Letters: Auto recall policy

Apropos the article "An official recall policy? Whatever for!" (August 7), B V R Subbu, former President of Hyundai Motor who appears to have interests in commercial vehicle dealerships, expresses hidden loyalty to the automaker fraternity. He has also used the shield of so-called greater transparency in consumer information to reject a mandatory auto recall mechanism. General Motors India has been selling its Tavera vehicles from 2005 to 2013 and the type of approval it secured is a well-planned contravention of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR) and Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Any admission after eight years of bungling is nothing but a cover-up by the management, which has found scapegoats among its employees. The Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) has consistently supported a mandatory auto recall mechanism in India as is being followed by vehicle manufacturers in their country of origin. Doing so will require automakers to conduct a scrutiny and audit of each vehicle sold. It does not amount to the introduction of another layer of bureaucracy but is a permanent, pro-active mechanism of product liability on manufacturers. Any other additional effort to bring in more transparency by publishing model-wise accident data of all vehicles under the Insurance Regularity and Development Authority could be a good move but given the weak consumer movement in the country as against powerful auto makers/dealers, such measures cannot replace mandatory recall. Mr Subbu is trivialising the seriousness of consumer protection and road safety by putting the onus on consumers rather than fixing the responsibility on automotive makers. The overhaul of the vehicle certification and testing process under the CMVR is long overdue so that approving agencies like Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Central Institute of Road Transport, International Centre for Automotive Technology and the Vehicle Research & Development Establishment are made more accountable. This will help to break the unholy nexus between auto players like GM India and type-approving agencies.

S P Singh, Senior Fellow, IFTRT, Delhi

B V R Subbu replies: May I draw Mr S P Singh's attention to the author descriptor accompanying the article, which clearly refers to my interests in automobile distribution (trucks) and manufacturing (diesel engine motorcycles). I don't understand how he concludes that I am an apologist for the industry. I hold my viewpoint, despite my being part of the industry, and not because of it.

I wrote on the Tavera issue in the Economic Times of July 28, and referred to it in the present article. I request Mr Singh to read the two articles in conjunction to form a more holistic view of my opinion. Almost invariably, it is a section of "misguided" employees, typically in senior management positions, that enable/condone transgressions such as the one in the Tavera case, probably in order to meet their own career ends. I have called for exemplary punishment, and penalties in line with those applicable in the company's home market. I can't see, for the life of me, how I'm being sympathetic to the culprits.

It is more important to create a system that prevents flagrant violations than to set up bodies to catch the culprits after years of wrongdoing. I believe it is important to change the procedure for tests of conformity. Instead of taking samples from a batch pre-selected by the manufacturer, the approving authorities could pick 20 per cent from the assembly line, 20 per cent from the company's stockyard at the plant, and the balance 60 per cent from dealer points closest to a testing facility. If ARAI certifies conformity at the plant, then regional centres of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) could test for conformity of stocks at dealerships, and vice versa. There could be many other approaches. No doubt, the IFTRT will have its own suggestions. The details of every manufacturers' conformity tests should be available to the public on the websites of ARAI and NATRiP. I don't see how these prescriptions are seen by Mr Singh to indicate my "hidden loyalty" to the auto industry.

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