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Car recall policy announced in India

India has witnessed over a dozen recalls since 2008. Major among these were Toyota Etios sedan and Liva hatchback recall last year as well Honda City sedan recall followed by 1.40 lakh Tata Nano recall in December 2011. All were voluntary and there was no policy guiding the recall. Now, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has come up with a car recall policy in India with the consensus of a majority of car makers. As per this policy, the body will recommend the government to take action if any car maker fails to declare a recall despite of a clear evidence of fault in the car. SIAM chief S Sandilya has reportedly said that this will ensure growth of the car industry in India with responsibility.

Notably, there is no vehicle recall policy in India and there is no government body that keeps track of car accidents in India and assesses trends or directs the car makers to mend the engineering defects in cars. The policy is said to trigger government coming up with a policy of its own and it could be possible that it will establish a body on the lines of Euro NCAP or Australian NCAP.

The policy will be applicable to all the vehicle manufacturers in India and all two wheeler, car makers, three wheeler makers and commercial vehicle maker companies will be included in its ambit. As per the consensus arrived between all the manufacturers in the industry, upon spotting the defect, the company will be replacing the faulty parts free of cost. However, vehicles older than seven years will not be covered under the recall. As per the policy, the car companies will be posting the recall information on their websites and they will decide the number of cars to be included in recall as well as the extent of repair needed. Notably, it is only in US that a recall policy is enforced by the government while in Europe and other countries such as Australia there is voluntary recall by the car manufacturers. The policy has no penalty for car makers not declaring a recall.