Solitaire Honda — Negligence and carelessness

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra, 400053

Dear sir,
Sub: manufacturing defect leading to a road mishap
Chasis no. – makgm654gf4107468
Eng no. – l15z12226550
Reg no. – mh04gz4342
Communication id [protected]

I am writing this grievance to bring it to your notice that my car (honda
City) had a possibly serious accident on gorbandar road thane where while
Driving the car bonnet opened and hit the big main driving glass. fortunately
I landed in a safe spot after stopping the car since nothing was visible
As the bonnet was blocking the entire view. my family and i were in a state
Of shock and absolutely shaken
While inspecting we found that the all the bolts that were attached to
Tha bonnet lock were missing. my car was purchased from linkway honda
And is 8 months old and now where have i heard or seen a locked bonnet
Open up while the car is running and that too with all the bolts missing
. this seems serious or gross manufacturing negligence by the honda team
And my car had just had its third free service from borivali solitaire
Honda service centre. at 60 km per hour the bonnet cracked the driving
Glass and put a dent on the roof, had the speed would have been any higher
This gross manufacturing negligence would have lead to a very serious incident
.
I expect the company to own up their mistake and take suitable steps to
Make up for the damges and harrassment caused to me and my family.
Please find attached mail chain when the matter was taken up with the company and also car screenshots
Thanks & regards
Charan kalwani

Mail chain
Charan kalwani mon, jul 18, 2016 at 12:40 pm
To: rajendra bhide
Cc: manisha, customer relations
Hi rajendra
We seem to have contradictory views on the overall matter and seems we will not be able to touch common ground as per the series of discussions we have had,
Hence i would suggest kindly proceed with the repair work while i can follow up on this by involving a 3rd party (consumer court) to decide on this
Since we have your findings and the car photos on this mail chain this can be easily referred and taken into cognizance by the deciding authority.

Thanks & regards
Charan kalwani
[protected]


On tue, jul 12, 2016 at 5:06 pm, rajendra bhide wrote:
Dear mr. charan kalwani,

With reference to the trailing mail we would like to reiterate our earlier findings.
Vehicle has driven over 2400 kms since it was attended at our workshop.
The locking mechanism of the bonnet latch is a dual lock system. to open the bonnet we need to unlock from inside the passenger cabin and then manually from the front of the car, using the lever provided on the lock.
Latch is mounted with the help of 3 bolts for enhanced safety.
There would be considerable noise if the latch is not fully engaged with the bonnet.
If the fitment was not proper it would not go unnoticed during service and would be visibly quite evident as the bonnet would not close completely.
In your regular inspection of the coolant, windshield water, engine oil, brake oil etc level or even during daily washing of the car the loose latch would not go unnoticed as you would need to open the bonnet.
There are no abnormal damages on the bonnet latch which would indicate a loose fitment.

Looking at above observations it cannot be established that the bolts have loosened and eventually fallen off.

The bonnet can open on its own while driving only if it’s closed partially or left unlocked.

Request you to kindly visit our workshop so that we can explain our findings to you in person.

Regards,

Rajendra bhide
Manager - service
Solitaire honda (dd095)


— original message —
From: charan kalwani
To: rajendra bhide
Cc: manisha, customer relations
Sent: sun, 10 jul 2016 00:14:12 +0530 (ist)
Subject: re: kind attention : mr kalwani

Mr rajendra

This is a cause of concern as to why a vehicle which just underwent service 3 months ago met with an accident due to missing bolts on the car bonnet lock.
All the 3 bolts were missing and since as per your survey there was no damage or collision of the cart from the front side nor were there any cut marks or damages it indicates that the bolts loosened out
Can this not be termed as s case of negligence by the service team or a manufacturing defect.

My presumption was that honda cars being such a huge brand that thrives on product quality and has set high standards for themselves would easily recognize this as a miss/ defect from their side and try to make up for it but instead the honda dealer solitaire is simply pressuring the customer to raise a claim and close the matter since it doesn't matter to them.

Since you have no idea as to why the bolts are missing i can raise this complaint with the consumer forum and ask them to send a third party investigator to find out the root cause of how the bolts went missing and how the company and dealer are shying away from owning up their responsibility. i seriously didn't expect this from a brand like honda and i am shocked at this unapologetic behavior

Thanks & regards
Charan kalwani


On 9 jul 2016, at 17:36, rajendra bhide wrote:

Dear mr. charan kalwani,

This is in reference to your feedback shared with us regardsing your honda car mh04gz4342.

