Two-wheeler manufacturers recalled a whopping 8.64 lakh vehicles in FY22, with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India accounting for about 80 per cent. Comparatively, in FY21, hit by Covid, just 1,284 units were recalled and in FY20, 53,324 units.

Between April 1 and July 15 in the current financial year, the manufacturers recalled 1,60,025 two-wheelers, higher than in the two previous years combined.

According to the data, which is part of a reply to a question by Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in Lok Sabha on Thursday, original equipment manufacturers also recalled 4,67,311 cars in FY22, compared to 3,38,652 cars in FY21 and 1,61,597 in FY20. Between April to July 15 in FY23, the manufacturer recalled 25,142 cars.

BusinessLine spoke with several industry veterans, who pointed out effective April 2021, the MoRTH has made it mandatory for all companies, including unlisted ones, to share the recall data with SIAM and the Ministry and put the data up on their websites.

Previously, “Non-listed companies could escape it (not reporting publicly), but for how long? Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ (SIAM) Voluntary Recall Code mandates companies to share any recall data, which in return it has to share with the government, mandatorily,” one of industry veterans explained.

SIAM periodically shares the total number, with class/ type of vehicles recalled in the country. MoRTH has also decided the maximum penalty an automaker will have to pay in case of a mandatory recall. A mandatory recall of over six-lakh two-wheelers and over one-lakh four-wheelers will attract a penalty of up to ₹1 crore. And in the case of vehicles carrying over nine passengers and heavy vehicles, the automaker will have to pay a penalty of up to ₹1 crore if 50,000 units are recalled. 

Honda tops the chart in two-wheelers

The Honda two-wheeler recalled Activa 5G, Activa 6G, Activa 125, CB Shine, Hornet 2.0, X-Blade, H’Ness CB 350 and the CB 300R.

Apart from HMSI, Royal Enfield also recalled a total of 2,55,966 motorcycles in May and December 2021. The models included Classic 350, Classic 350 EFI and Meteor 350 manufactured between December 2020 and December 2021, due to defect in drum brakes, ignition coil which could cause probable misfiring, reduced vehicle performance.

Four-wheelers recalled

In the four-wheeler segment, Mahindra & Mahindra recalled a total of 33,058 units of models including Bolero, Scorpio and the all-new Thar manufactured between September 2020 and July 2021 due to minor defects in engine compartment, premature wear of engine and engine camshaft.

Others included 75,305 units of Renault Triber, Hyundai Kona electric, Maruti Suzuki Eeco, Toyota Kirloskar Urban Cruiser and luxury vehicles included various models of Mercedes-Benz (10,712 units) and BMW (8,986 units).

Gadkari informed the House that section 110A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is related to recall of motor vehicles. It empowers the Centre to direct a manufacturer to recall motor vehicles of a particular type or its variants if a defect in that particular type of motor vehicle may cause harm to the environment or to the driver or occupants of such motor vehicle or other road users.

“A defect in that particular type of motor vehicle has been reported to the central government by (i) such percentage of owners, as the central government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify; or (ii) a testing agency; or (iii) any other source,” the Minister added.

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