Tata Motors — manufacturing defects and service issues | tata nexon

Through this complaint i want to bring to your attention my issues with the tata nexon car that i have owned for over one and a half years now and the poor consumer experience that i have faced, which i would rather call ‘harassment’.
Primarily i have been facing the below issues since i bought the car. While these are listed below, i have shared a detailed explanation around each of these.
• issue a: regular steering noise and issues with suspension mechanism
• issue b: shockingly low fuel efficiency and wrong depiction in the odometer
• other issues: includes loud engine noise, body vibration, etc.

Issue a: regular steering noise and issues with suspension mechanism
These has been the most painful experience that i never expected that i would get from a brand-new car, surprising which is not even a basic cheap hatchback but good expensive enough (~inr 900k for the xm model that i own).
From the very first or second week when i bought the car, i observed a weird noise from the steering and while driving through the bumps, i could feel the most minor bumps being filtering through the chassis and the noise felt like that the whole front part (Bonnet) was just lying on the wheels and was not really attached to it. I highlighted these two issues from the very first service (Which is at 1, 500 km) and if you see the attached car service slips that these issues were not addressed.
Initially, the service personnel gave a plethora of excuses around the noise saying this was:
• noise due to a loose bonnet part,
• regular noise, there is no such noise and it was just me feeling it,
• the suspension merely requires re-torqueing
• it is just the noise from the steering column,
• it was the noise from the loosely held water bottle in the inside of the engine.
It took me a number of trips to the service stations to convince the service personnel that the above listed were not the reasons and the concern was legit. The team did the retorqueing multiple times, replaced the steering rack, even once removed the bottle from the inside and drove the car for kms to finally find out that the above were not the reasons.

Now, for all this below is the harassment that i faced:
• firstly, it was a task in itself to convince the service personnel the issue was legit
• the number of times the car was at the service station is not something that anyone would expect from a new car. On an average, my car was at the service station for 2-3 days a month.
• the team missed the committed deadlines to return the car multiple time
• on a number of occasions, i had to travel on my own, using public transport or an inter-city cab (From delhi to noida – costs approx. Inr 800 per trip)
• multiple weekends had to be spent without a car at my disposal
• moreover, during the first few visits, when the service guy was test driving the car, that too on a busy national highway, the car got hit from the back and there was a dent on the car. The serviced centre made me have a one-on-one with that poor auto driver, who hit the car from the back.
O obviously, i could not ask him to pay around inr 7, 000 for the damage; so, i had to live with that damage
For all the above expenses, there was no compensation or reimbursement.
Once i had to go to office and the service station promised to send a replacement vehicle. So, for that, they sent a car two hours late in the morning, without adequate fuel to go the nearest fuel pump on my way. Moreover, the car was a petrol car, that would cost me a bomb compared to a diesel car. Moreover, i had to wait again as the service personnel missed to send over certain essential documents (Parking papers slip for office premises) from my car, despite telling them that it was super important.
Eventually, i had to give up on that car and take a cab to the office, as i could not take a detour to get the car refuelled first when i was already 2 hours late.

Issue b: shockingly low fuel efficiency and wrong depiction in the odometer
While this one might seem to be a minor issue, it raises a big question on the integrity of the tata brand. I agree that the fuel efficiency of a car depend on the road, traffic conditions, and the way it is driven. I use my car for office commute and there are patches of traffic, but more or less the roads are smooth and there are no traffic snarls. Yet i agree the fuel efficiency may be impacted.
However, there have been multiple instances when i have driven my car outside the city (Delhi to jim corbett, jaipur, pushkar), where the roads are pretty smooth and clutch usage is minimal. Even during those drives, while the odo showed a fuel efficiency of 26kmpl, the actual mileage has been just 16-18 kmpl.
Now a difference of 50% is humungous, considering the fact that the ‘kilometres to refuel’ depend on the fuel efficiency calculated and reflected in the car’s odometer. Thus, if it is showing me that i still have 90 kms of fuel left, it is actually just 60 kms. Moreover, if a diesel engine takes in air there is no way it can be started again without supervision of an expert.

Other issues: includes loud engine noise, body vibration, etc.
Now since the very beginning the car has been running with more than acceptable road bumps, the whole dashboard and central console is loose now. Even the slightest bump or loud music makes it vibrate.
I also got the clutch plates changed and it still feels like an old car.

Gist of the whole experience
The reality around the brand is that tata cars do not have a great resale value, compared to its peers. While buying this car i had a choice to make – either i buy a powerful car and enjoy everyday drive and take a hit at the end of the car’s life or to buy a regular car with a good resale value. I went for the former and bought the tata nexon.
Now, i believe this was a mistake and i was better off driving my old wagonr, for the price it was a less pain. Before i bought nexon, i went through almost all the online reviews and me and my bought two nexons together and i must say i am so disappointed with this purchase.in no way it feels like that i am driving a premium car, it’s the worst experience when you have your co-passengers noticing that a new car is making so much noise.
Moreover, one of the biggest concerns is service costs. The car was in warranty and i had a gold membership, thus the mechanics kept on replacing the parts and doing their hit and miss. However, if the same thing happens again, new manufacturing defects and incompetence of the service mechanics, how can i bear the costs of all these parts?
Thus, based on the whole of above experience and since i have always been driving a car that has never felt like a ‘new’ one due to its faults and manufacturing defects, i request you to look into this and replace my existing car for a new one.
I have already complained about it to the tata’s consumer helpline around three months back but haven’t heard from them yet, despite their workshop being open.
Additionally, in a year the right-side headlight bulb has fused thrice. There has to be some technical issue that the same bulb is getting damaged again and again. Yet it take years to convince the team that there is “actually” some issue.