issues in their vehicles, as is the industry practice in the west.

In earlier interactions with Autocar Professional regarding vehicle recalls, industry leaders have voiced the importance of being completely transparent about any possible quality or technical defects. Market analysts, however, are of the opinion that while one-off recall events may be perceived positively by customers as a reflection of continued customer care from an OEM, repeated issues from the same maker are likely to shake the confidence of existing customers and prospective buyers.

SIAM’s code places the onus on the manufacturer to recall defective vehicles, with no obligation on the defaulting companies to issue a recall. Though the code is certainly a step in the right direction, a mandatory code which allows the government to direct companies to recall vehicles will certainly increase the focus on quality and give OEMs that added incentive to ensure the products going into the market are ‘First Time Right’ and also positively impact consumer and market sentiment.