From october onwards, the autocompanies will be prone to heavy penalties on the grounds of not recalling the faulty vehicles of their companies.
If we look at the Indian scenario, the automobile sector has no mandatory rules that could be impled to the recall of faulty vehicles.Where as other developed and mature markets like Japan,Europe and other western countries have strict rules on auto recalls.
With a lot of recalls being initiated in the market aggressivly the Indian government has also made its move. A commity has been set up which is going to keep a strict check on the working of the automobile manufacturers. and maintaining the safety standards.
Local automakers follow a voluntary code of recall adopted by the industry in July 2012, and have since recalled about 2 million vehicles to fix seat belt tensioners, air bags and problems with brake systems. But transportation experts and consumers rue lack of government norms to make it compulsory for firms to act.
As per the Central Motots Vehicle Rules,1989 the India governement can ask any automobile manufacturer in India to conduct an auto recall if a certain percentage of buyers face a complaint of safety deficiet.
Draft rules propose penalties for manufacturers if they don't act on information they have, but doesn't specify details. "No penalty shall be levied in a case where the manufacturer voluntarily declares and undertakes a safety recall with due diligence. If the manufacturer fails to announce a safety recall where clear evidence is available as per the recall definitions, the Central government may issue appropriate directions and also impose appropriate penalty as per provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989," it says.
The draft so formed states that the manufacturers will give atleast four months for customers to get their vehicles repaired once after the notice is made public.The
areas of defect would include steering components, fuel and brake system, wheels and seat belt and the headrestraint mechanism.
the agency set up for this purpose will be appoingted to monitor the customer feedbacks and complaints, accident data or any specific safety issues related to the vehicles
The govenment has already made it mandatory for all the automobile manufacturers to come up with safety features like Anti lock Breaking System and Airbags as standard in all the vehicles from 2017. It is also likely to start up its domestic crash tests very soon.
It seems that the govenment has become sensative towards their citizen's safety now.
Twinkle Jain
Principal Correspondent
