[krcustoms]

Please don't give up no matter what! For far too long India has been treated as a sub standard market for motor safety and its high time that the motor companies pay some serious attention to this matter. after all every hard earned RS is as precious as a Dollar or Renminbi!

Thanks for bringing this to notice. A sure eye opener! Also great presence of mind for making sure that nobody was injured.

[Rk Ranjan]

The entire engine compartment was burnt to ashes by the time the fire-fighters reached. And, General Motors says this happened due to "fuel leakage", as a vehicle of this "pristine make" is impossible to malfunction!

Originally Posted by arunu

Shocking incident Ranjan. Glad that you escaped unhurt.



No offense, but for the sake of argument.

1) Were you aware of the global recalls before this accident. If yes, then why you did not pressurize GM India to carry out the same preventive work done on your car, since, as per your comments, its the same CBU imported globally.

2) If you were aware of 5 burning incidents, did you take any corrective/preventive actions to avoid possible accidents since you already were aware of the reasons / causes.

Again, not trying to find faults with anybody, but just trying to understand your point of views.

Unfortunately, for me, my search to look for an explanation started after the incident and that's when my wife and I come across these cases pertaining to Captiva. In all such cases, it is the engine compartment that has caught fire in a moving vehicle. I now even have Captiva owners (two by now) writing to me from other parts of India mentioning their 4-5 year old vehicle have engine overheating issues, but they continue to run it!

Originally Posted by supertinu

RK you are surely a lucky person. Good to know you are unharmed. Material losses eventually will not matter.

Coming to the case of Captiva. Did you happen to do any after market mods? wiring change etc? Just to be sure it was not cause of some poor mod job.

However given GM's recent track record and huge fines in US its wont be surprising to find OEM issue itself. Even in US the faulty ignition switch issue that happened, was known to GM for 10yrs before they did any recalls.

My Captiva was literally untouched except for by the authorized dealership personnel where the vehicle went for servicing. GM engineers have also not found anything to pin the blame on me, but equally they haven't taken any responsibility... the "suspected cause is an extraneous factor of fuel leakage" is what they are saying!

[Horizon81]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

I have made desperate attempts, right up to the contacting the GM India MD, Arvind Saxena and the Global CEO, Mary Barra. While the former's office sent the engineering team to inspect the vehicle, all they came up with is "fuel leakage as the suspected cause" and nothing beyond this. Multiple tweets and emails to Mary Barra have gone unacknowledged.

Mary Barra and a big delegation from GM is visiting India, right now. Quoting from the linked article below. Best opportunity to get your issue addressed, IMO.

--SNIP-- Barra, accompanied by Tim Solso, non-executive chairman of the GM Board of Directors; Stefan Jacoby, executive vice-president and president, GM International; Chuck Stevens, GM executive vice-president and chief financial officer; and, Arvind Saxena, GM India president and managing director, visited GM facilities and met with employees, suppliers and government leaders during visit

--SNIP-- The GM leadership team also visited Chevrolet dealerships to further understand the market momentum, customer preferences and network performance. “GM remains open to the long-term prospects for India and its automotive industry,” said Jacoby. “However, we are going in with our eyes wide open to ensure that our investment is good for India and good for General Motors.”

Source: http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...ia-390425.aspx

[Srikanthan]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

Dear All- (this is a rather long post, but I promise you will be wiser and safer as a car owner and car buyer after reading this...)

What would be surprising is if we, as educated and relatively privileged citizens of the country, allow companies like GM-Chevrolet to ride roughshod over our rights as a consumer. Would you allow this to happen?

Rajan - There is a page in Facebook called "I HATE GENERAL MOTORS CHEVROLET INDIA".

You can try that source to get more affected persons supporting you in filing a PIL against Chevrolet India.

[Sathish uk]

First of all, thank god you are safe and alive to tell this tale. Shocking on the behavior from GM motors. They have to be more responsible than this. The will have to immediate call all the captiva’s for and parts upgrade and make it safe for all customers, so that all can drive this vehicle with a peaceful mind.

[ashublr]

It is shocking to the core. Glad that you came out fine and that nobody got injured in the whole incident. Though my incident might not sound as grave as this, this reminds me of the incident when my laptop's adapter blew off and got engulfed in fire in a matter of seconds. My family and I just escaped a blow which otherwise could have been disastrous. And then the chain of mails with Dell continued for over a couple of months and after they did a "research" of the blown-off adapter in their labs, Dell conveniently decided that I was at fault for using an out-of-warranty adapter. As ridiculous as it might sound, that was the end of story with no more responses from them.
I guess I got too busy (and my temper subsided as well in those 2 months) to take it forward. I just wish that you take it till the end and get your due compensation. I understand that a life is a no-match for any amount of compensation, but for the sake of justice and to make GM realize their grave mistake, you must escalate and persist.

