The Hindu Business Line : Question `N' Auto

I have heard of two incidents of fire in Honda City cars in Delhi, where the vehicles burned down — in the first incident two people even lost their lives. Will Honda-Siel Cars India recall the City for rectification? I heard that in Japan, Honda has, in the past, recalled two other models when the company heard of a fire incident due to wiring problems below the dashboard. What is your take on this?

Abhishek Chauhan

Almost every car manufacturer in India, and for that matter abroad too, has had to face the possibility of defective parts being the cause for fires in their vehicles. But, in many cases, it is not just defective or poor quality components the reason for the fire risks. It could also be because of poor quality after-sales servicing and/or the poor quality fitment of after-market accessories, especially electrical parts.

In the case of Honda, the company has (like most other manufacturers worldwide) conducted a number of recalls over the years for many of its cars. But in most cases, the recall has been for replacing potentially defective or poor quality components that the company had itself identified with the help of internal audits and vehicle inspection programmes.

Many of its earlier recalls have been done to replace electrical parts, for example in the windshield wiper assembly, air-conditioning, etc., which may have otherwise increased the possibility of short-circuits and consequently raised the risk of a fire. In 2004, Honda faced Federal investigation in the US because there were a few instances of CR-V (its popular compact sports utility vehicle) engines catching fire.

The company's investigations revealed that the engine oil filter had a defective rubber seal that was causing oil leakages onto the already hot manifold and, consequently, this was leading to the fires. For as many as 3.1 lakh CR-V owners, Honda had to recall the vehicle or warn of the danger while replacing this defective oil filter. There had apparently been as many as 72 CR-Vs of the 2003 and 2004 model years that had engine fires.

In the Indian context and in the case of the two Honda City cars that caught fire, there is no conclusive proof of the fire having been caused by any defective part. From the information available currently, one was caused following a high-speed crash, and the other allegedly threw up a number of conspiracy theories, because it seemed to have happened when the car was standing still.

But in the second case, where the car's two occupants were supposedly stuck in the car even as it burned down, the investigations focussed on two types of malfunctions — the cause of the fire and whether the doors of the car were jammed. There was apparently a lot of debate about, and investigations into, whether there was a malfunction of the car's central locking system.

It was reported that none of the investigations came up any evidence to show that the car had any defective components that may have led to the fire. Honda had also said that the company's car features non-jamming doors and the central locking function has a manual override, which will allow occupants to get out of the car even if there has been an electrical malfunction.

There have been other cars in a number of other cities too which have had fires. The list is big and includes cars of automakers such as Ford, Maruti, Daewoo and GM. However, in many cases, the fire would probably not be due to manufacturing defects. It would have been caused by defective or poor quality electrical accessories, such as music systems and high-load amplifiers, bought and installed in the after-market. Or due to faulty wiring, such as for car security systems, done by poorly qualified roadside mechanics.

That is why, in the interest of safety, it is always better to take your car to the authorised service centre or workshop even if it works out to be more expensive.

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