[Resolved]  Maruti Suzuki / Wagon R — Defective tyres

To,
Shri Pankaj Narula, Chief General Manager (Service),
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. ,
Palam Gurgaon Road, Gurgaon – 122015 (Haryana)

DEAR SIR, Dated: 14th October, 2009



Subject: Defective/Rattling tyres of Wagon R Lxi (Nov 2007), Tyres make: JK tyres - XP ULTIMA



I feel proud to be a member of Maruti family and I have always been fond of Maruti products owing to their product reliability and large sales/service network through out India. I was a proud owner of Maruti product (m800) previously and I am having Maruti product now also (wagon r - Nov 2007). But because of some series of circumstances my trust in brand name "Maruti" has suffered a setback and is a bit shaken up, the reason being a problem being faced by me from past few months which has not been resolved till now that is why I am being forced to write to you. The problem is as described below:



I am a corporate employee and work in a reputed and well known manufacturing organization. I purchased a Wagon R Lxi model (chassis no.: MA3EED81S00599134, Engine No.: F10DN4423323) car from M/s Berkely automobiles, Panchkula in Nov 2007 in my name i.e. Prashant Khullar, resident of H.No. 1006, Sector 12 A, Panchkula, Haryana, 134112. Everything was going well until I first noticed a peculiar "wobbling sound" coming from front left side of the car. Immediately on same day I took my car to Berkely workshop, Panchkula, but the problem could not be diagnosed since it was already 6:00 pm and most of the staff had already left and therefore I was asked to come next day. Next day I went again and reported the same problem to service advisor. He took a road test and didn’t notice anything wrong and denied any such problem observed as described by me and assured me that everything is normal.



Thinking that I may be wrong, I also stopped paying attention towards the sound and came back. But with due course of time I tend to become more familiar with the sound and slowly observed how it behaved at different speeds and soon I could distinguishly hear this sound because by now it had started annoying me while driving.



I again went to Berkeley workshop, Panchkula and narrated the same problem. Again they refused to agree that there is such a problem as being mentioned by me and I was told that “ Sir, aapko waham ho gaya hai” and also told that any sound that is coming so far is because of bad roads and is a normal thing.



A week passed by and I again went to the Berkely workshop, Panchkula. By now the sound was getting intolerable and the pitch and loudness both had increased manifolds.

This time I was desperate to find out the real source of the sound. On my insisting they again checked the vehicle. They again took road tests, checked wheel bearings by rotating the wheel by hand, checked the level of transmission oil, and tried tyres rotation also. After this I felt that the sound has subdued a bit and ran my car for few days. But since the sound was still there I again went to the Panchkula workshop and yet again narrated the same problem. This time also they kept on trying different tyres combination and kept on taking road trials but could not surely diagnose the problem but rather now they doubted the sound may be in fact tyres related. They also advised that they doubt the problem is tyres related so you better get it checked outside because we have done the best we could have done. Heeding to their advice I asked for the gate pass which they were more than happy to give. Thereafter I went straightaway to MRF tyres dealer in Chandigarh and asked him to invert all the 5 tyres and do wheel balancing and wheel alignment for which I paid Rs. 320 separately. Hoping that this will solve my problem I came back but to my utter despair the problem still persisted.



Finally thinking that the solution and diagnostics of this problem is beyond technical ability of staff of Berkely workshop, Panchkula I decided to get it checked from Berkely workshop, Chandigarh. Therefore, I visited Chandigarh workshop yesterday. I narrated them the same problem and they took the road test and they agreed that there was definitely some noise coming. The service advisor who took the road test doubted that the problem seems to be in driver side front wheel bearing and seeing the rush he advised me to come again the next day at 9:00 am, which I happily agreed because now after much R & D, I also was desperate to get rid of this problem.



Today as discussed I reached the Chandigarh workshop at 9:00 am after working in night shift in my plant. My case was again referred to another service advisor by the service advisor who took road test yesterday and he also took road test and doubted that the problem seems to be in tyres rather than front driver side wheel bearing as narrated yesterday and therefore without wasting further time he immediately replaced front left tyre with that of another Wagon R that was being serviced. Again road test was taken and now this time there was no wobbling noise coming from any part of the car and car ran like new. And now they surely declared that the problem is in the tyres and needs replacement. They checked all the 5 tyres and found that the treads of the tyres have been worn out non-uniformly i.e. ¾ th of the tyres perimeter is perfectly OK whereas the remaining ¼ th of the perimeter had treads worn out alternately. This pattern is almost same in all the tyres. This non-uniform wearing of the tyres was causing this noise / vibrations coming from the tyres while the tyres use to rotate. The effect was maximum felt / heard at a speed range of 30 – 45 kmph. They advised me to talk regarding this issue to Berkely Panchkula.



Immediately I went to Berkely Workshop today thereafter and met Mr. Mankoo (workshop manager), cell no. [protected]. First of all he was not at all interested in listening to my problem and expressed his helplessness regarding this matter and asked me to go to the guy who checked the car and talk to him. Not expecting such a response I left the place in sheer despair and by the time I reached parking lot he came following me and without looking at the tyres started negotiating with me regarding getting all the 5 tyres replaced provided I pay 75% of the tyres cost, because as per him the tyres life is 40,000 kms and I have already covered 28,000 kms. He also advised me to get the tyres replaced outside on my own from any Tyres dealer as normally tyre dealers also can give me 25% discount at tyre price straight away.



Now as I have presented my case to you I expect that this matter will be dealt appropriately. As a testimonial of what I have mentioned you can cross check with the job card history, service history and in/out timings punched in workshop security guard’s register to get an idea regarding how many times I had visited the workshop for the same problem which also reflects the efficiency of your dealers to solve customer’s grievances and also reflects the amount of harassment I have under gone. I hope that you will do justice in the matter.



You are therefore requested to provide me free Tyres replacement for all 5 tyres as the problem is not limiting to only one tyre and moreover the tyres have failed to meet the performance standards and deteriorated much before their claimed life.



I hope that my trust and faith in the brand “MARUTI” will not be allowed to break and I am eagerly waiting for quick solution of my problem from “MARUTI SUZUKI”.





Best regards



Prashant Khullar

Cell: [protected]