Maruti Suzuki India started practice of controlling the use of Substances of Concern (SoC) for mass production vehicles, and has implemented the International Material Data System (IMDS) standard. This the company says will meet international norms and quantify recoverable and recyclable materials in its vehicles. 

According to the carmaker using IMDS the data related to materials used for automobile manufacturing are collected, maintained, analysed and archived. This facilitates meeting the End of Life Vehicles (ELV) obligations placed on automobile manufacturers by national and international standards, laws and regulations.

Maruti Suzuki says the avoidance of SoC using the IMDS tool has been started with the recently launched Wagon R and will progressively continue for all future models. This it says means the new Wagon R and all upcoming models would be minimum 95 percent recoverable and 85 percent recyclable.

Commenting on the step, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “We are taking a pro-active step and voluntarily putting in place global mechanism for controlling hazardous substances in our vehicles. With the implementation of globally accepted IMDS system, Maruti Suzuki will be ready to comply with ELV regulations when it is launched in India.”

An ELV-compliant vehicle aims at limiting the use of SoC such as lead, hexavalent chromium, mercury and cadmium, among others in vehicles. It also promotes recycling and recovery of materials used to manufacture a vehicle.

Maruti Suzuki says it is closely working and supporting its vendor partners to establish an efficient SoC management system as well.