More than half of the 13 lakh motor vehicles recalled in the last 3 years are from Ford & Honda
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 8, 2015
After the Volkswagen controversy hit the front pages, focus is now on an official recall policy to be incorporated in the new Road Safety bill. While there is no official recall policy in India, more than 13 lakh vehicles were recalled since July, 2012 following the voluntary recall code of the SIAM.
Recall of faulty motor vehicles hit the front pages following the Volkswagen controversy, where cars were equipped with cheat devices to overcome emission norms. While Volkswagen has announced a voluntary recall of more than 3 lakh vehicles, it has to be noted that there is no official recall policy in India. The latest round of Volkswagen numbers are not part of this analysis.
Official Position on Recall of Motor Vehicles
Though there is no official recall policy as on date, The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has initiated steps for bringing in a mandatory Recall Policy. The upcoming draft Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015 contains the relevant provisions for recall of vehicles.
The Voluntary Code on Vehicle Recall
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) 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. There is an increased among both vehicle users and vehicle manufacturers about.
Trends in Domestic Automobile Sales
As per data put out by SIAM, close to 1.98 crore motor vehicles were sold in 2014-15. More than 80% of these are two-wheelers. Commercial vehicles (including cars) were about 13%. The domestic sales have seen a continuous increase in the last six years. The sales grew from 1.23 crore in 2009-10 to 1.98 crore in 2014-15, a rise of more than 60% in six years. It is significant that while the two-wheeler sales have increased every year, the same is not true for all the other categories. The sales have decreased for all other categories in 2013-14.
94% of the recalled vehicles are four-wheelers
As per the data available with the government, more than 13 lakh vehicles have been recalled in the last 3 years since the voluntary recall code was introduced in 2012.  94% of these are four wheelers while only 6% of the recalled vehicles are two-wheelers. Close to 3700 Harley Davidson vehicles were also recalled during this period.
More than half of the recalled vehicles are from Ford & Honda
Out of the 13.6 lakh vehicles recalled till date, vehicles from Honda & Ford make up for more than 6.82 lakh (more than half). Honda Cars has recalled 3.65 lakh during this period followed by Ford (3.17 lakh). Maruti Suzuki recalled 2.07 lakh followed by General Motors (1.55 lakh). Mahindra & Mahindra recalled 1.5 lakh vehicles. Nine brands recalled more than 10000 vehicles during this period. Jaguar Land Rover recalled the least number of vehicles during this period (517). Hyundai Motors also recalled only 2437 vehicles during this period.
Honda City is the most recalled Vehicle
More than 2.77 lakh Ford Figo & Fiesta vehicles were recalled. General Motors (all types) recalled 1.55 lakh vehicles while 1.9 lakh Honda City vehicles were recalled. Of the various Mahindra variants, close to 1.26 lakh XUV500 were recalled. In Maruti Suzuki, 60315 Swift vehicles were recalled while close to a lakh Swift Dzire Vehicles were recalled. More than 94000 Honda Civic vehicles were also recalled.