Maruti to recall 1 Lakh AStar following problem in its Fuel tank

It is the Indian version of a recall that global automobile manufacturers are in the midst of. Maruti Suzuki, the country’s biggest car maker by sales, is replacing fuel pump gaskets of one of its small car, the A Star, following reports of anomalies in the fuel tank.

Approximately 1 lakh cars, manufactured during a certain time frame, will get new fuel pump gaskets and O rings. An e-mailed reply from the company spokesperson said the company came across this issue last November as part of a regular quality monitoring process.

“In November 2009, we came across an anomaly reported in the fuel tank in some of the vehicles and by December 2009 we started contacting the customers. These vehicles belonged to lot made till August 22 2009,” the company spokesperson said. In Pune, customers received phone calls and SMSs from the dealers, asking them to bring in their cars for the replacement.

A gasket and ring replacement means that the rubber part is defective, leading to leakages or as the company said, the likelihood of a leakage.

The spokesperson added: “As a proactive step, we decided to check all vehicles from the lot, around 1 lakh units, including those exported. We are changing the fuel pump gasket and O ring at no cost to the customer. We are midway through the checking activity and hope to complete it soon,” although there is no fixed time line for the replacement.

The problem occurs when fuel is filled to the brim, beyond the fuel auto cutoff position, creating the possibility of fuel leakage from the fuel pump mounting area. The company official maintained this was a proactive step and no problem has been reported by customers.

The A Star, an A2 segment, is a five-door hatchback and is part of Maruti Suzuki’s ‘global’ car lineup. Being Euro V compliant, it is also being exported. In fact, at the time of its launch in July 2008, company officials had said a major chunk of these cars would be exported with a smaller volume being sold on the domestic market. The car comes with ABS and airbags, the only one in its price segment to do so. It is priced at Rs 4.3 lakh, ex showroom, Mumbai.

The Maruti Suzuki spokesperson added that the final cost arrived at on this account will be shared with the supplier partner. “It is still too early to say what that cost will be,” he added.