Quality Issues in New Generation Cars in India


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Was just thinking why not start a thread regarding this- This generation car lacks quality of its own predecessors.
Moderators please merge the thread if already one exists .(I searched but didn't find anything)
Mainly the issues nowadays i found was with -
1.Putting tyres of low quality (Not naming any particular brand ,still some brands are nowadays only seen during car's stock condition-may be they buy as bulk by tendering )
Still tyres are crucial element.
2.Batteries (Same brand and reliability issue)
3.Paint finish (Mainly with Maruti ,colour generally starts to fade in a year )
4.Steering calliberation (Mainly with skodas,fords,earlier these 2 were best for weighted steering,though one can say it is due to EPS ,still their forte should have been continued,as many enthusiasts prefer these brands for their weighted steering)
5.Cost cutting in safety (Hyundai ,earlier used to provide rear discs,nowadays seeing that no other car in their segment offers the same,they too discontinued,they could have easily scored another feather in their cap,if they continued providing discs)

Main point of concern,most cars lack safety in Indian design ,while their other country versions(Euro spec),has better safety and elements.(Reason why i posted this in this section)

TAIans share your views.
 

kkn13

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3. Not true, we had 3 Ritz in my household(sold last year) and a year old Brezza, nothing of the sort has happened
Ive also owned Wagon R, Swift,7800etc in the past
 
Thread Starter #3
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@Mr.Kkn13
Maybe you were the lucky ones sir,i don't blame entirely on manufacturers in these cases ,the car might have been parked in yard for long time before deliveries.
 
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Main point of concern,most cars lack safety in Indian design ,while their other country versions(Euro spec),has better safety and elements.(Reason why i posted this in this section)
Cant say anything else about the other points, but safety infact is improving in Indian cars. Pick any hatchback from 10 years before and now, and you will see safety features have improved leaps and bounds. Though your point still stands correct however the main reason for that is the fact we are far more price conscious generally than the Europeans and Americans, so they remove the extra features that they believe will give better value in Indian market
 
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H
Cant say anything else about the other points, but safety infact is improving in Indian cars. Pick any hatchback from 10 years before and now, and you will see safety features have improved leaps and bounds. Though your point still stands correct however the main reason for that is the fact we are far more price conscious generally than the Europeans and Americans, so they remove the extra features that they believe will give better value in Indian market
Safety is not improving in relative comparison to developed countries and the way innovation is happening in safety tech. I don't agree price is the reason they are not providing. In that case why don't they provide as option pack(improved structural strength,6 airbags, ESC and Hill Hold ) on all variants. It is just human life has scant regard in India not just from car manufacturers but also from government, doctors etc. Even companies like HONDA has not added ESC and HHA in India which would not cost more than 10-15K. Same goes to Hyundai they miss on adding safety features in automatic variants not sure why. If cost is the primary factor they should launch both safe and unsafe versions with the price difference and let us see which versions will be bought by customers. With road accident deaths are high in India, I feel government should mandate 5-star crash test rating for all cars.
 
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No car company will make safer cars until we change our mindset. We still ready to pay for a music system rather than a safety pack. Don't you feel if we stop buying unsafe cars like maruti or Hyundai ,they will make better cars. For sure they will as they want to be in business.So we should not blame car companies or government, instead we should blame ourselves for buying those cars which compromised our life. We will keep on talking in forums but nothing will happens unless we change ourselves.
 
