Honda to recall 32,000 units of Brio, Amaze to inspect braking system

 

New Delhi: Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) will recall as many as 31,226 units of its hatchback Brio and entry-level sedan Amaze to fix a potentially defective braking system in the vehicles.

The company said on Monday that it had noted a possible defect related to the proportioning valve, which adjusts the rate of increase in the pressure on rear brakes and helps bring the car to a smooth stop, preventing the brakes from locking up. No complaint related to the part has so far been reported, it said.

 

“HCIL will voluntarily replace the proportioning valve after inspection, if required,” the company said. “The inspection and replacement would be carried out free of cost at HCIL dealerships across India, and the owners will be contacted individually in a phased manner.”

The inspection would be carried out on only those variants the Brio and Amaze that do not have an anti-braking system (ABS).

“Proportioning valve is not a part of braking system for ABS variants and, therefore, the ABS variants of Brio and petrol Amaze and all variants of Diesel Amaze do not require any inspection,” HCIL said

Honda introduced Brio, its first small car, in 2011 and Amaze, its first sub-4 metre sedan, in 2013 to capture a larger share of the Indian car market. Brio competes with Hyundai Motor India Ltd’s i10 Grand and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Ritz and Amaze with Maruti’s Dzire and Hyundai’s Xcent.

The company said customers can check whether their car will be covered under this inspection campaign by submitting their 17 character alpha-numeric Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on its website.

Indian car makers are becoming proactive about recalls, suggesting that a voluntary code put in place by the industry in 2012 is working and that they’ve been able to overcome the stigma previously attached to such exercises, said Anil Sharma, a senior research analyst at IHS Automotive.

While there is no penalty clause in the Voluntary Recall Code announced on 2 July last year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures had recommended that the government take action if members failed to recall vehicles when they were required to do so.

“We will gradually move to a situation when recalls will no more be considered as a taboo,” said Sharma. “These are signs of a mature car market.”

Vehicle recalls are attracting more attention from the media as well as regulatory authorities after General Motors India Pvt. Ltd came under scrutiny for selling faulty units of its multi-utility vehicle Tavera in 2013.

Unlike developed markets such as Europe, Japan and the US, India still has no official recall policy. Typically, an auto maker in India makes an announcement offering to fix any defects and replace faulty components, but escapes penalties and punishments common in developed markets.

In April, Maruti Suzuki India recalled 103,311 units of its Ertiga, Swift and DZire models manufactured between 12 November 2013 and 4 February 2014 to replace a faulty fuel filler neck in one of the biggest vehicle recalls in the country. 

 

AKANKSHA SHANU

PGDM 1ST YEAR

2013-15