[Resolved]  Hyundai Motors India Ltd — Incident of Fire While Driving

I work with the Indian Navy and presently posted in Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. I am owner of a Hyundai Accent GVS car since Jul 2004, Registration No. MH 04 CB 3867, and have enjoyed driving the vehicle ever since. I bought the vehicle from Sharayu Motors, New Mumbai, and was also directly responsible for referral purchase of a similar vehicle by a colleague from the same dealer in 2004.

My vehicle has run over 36000 Kms and is single hand driven. The vehicle has always been services at Authorised Service Centres and has given me no problem. In my last service I had to replace the silencer as the original one had been corroded. Apart from this only the battery has been replaced after 05 years.

I have been driving the vehicle regularly without any problem and had made a round trip from Lonavla to Goa to Karwar and back in over 10 days without any trouble with the vehicle. The performance of the car, as regards fuel mileage and air-conditioning has been very good compared to other vehicles of the similar class.

I reside in the Naval Officer's Residential Area (NOFRA), Near RC Church, Colaba. On 13 Mar 10, i went to my office and came back driving some 20 Kms, then made a round trip to my daughters school in Walkeshwar (about 15 Kms). In the evening we went for a longish drive at about 2030 hrs towards New Mumbai. It was our marriage anniversary and we wanted to dine out in a good place. After driving around to Vashi, Sea Woods and Nerul, we went to a restaurant on Mumbai-Pune Highway in Vashi (Near the Main Vegetable Market).

After dinner we headed back for Colaba at around 0030 Hr on 14 Mar 10. As we reached Chembur and had just moved away from a traffic light near Tara Punjab hotel, i felt sudden loss of power in the vehicle and the accelerator did not respond at all. As the vehicle was in motion and there was sufficient traffic, the car slowly came to a halt and another vehicle bumped into behind (for no fault of his I had not pressed the brakes so no brake lights were glowing). The hand brake, fuel, door open indications on my instrument all started glowing at the same time.

I managed to push the car to a side, fortunately we were in the leaft most lane, and noticed some smoke emanating from under the bonnet of my car. I presumed something was amiss in the coolant circuit, as is the usual case in most cars. This has however never happened with my car. I am a marine engineer by profession and am Senior Manager of Diesel & Gas Turbine Department at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. We maintain and repair diesel engines/ Gas Turbines ranging from a few Kw to 19500 HP each. My vehicle is always services well and fuel/lubricants/ coolant etc are fortnightly checked.

As I was about to sit in the car and open the bonnet cover, one autorickshaw driver, who was sitting in his vehicle and could see my car from front, shouted that there was fire under the bonnet. I immediately rushed to open the bonnet cover and saw the paint on the bonnet changing colour and burning. I lifted the bonnet cover and was horrified to see a full fledged fire near the engine. The cables connecting the spark plugs were burning fiercely. I rushed to reach out for water/ cloth to douse the fire, but some passers by had already poured water and tried to smother the fire. It took us about 02 mins to get the fire under control and I immediately disconnected the battery.

My family was petrified and dreaded the consequences had the same been noticed a bit later/ or there was delay in putting out the fire. I waited at the spot for over half an hour to allow the engine bay to cool and ensure that there was no likelihood of the fire to rekindle.

I picked up my belongings, locked the car manually and returned home in a cab at around 0130 hrs on 14 Mar 10.

I hired the services of a towing van (paid Rs 1200/-) and took my car to Hyundai Motor Plaza, Raey Road. All the service staff there were also perplexed to see the state of the car. They have also never seen/ heard such incident. I have taken some pictures and would be attaching the same for experts to see.

I have been advised to visit the Service Centre on 15 Mar 10 (Monday) so that senior management/ Insurance company reps can examine the car and decide further course of action.

I have been searching the net for some similar incidents with Hyundai/ other cars, but have not come across anything like this.

I have also spoken to my brother, who is General Manager in the Customer Service Department of General Motors at heir Head Office in Gurgaon. He has also not heard of such an incident in his 25 years experience in the automobile service career with many companies like Toyota, Bajaj, LML and GM.

I was very appreciative of Korean Engineering and Hyundai in particular. However, this incident has literally shaken my faith in the safety aspects of the car.

I and my family members were lucky to escape unhurt due to the prompt action of self and the passers by. Had we driven out of the city, as we were planning to celebrate the Anniversary and finishing of my daughter's exams, and encountered the incident in the middle of a highway, the consequences could have been very severe. In fact my family members were so traumatised that they could not utter a single word for over 01 hour drive back home in the cab at night.

Needless to say, other than the damage to the vehicle's rear fender and the engine bay, I have been severely inconvenienced as I am without any mode of transportation at present. I am not sure how much time it will take to get the car in shape.

I do not know how much time the company would take to ascertain the reasons for such a freak incident. Till that time, I would not be in a position to gain back the confidence that such incident will never repeat.

My family members would probably never come out of this trauma and would dread each time we are in the car.

I am sure you can understand the situation I and my family are in at this moment. What was to be a memorable evening has turned out to be a horror story.

I have written to the company customer relations and awaiting their response.