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This is a very pertinent topic since i myself have had problems with new cars i have owned in the recent times. Starting with brezza's headlight beam flickering, auto reset of avg fuel consumption figure in mid, fogging of headlights to malfunctioning of clutch pedal in my month old duster. Facing these problem and reporting them to the company, had been a futile effort. My earlier owneership experience of santro, ritz and dzire had been quite hasslefree. I wonder how the manufacturers are going to deal with these.
 

kkn13

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@Mr.Kkn13
Maybe you were the lucky ones sir,i don't blame entirely on manufacturers in these cases ,the car might have been parked in yard for long time before deliveries.
Lucky? Not in the least, we ve always had a Maruti in our family until the past 1-2 years wherein only a Brezza remains with my brother

Never had paint issues at all, even niggles were very minor compared to other brands
Their cars arent perfect but they are relatively stress free even if they are outdated or some of them unsafe

Hyundai is more VFM off late though

No car company will make safer cars until we change our mindset. We still ready to pay for a music system rather than a safety pack. Don't you feel if we stop buying unsafe cars like maruti or Hyundai ,they will make better cars. For sure they will as they want to be in business.So we should not blame car companies or government, instead we should blame ourselves for buying those cars which compromised our life. We will keep on talking in forums but nothing will happens unless we change ourselves.
Are you making assumption that VW, Ford,Tata etc are any safer?
Explain zero stars in NCAP without airbags for Polo, Zest,Duster etc then and also why no recent crash tests are available for certain India specific cars
Unless you provide proof, you cannot call them safe or unsafe

Im not saying cars like Celerio, Wagon R, Alto, Grand i10 are safe but their competition-kwid, datsun isnt safer either, though I will say everything else aside, Tiago is certainly safer than these cars despite all its pros/cons and would be my pick over the cars I just mentioned
 
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Are you making assumption that VW, Ford,Tata etc are any safer?
I never said in my comments that VW, ford or Renault make safer cars. I just gave an example of Maruti and Hyundai as they are the market leader in India and they are not known for making safer cars( Except few Hyundai models). True that I don’t have a proof and I can’t organize a test to prove that. But it was concluded based on various threads in forum where people are complaining about Maruti or Hyundai. In fact we own two Maruti and very happy with those expect the build quality and safety aspects.

Ford, VW usually make safer cars. I used to own a Passat in US and I experienced the build quality. Now the big question, why brands like Ford, VW or Renault started compromising on built quality and safety in India. Again the blame goes to Maruti and Hyundai. Both are market leaders and they are setting the trend and all brands has to follow that to be in the business. So if Maruti and Hyundai take a step forward in terms of safety , I am sure other will follow it.

Safety is a relative term and definition varies from person to person. A car which is safe for someone might not be safe for me.
 

kkn13

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I never said in my comments that VW, ford or Renault make safer cars. I just gave an example of Maruti and Hyundai as they are the market leader in India and they are not known for making safer cars( Except few Hyundai models). True that I don’t have a proof and I can’t organize a test to prove that. But it was concluded based on various threads in forum where people are complaining about Maruti or Hyundai. In fact we own two Maruti and very happy with those expect the build quality and safety aspects.

Ford, VW usually make safer cars. I used to own a Passat in US and I experienced the build quality. Now the big question, why brands like Ford, VW or Renault started compromising on built quality and safety in India. Again the blame goes to Maruti and Hyundai. Both are market leaders and they are setting the trend and all brands has to follow that to be in the business. So if Maruti and Hyundai take a step forward in terms of safety , I am sure other will follow it.

Safety is a relative term and definition varies from person to person. A car which is safe for someone might not be safe for me.
You think market leaders get away with setting trends?? Ask Nokia and Blackberry how that worked out for them
The best overall OEM wins, these brands are popular for piece of mind ownership, resale,reliability etc
These brands are of their own doings
If not, explain why features like Android Auto,Apple carplay etc havent made it to certain VW,Ford and Renault cars, doesnt every car from the Maruti and Hyundai stables have them?
 
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Market monopoly does not last long. Look at Nokia, How they vanished. Do you feel android auto or apple car play defines the safety. Some models of high end cars does not have apple car play or android auto. So all are unsafe???
Maruti or hyundai has resale value because we give value to those cars compromising our lives. I don't feel that those cars are reliable enough. This is my personal opinion.
 
