Honda Siel recalls 57,853 City sedans

By Saahil Anant Feb 17 2011 , New Delhi

Tags: city, Honda, Sedan, Siel, Cars
To replace lost motion springs in valve train
Honda Siel Cars India is recalling 57,853 City sedans manufactured
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Honda Siel said the component replacement will be done free of cost. The
recall affects the third-generation City model launched in September 2008 and currently sold in India. “Lost
motion springs may bend or break over time resulting in abnormal engine noise and potentially causing
engine stalling and problems in restarting. The replacement will be carried out free of cost,” the carmaker
said.

This is second recall of Honda’s City, its bread and butter model in India, in a little over a year. In January
2009, it had recalled 8,532 City sedans manufactured in 2007 to repair defective power window switches
that could short-circuit.

“We received complaints from five customers in five cities. Our first concern is that the customer should
have a trouble-free experience. Hence, we decided to take action, even though the probability of something
happening (due to the faulty part) was less than one per cent,” Honda Siel’s marketing vice-president
Jnaneswar Sen told FC on the phone.

Sale of Honda cars in India increased by just three per cent to 51,044 cars between April 2010 and January
2011. The modest growth when the industry is averaging a sprint of 31 per cent annually is attributed to the
absence of a small car and diesel options in Honda Siel’s portfolio. Its bread and butter City sedan saw a 13
per cent increase in sales to 40,190 cars in that period.

Earlier on Thursday, Honda Motor announced a global recall of 6,93,497 cars including the Freed, Fit (or
Jazz) and City models in several countries. The recall elsewhere is 1,67,000 cars in Japan, 1,56,000 in
China, 2,33,000 in the rest of Asia and 1,22,000 in North America.

India has no formal recall policy which all developed car markets have. “India is a market where things are
forgotten very quickly,” said Prayesh Jain, auto analyst at India Infoline. “There were some safety issues
with the Nano, but people have forgotten that,” he added.

This is Honda’s third recall in India. Earlier recalls involved the Accord (2,300 cars) and CR-V (4,000) in
2007 for fixing possible defects. Two months ago Honda had recalled about 1.35 million Fit models globally
to fix a headlight defect. The company has recalled about four million vehicles globally since February 2010
for a range of defects.
Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker, had recalled about 1,00,000 A-Star cars in February 2010. Of
these 40,000 cars were in India. Skoda had called back some Fabia cars in 2008 for technical upgradation
for improving fuel efficiency.

In November last year, Tata Motors ‘called back’ about 70,000 Nanos to add safety features. The move
came after a half a dozen instances of the Nano emitting fumes or catching fire last year. The company had,
however, refused to term it as a recall.

The Indian arm of Honda will recall 57853 units of the City sedans after a faulty engine part was
discovered which could stall the engine. According to The Economic Times, this is one of the
largest recalls in the country and the second such recall by the Japanese giant in over a year.
Honda Seil Cars India (HSCI) will recall City models made between November 2008 and
December 2009, says the paper. Honda has the capacity to produce about one lakh cars but sells
about 55,000-60,000 cars in India every year. It has sold 51,045 units in the nine months ending
January 2011.

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In a statement Honda has said the current recall doesn’t impact City sedans, which are being
produced currently, as it has carried out the necessary modification in the production process
from December 2010.
Source: The Economic Times