Carmakers recalled over 17 lakh cars in India since 2012

Car recalls are a common feature in mature markets across the globe. India, however, hasn’t seen many carmakers offer recalls to fix issues. Or have they?

According to a reply by the Minister of State in the ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, GM Siddheshwara, from 2012 to 2016, carmakers in India recalled a whopping 17.70 lakh cars.

According to the data provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), carmakers sold between 18 lakh to 20 lakh cars a year from 2012-2016. This means, that roughly one in five cars over the past four years were recalled.

source: tradingeconomics.com

The minister, in his reply to the Lok Sabha, said, “At present there is no recall policy in the country. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has initiated steps for bringing mandatory Recall Policy by way of amending Central Motors Vehicles Rules 1989. However, the industry has announced a voluntary code on vehicle recall in July 2012. Since July 2012, whenever a safety defect which poses risk of accident or harm to the vehicle occupant is recognized in vehicles, the manufacturers conduct a voluntary recall and offer to rectify the vehicles free of charge.”

While India doesn't have a recall policy currently, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is working on amending the Central Motors Vehicles Rules 1989, to bring in a mandatory Recall Policy, the Lok Sabha was informed.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Honda Cars India topped the list of recalls, with 5.56 lakh vehicles called back between July 23, 2012 and January 5, 2016.

Honda was followed by Ford India, with 3.20 lakh recalls; General Motors 2.56 lakh recalls; Maruti Suzuki with 2.07 lakh recalls; Volkswagen India 2.06 lakh recalls; and Mahindra and Mahindra with 1.50 lakh recalls.

Ford Figo and Fiesta were the cars that were recalled the most, with 2.97 lakh models called back to fix things. They were followed by the Honda City, with 2.54 lakh recalls, Volkswagen's Polo, Vento, Jetta and Passat with 1.99 lakh recalls; and Chevrolet Beat, Spark and Enjoy accounting for 1.55 lakh recalls.