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This lack of uniformity in the perceived build quality has precisely prompted regulations in the mature markets of the West. Therefore all cars regardless of price point, are expected to be equipped with the necessary features, and the list goes on increasing year after year. Consumer protection is perhaps the strongest regulation, and no manufacturer would dare fall foul of that. In India, consumer protection is one of the weakest legal areas, hence manufacturers have been able to get away with it for so long.
 

kkn13

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Market monopoly does not last long. Look at Nokia, How they vanished. Do you feel android auto or apple car play defines the safety. Some models of high end cars does not have apple car play or android auto. So all are unsafe???
That was not the point, my point was, market leaders dont define anything, people want the best and newest things
Perfect reason why Jeep/FCA and Ford are making a comeback, its because they have pulled their socks up

Toyota is another good example, probably the best manufacturer in terms of service, reliability,resale etc even though they are priced higher and some offerings are pretty barebone
 
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Was just thinking why not start a thread regarding this- This generation car lacks quality of its own predecessors.
Moderators please merge the thread if already one exists .(I searched but didn't find anything)
Mainly the issues nowadays i found was with -
1.Putting tyres of low quality (Not naming any particular brand ,still some brands are nowadays only seen during car's stock condition-may be they buy as bulk by tendering )
Still tyres are crucial element.
2.Batteries (Same brand and reliability issue)
3.Paint finish (Mainly with Maruti ,colour generally starts to fade in a year )
4.Steering calliberation (Mainly with skodas,fords,earlier these 2 were best for weighted steering,though one can say it is due to EPS ,still their forte should have been continued,as many enthusiasts prefer these brands for their weighted steering)
5.Cost cutting in safety (Hyundai ,earlier used to provide rear discs,nowadays seeing that no other car in their segment offers the same,they too discontinued,they could have easily scored another feather in their cap,if they continued providing discs)

Main point of concern,most cars lack safety in Indian design ,while their other country versions(Euro spec),has better safety and elements.(Reason why i posted this in this section)

TAIans share your views.
Today's car manufacturers in India are more concerned about the external / internal fit & finish and about loading it with features, which has led to detoriation in quality of mechanical and electrical parts. For example let us consider few top manufacturers in our country.

Toyota is one of the the few manufacturers who still has got robust mechanicals, which in turn has led to excellent resale value.

Maruti is the only manufacturer who does cost cutting by fitting skinny tyres in the middle and low spec variants.

When it comes to Mahindra & Tata they are feature rich but has niggling issues through out its product life but their engine reliability has improved by leaps and bounds especially with their high end offering such as Hexa & XUV 500.

Hyundai it's feature loaded, well built & refined but mechanical/ electrical reliability in the longer run ie., more than a lakh kilometres is unreliable.

One thing which is common to all brands is the sheet metal quality and thickness. Export variant of the same car has better sheet metal thickness and better quality. For instance Indian variant might have Roll cold Steel, where else export variant has G. I steel, another striking example is Suzukis Heart track platform where the sheet metal thickness is wafer thin. A strong blow from your fist is sure to damage the sheet metal. Even Ford Ecosport which has got good built quality has got better structural strength in its export variant(read a article about it long back).

The only brands which gives peaceful ownership and long term reliability is Toyota & Isuzu.
 
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I agree with almost all the points mentioned in above posts. However I would like to say that it's the consumers that dictates the market rather than the manufacturer. If majority of people are willing to buy an unsafe car at cheaper price rather than safe cars at higher price, OEM's will comply to majority consumer's wishes and produce cheap unsafe cars.

It maybe safe to say that majority of the consumers prefer flashy designs, chrome styling, touchscreen, cruise control, OEM alloy wheels etc (which they may not use at all) rather than basic safety features. It may be either due to lack of safety awareness and common sense or just pure cheapness.

Another way is to conduct crash test correctly and publicly post results with clear details & reports rather than just star rating. BNCAP is still a joke as of now. It would be great if govt could conduct it with older gen vehicle too rather than just upcoming models.
 

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