As requested by your goodself the car was picked up by our executive on 06.07.2016 from your residence at thane with 7601kms..

As informed by your goodself the car has met with an serious accident at ghodbandar road on 03rd july 2016, while driving the car bonnet opened suddenly and hit the wind shield glass.

As per the service history, the last visit of the vehicle was on 30th mar 2016 @ 5171 km, for 3rd service after 6 months from the date of sale. front and rear lhs door and quarter panel is also painted in the same visit under insurance as requested by you. the vehicle was delivered on 07th apr 2016.

As per the sevice schedule we have replaced engine lub oil and lub oil filter at the time of service and the work done under insurance was not related to frontal side of the vehicle.

We inspected the vehicle in front of you to investigate the cause of accident but found no damage on the bonnet lock or mounting eyelets, which may occur at the time of accident.

Its very difficult for any vehicle to be driven for approx.3 months or 2400km with loose or missing bolts of bonnet lock without any concern reported to any dealership, thus cannot be attributed to manufacturing defect or our workmanship.

We will assist you to do the repair work of your vehicle under insurance on priority basis.

We seek your understanding in the matter.

With warm regards,


Regards,

Rajendra bhide
Manager - service
Solitaire honda (dd095)
(division of krish cars pvt. ltd)
C/o. shakti industrail & commercial business centre,
Shakti insulated wires, rajendra nagar,
Dattapada road, borivali (e), mumbai - 400066.


Tel[protected]/ 5566
Fax[protected]
E-mail:service. [protected]@solitairehonda.com
Web:www.solitairehonda.com


— original message —
From: charan kalwani
To: customer relations
Cc: [protected]@solitairehonda.com, service manager
Sent: wed, 06 jul 2016 18:07:37 +0530 (ist)
Subject: re: kind attention : mr kalwani

Hi all

I have met the dealer and left the car at his service center today. i am not satisfied at he explanation offered by the dealer and he is insisting on making an insurance claim and not owning up to the mistake of negligence on his part as to why all the bolts are missing since i have had the car inspected and the there is no major damage to the front side of the car. kindly step in and ensure appropriate action is taken

Thanks & regards
Charan kalwani


On 5 jul 2016, at 14:27, customer relations wrote:

Dear sir,

Greetings from honda cars india ltd.
!!


With reference to your trailing communication regarding your honda car.

We thank you for sparing your time
To write to us and share your feedback.


We are understanding the details of the matter from our dealership and
Request you to kindly bear with us till then.in the meanwhile, we are
Advising our dealership to get in touch with you.


Please feel free to write to us or call us at our 24 x 7 customer
Care help-line "honda one 2 one" at[protected] or[protected].


Assuring you the best of our services at all times.


Regards,

Poulomi chatterjee

Customer relationship management

Honda cars india ltd., greater noida


From:
Charan kalwani
To:
[protected]@hondacarindia.com,

Cc:
Charan. [protected]@accenture.com
Date:
[protected]:05
Subject:
Manufacturing
Defect leading to a road mishap


To
Honda customer relations

Sub: manufacturing defect leading to a road mishap

Chasis no. – makgm654gf4107468

Eng no. – l15z12226550

Reg no. – mh04gz4342

Communication id 1-[protected]


Dear sir,


I am writing this grievance to bring it to your notice that my car (honda
City) had a possibly serious accident on gorbandar road thane where while
Driving the car bonnet opened and hit the big main driving glass. fortunately
I landed in a safe spot after stopping the car since nothing was visible
As the bonnet was blocking the entire view. my family and i were in a state
Of shock and absolutely shaken

While inspecting we found that the all the bolts that were attached to
Tha bonnet lock were missing. my car was purchased from linkway honda
And is 8 months old and now where have i heard or seen a locked bonnet
Open up while the car is running and that too with all the bolts missing
. this seems serious or gross manufacturing negligence by the honda team
And my car had just had its third free service from borivali solitaire
Honda service centre. at 60 km per hour the bonnet cracked the driving
Glass and put a dent on the roof, had the speed would have been any higher
This gross manufacturing negligence would have lead to a very serious incident
.

I expect the company to own up their mistake and take suitable steps to
Make up for the damges and harrassment caused to me and my family.


Please find attached the photos of the car


Thanks & regards

Charan kalwani

[protected]