General Motors to recall 101,597 Chevrolet Beats

Will replace clutch pedal lever in these units as they might be susceptible to cracking on continued usage

General Motors India on Tuesday said it would inspect and, if necessary, replace the clutch pedal lever in 101,597 units of Chevrolet Beat diesel manufactured between December 2010 and July 2014.

The company has started voluntarily notifying owners of the Beat diesel to take their cars to any of Chevrolet’s 248 authorised service centers across India. The clutch pedal lever in these units is susceptible to cracking on continued usage.

The company is working closely with their service network to make the entire inspection and correction exercise as smooth as possible. The affected vehicles will be repaired free of charge at Chevrolet’s authorised service centers across the country, the company said.

This is one amongst the three high profile recall cases seen in the last few weeks in India. Volkswagen group announced a recall of 323,000 cars at the start of the month while Honda Cars India said it would recall 90,201 units in the country.  

About 515,000 passenger vehicles have been recalled this month by the three manufacturers and all of models have diesel engines. “The company has started voluntarily notifying owners of the Beat Diesel to take their cars to any of Chevrolet’s 248 authorised service centres across India,” GM India said.

The clutch pedal lever in these units is susceptible to cracking on continued usage, it added.

“Quality and care are our highest priorities and we are committed to putting customers at the centre of everything we do. If we foresee a potential issue, we ensure that it is corrected as soon as possible, as part of our complete commitment to customer satisfaction,” the company said.

As part of the recall, customers can also contact their nearest Chevrolet dealership and schedule an appointment for vehicle inspection and correction, it added.

The affected vehicles will be repaired free of charge at Chevrolet's authorised service centres across the country.

In 2013, the company had recalled 1.14 lakh units of its multi-purpose vehicle Chevrolet Tavera, manufactured between 2005 and 2013, to address emissions and specification issues.

Last week Japanese auto major Honda had announced recall of 90,210 units of its sedan City and multi-purpose vehicle Mobilio in India manufactured between December 2013 to July 2015 to replace fuel return pipe.

Earlier, Volkswagen Group had announced a recall of 3,23,700 units across its three brands -- Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen -- in India in relation to the emission test cheating scandal. It was the largest recall of vehicles in India.

Ever since the auto industry body SIAM introduced the voluntary recall policy for safety related issues, automobile manufacturers have been recalling vehicles.

Till now, over 18.04 lakh vehicles have been recalled by various manufacturers in India so far.