Maruti Suzuki penalised for delay in fixing fault

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, January 15

The District Consumer Forum has slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 on Maruti Suzuki. A Sector 49 resident had approached the forum that his Baleno car had started making a whistling sound after driving it for only 600 km. However, the car maker told the forum that there was no such sound and thus no deficiency on their part.

The complainant, Sushil Kumar Sharma, had bought the Baleno car on December 7, 2015 for around Rs 7.45 lakh. However, after having driven it for just 600 km, he observed that it started making a whistling sound. He informed the company about the same on January 1, 2016 when he took it for servicing. However, the mechanics failed to notice it. He again took the car to them on February 24, 2016.

In May, 2016 after multiple calls and sending WhatsApp messages to company engineer Aman Goyal, a part (damper mount) was installed, which had no relation with the problem and did not make any difference, claimed the complaint. Again, another damper mount was installed in the chassis which once again made no difference. Sharma informed about it to the company directly, who closed his complaint without taking action, he claimed. He also questioned them as to why the mounts were installed even though the problem was with the CVT.

The company told the forum that no abnormal noise was observed during road test and the consumer, who had no expertise in the matter, had assumed some manufacturing defect, which was non-existent. However, they still installed the damper mounts free of cost and delivered the car in perfect condition.

However, on November 21, 2017, Sharma told the forum that a major part i.e. CVT worth Rs 2.60 lakh had been replaced by the company. He added that now the dispute remained in respect of compensation and cost of litigation only.

The forum observed that the company was aware of the defect since the beginning but took approximately a year to fix it. Therefore, the act of the company forcing the complainant to indulge into unnecessary litigation proves deficiency in service and negligence on their part, which certainly caused mental and physical harassment to the complainant.

The forum thus asked the company to pay Rs 10,000 to the complainant as compensation for mental agony and harassment caused to him along with Rs 5,000 as cost of litigation.