’I’ll take Tata to court’

A Delhi businessman's Nano caught fire on Tuesday. The company maintains it's a safe car, even as other cases are being reported

'I'll take Tata to court'

A Delhi businessman's Nano caught fire on Tuesday. The company maintains it's a safe car, even as other cases are being reported

It is a dream gone sour for Sunil Kumar.

The Delhi businessman's Tata Nano was one of his most prized possession till Tuesday. Parked at his Rohini residence in north Delhi, the 'people's car' suddenly caught fire.

When he reached home, Kumar was told that initially smoke started coming out from below the steering wheel.

Kumar called up a Tata Nano customer care executive to report the incident. "The executive asked me to pay Rs 1500 for towing away the vehicle to the service centre," he claimed.

When Kumar refused to pay and threatened to take up his complaint with higher authorities, the executive assured to provide full concession of towing charges but the businessman asserted they must send somebody to repair it at his place only.

"I want full refund for my air-conditioned Nano car. I don't want to get my car repaired at any cost. My children are traumatised. They have refused to sit in the car. If the company refuses to refund we will drag them to the consumer court," added Kumar.

Pictures sent by Kumar to MiDDAY show charred interiors of the car.


Remains: Charred interiors of the Rohini businesman's Tata Nano car that caught fire while it was parked at his residence in north Delhi

This wasn't the only case. Tuesday brought more bad luck for Tata's Rs one lakh car. Another Nano caught fire in Lucknow the same day.

RH Rizvi's car went up in flames at his posh Hazratganj house. Rizvi bought the car in the month of September from a local dealer. "I was shocked to see my car in flames. It started from the bottom of the steering. I rushed to get sand from a nearby construction area. Later, I called a mechanic."

"The mechanic told me he had come across several such cases," he said. Rizvi claimed he is taking up the matter with higher officials.

Technical experts blame the position of the battery for such incidents. "The car battery is placed under the driver's seat and this is the potential reason for such fire," an engineer with Tata Motors in Delhi said, requesting anonymity.

Another auto expert, who was formerly associated with Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), said, "There could have been some problem with electronic circuitry. If there was a short circuit in the electrical system, the fuse of the car should have been blown off. They could have installed over rated fuse in the car due to which all system caught fire."

It happened earlier too!
A newly-purchased Nano car that was parked in a housing society in Ahmedabad reportedly caught fire on September 13. The car, bearing registration number is GJ-1KA-4648, was parked at Vaibhav Gokul bungalows on SG Highway. Local sources said that some technical fault in the car battery had triggered the fire. A watchman at the bungalow saw smoke coming out of the car in the morning.

The Other Side
"There has not been any case of fire in Nano cars. Apparently smoke emanated from the cars due to short circuit. The Lucknow-based owner's car has been taken to the workshop and is being repaired. It will be given back soon. As far as the Ahmedabad fire incident is concerned, the car was taken to workshop and after repair has been given back to customer. However, in this case, we have not got the car and can not comment about it. Nano as a car and technology is safe like any other car. Thousands of cars have been sold but so far there has not been any such complaint.u00a0
Debashish Ray, Head, Corporate Communication, Tata Motors.

Nano boom
The Tata Nano has drawn over 2.03 lakh fully paid bookings amounting to nearly Rs.2,500 crores, in an encouraging response to the car launched on 23rd March. About 14 lakh people walked in to Tata Motors' Showrooms, Croma and Westside stores across the country to catch a glimpse of the car. A total of 6.10 lakh forms were purchased from the booking centres. 70% of the 2.03 lakh bookings received were financed, while 30% of the applicants booked in cash by paying fully. About 4,000 cash bookings were made online through https://www.tatanano.com/, a first for the auto industry in India. Among the three variants of the car, 20% bookings are for the Nano Standard, 30% for the Nano CX and the remaining 50% for the top-end Nano LX.

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