[lapis_lazuli]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

I immediately got suspicious, rolled down the window and started pressing the brake pedal.... to my horror, the vehicle accelerated instead of slowing down!

There was fast moving traffic all around me. Gathering my wits, I somehow maneuvered the vehicle on the wrong side of road to avoid running over bikers and pedestrians crossing a junction. Seeing a safe spot, I applied manual parking brakes and somehow controlled the vehicle to stop.

This is another horrifying aspect that we are overlooking! Even the brakes wouldn't work. The brake circuit got affected even before the car burst into flames; and, for some reason the car started accelerating too ! Beats me, unless in the heat of the moment, the OP pressed the accelerator! Unlikely, though. Fortunately, even after the brake circuit fail, the parking brakes worked....(But how, I wonder! )

[Viraat13]

Originally Posted by Rk Ranjan

The entire engine compartment was burnt to ashes by the time the fire-fighters reached. And, General Motors says this happened due to "fuel leakage", as a vehicle of this "pristine make" is impossible to malfunction!


Unfortunately, for me, my search to look for an explanation started after the incident and that's when my wife and I come across these cases pertaining to Captiva. In all such cases, it is the engine compartment that has caught fire in a moving vehicle. I now even have Captiva owners (two by now) writing to me from other parts of India mentioning their 4-5 year old vehicle have engine overheating issues, but they continue to run it!


My Captiva was literally untouched except for by the authorized dealership personnel where the vehicle went for servicing. GM engineers have also not found anything to pin the blame on me, but equally they haven't taken any responsibility... the "suspected cause is an extraneous factor of fuel leakage" is what they are saying!

Well, this is absolute rubbish from GM! Having dealt with the service centre for my Opel till last month, I know how flustering this can be.

I can't send a PM to you because you're a newbie. Why don't you give me your e-mail ID? I can give you Arvind Saxena's ID and mobile number. You can have a blast harassing him for a better outcome.

[vgsr]

Hi Ranjan. I was shocked to read about your experience. Glad you escaped.
I have a Captiva LTZ, now 4 years old with 65000 kms on the odo. Was yours a manual or an autobox ? If you are thinking of getting some Captiva owners together for some action, count me in. I will try and rope in other owners who I see at various places, even if I dont know them!

As an aside, I had a serious case of transmission oil leakage from the vehicle within 2 days of having it serviced. . The dealer took 2 days to figure out the issue and addressed it with a part they needed to indent from the factory. After about 10 days and replacing the part, they found the problem was not resolved. Clearly, they were groping in the dark. I then had to contact some friend in their global set up, who mailed the Indian GM . Thats when things were taken seriously and it was found to be some other defect . They replaced the parts again and wanted to charge me Rs 15000 or so for the whole work. I refusd to pay as they kept telling me tall stories about what was wrong and keeping my car with them for close to 3 weeks.
I finally ended up paying only for the replaced part and labour charges were waived off. But overall their customer service is terrible and I would not buy a GM product again.

[avdhesh15]

Glad you are fine! Would suggest going all out on social media both in India and on their global pages.

Also, I am unsure, but can a FIR be lodged and this be taken to consumer court? This is a sheer violation of the basic principles a car is sold on.

[napster1311]

Thank God that you are hale and hearty. Its horrible that such an expensive SUV from an International Brand turned into a ball of fire and company executives shamelessly giving disgusting excuses. They are enjoying the free run given to these goons from our Government. They know they can continue business unaffected here in India.

Brands like Toyata and GM have paid hefty sums in such cases happened in the US. You must contact Pehredar of CNBC Awaaz and other avenues of media. And drag these theives to court.

[SoumenM]

Really shocking incident! Thank god you managed to roll down the windows in time! Come what may you have to pursue the legal options here!

Urging all Captiva owners in India to get their cars checked at the earliest!

[heysac]

No recalls! It feels like we are living in a country without any laws.

A good way to break the car window in case of an emergency: http://lifehacker.com/use-your-headr...ncy-1496717463

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

even after the brake circuit fail, the parking brakes worked....(But how, I wonder!

Parking brake / hand brake should always be cable driven - hence no matter what happens to electric / pneumatic / hydraulic circuit will never affect the handbrake.

[turbodude]

Ohhh General Motors really needs to look into this issue. I am happy that you are safe pal.

I remember the days when newspaper ran stories of Tata Nano burning (I was planning to purchase nano that time). My friends, family members were so scared that I couldn't even utter the word "nano" in front of them.

Apathy towards customer and deviation from ethical behaviour are some of the reasons for downfall of GM in India. I used to wonder that even if GM is providing so many offers on SPARK; why the car is not selling.

Although you have read that recall news after the incident; it was GM & their dealers' duty to inform all customers immediately.

Take care and do post your experiences with the company and dealer.