Top carmaker Maruti Suzuki issued a recall of 17,362 units of six of its models to correct a possible defect in the airbag controller.
Affected models
Models in question are Alto K10, S-Presso, Eeco,Brezza, Baleno and Grand Vitara.
“The Company has announced to recall a total of 17,362 vehicles manufactured between 8 December 2022 and 12 January, 2023. The affected models are Alto K10, S-Presso, Eeco,Brezza, Baleno and Grand Vitara,” the company said in a statement.
The issue
The statement continues, “The recall is being undertaken to inspect and replace Airbag Controller (“affected part”), free of cost, if required in these vehicles.
It is suspected that there is a possible defect in affected part, which in rare case might result in non-deployment of the airbags and seat belt pretensioners, in the event of a vehicle crash.”
Do not drive or use
Customers of the suspected vehicles are advised not to drive or use the vehicle till the affected part is replaced.
Affected vehicle owners will receive communication from the automakers authorized workshops for immediate attention.
Latest recall after December
This is at least the third recall in the past four months from the company’s end.
In December, the car maker recalled 9,125 units of its Ciaz, Brezza, Ertiga, XL6, and Grand Vitara models to fix possible defects in the front row seat belts.
The affected vehicles were manufactured between November 2-28, 2022.
Earliest recall
Prior to that, it had recalled 9,925 units of Celerio, Ignis, and Wagon R for a defect in the rear brake assembly pin.
Why there have been multiple recalls in the past few months and how they might affect the Indian manufacturer’s business and perception are currently not disclosed.
That callback was targeted towards models manufactured between August 3 and September 1, 2022.
Price hike
In other news, Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said it has hiked prices of its vehicles across models by about 1.1 per cent.
This is the second price hike it is undertaking in the ongoing fiscal year, after increasing it in April 2022.
Second price hike
Last December the company had said it would hike prices to offset the impact of rising input costs.
It will also make provisions to update the model range to conform to stricter emission norms which will kick in from April 2023.
“An estimated weighted average of increase across models stands at around 1.1 per cent. This indicative figure is calculated using ex-showroom prices of models in Delhi and will come into effect from January 16, 2023,” Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing.
