Glitch forces recall of 1 lakh Maruti A-stars

In what is perhaps the largest recall by an Indian carmaker, Maruti Suzuki on Tuesday announced a recall of one lakh A-stars in India and overseas due to a potential fuel leakage problem.

The announcement by India’s largest carmaker follows that of car giants Toyota and Honda, which recalled over eight and six lakh models worldwide, including India, due to safety-related issues recently.

“Maruti has already recalled about 50,000 A-stars since November 2009 from India and from export markets, including Europe, Australia and North Africa,” said company spokesperson Puneep Dhawan. 

The company plans to fix a faulty fuel pump gasket and the O ring, which can leak when the fuel tank is filled to the brim. The problem is only with A-stars manufactured between November 2008 and August 2009. Maruti said none of its other cars has the problem.

“In November 2009, we came across an anomaly in the fuel tank in some of the vehicles, which were a part of the lot made till August 2009,” said a Maruti spokesperson. He added, “In case the fuel is filled to the brim, beyond the fuel auto cut-off position, a possible leakage from the fuel pump mounting area may take place.” The company said it has decided to check vehicles from the lot as a ‘proactive step’ and will fix the problem free of cost.

Maruti service centres in the city were inundated with calls after the announcement of the recall. A workshop manager of Sai Service Station at Lower Parel said the circular to replace the O ring was sent out in August last year and since then 100 A-stars have been serviced. “We have received more than 100 inquiry calls since the company officially announced a recall on Tuesday,” he said.

An employee at Vitesse Pvt Ltd said, “We have been servicing about two to three A-stars every day over the last 15 days. The company sent us the modified O rings around 15 days back and so far, no customer has complained.”

Some Maruti dealers in Delhi expressed surprise at the recall, saying they had not been informed about such a step. Others said they knew about the problem and that some cars had been recalled already. Denso Haryana, in which Maruti owns some equity stake, supplies fuel pumps to Maruti.

A Denso official told DNA on the condition of anonymity, “The problem is not because of fuel pumps, but because of insufficient sealing of the gasket on to the engine. It is a design problem and Maruti is aware of it.”

The announcement of the recall resulted in Maruti shares falling to an intra-day low of Rs1,320.25 - a loss of 4.4% - before gaining some ground to close at Rs1,336.85 with a loss of 3.24%.