Fuel leakage prompts Maruti to recall A-Star model cars - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Maruti Suzuki India declared that it is recalling 100,000 of its A-Star hatchbacks, potentially undermining future sales of the best-selling vehicle on Tuesday. The recall of the model, which is mainly exported to several European countries including Germany, Britain and France, began in November to fix a fuel leakage problem. This was confirmed by a spokesman of the company at Mumbai on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the consortium of automobile manufacturers dispelled fears among the users by mentioning that as and when an unforeseen defect surfaces, the particular model is recalled for rectification. "They have not taken (the vehicles) off the market; they have recalled the vehicle. Recall is a normal practise in the automobile industry. It is happening not the first time to Maruti. Earlier also there have been different types of recalls. This recall is actually because what they have found something defective, therefore, they have recalled the cars to replace the defective part," said Dilip Chenoy, Director General, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Although many of the customers seemed content with the present model of the car, a few complained about the vehicle's fuel efficiency and other manufacturing defects. "The lot we have received now, does not have such major problem but the previous lot had many problems like inadequate fuel pressure and many other problems," noted Mahesh, a technician at a showroom in Mumbai. Simultaneously, the Maruti Suzuki company also mentioned that there had been no customer complaints but an internal analysis had shown that when fuel was filled beyond a certain point, there was a possibility of leakage. About 50 percent of the faulty cars have been fixed. Further it was disclosed that the fault was only in certain models of A-Star. These vehicles belonged to a lot made until August 22 last year. Between January and December last year, the company exported about 100,000 A-Stars that was first launched in India in late 2008. It sells 3,500 to 4,000 A-stars a month in India. Maruti's move comes as Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp is embroiled in a much larger recall of 8.5 million vehicles globally in recent months for problems including sticky accelerators and a braking glitch affecting its hybrid models. Maruti is on track to hit annual sales of 1 million cars in the current fiscal year that ends in March.