GM probe effect: Several employees fired, govt to draft mandatory recall policy - Firstpost

New Delhi: Jolted into action by the roller coaster events of the last two days, where 1.14 lakh Taveras manufactured by General Motors since 2005 have by-passed established emission norms, the government is now speaking of a mandatory recall policy for vehicles. Though General Motors would have us believe that it launched such a large voluntary recall on its own, it seems that someone from the company alerted the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) about several malpractices related to procurement of emissions certifications for the Tavera MPV model produced at its plant in India. The MoRTH forwarded this complaint to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, which then began examining the matter by forming a committee to probe the entire issue of vehicle testing, practices used and if the entire vehicle certification process needs an overhaul. GM got wind of the probe and then went ahead and announced a "voluntary" recall of vehicles which were manufactured and have probably been running on Indian roads for last eight years. Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel told Firstpost his ministry is working on a mandatory vehicle recall policy to prevent recurrence of such instances in the future. "No one does anything voluntarily. A mandatory recall policy is needed," the minister said when asked whether the current voluntary policy was not good enough. Patel's ministry may either suggest changes in the existing Motor Vehicles Act or draft a new law all together for mandatory recall of vehicles. He also said that though the GM incident appears to be isolated, this is a good time to look into the larger issue of quality control of vehicles being manufactured in India. Many companies claim vehicles are tested at several stages during the manufacturing cycle – by the company as well as through random checking by the regulatory and testing agencies. Reuters "There seems to be a tendency to give approvals without rigorous testing," he said referring to several global vehicle manufacturers who have set up manufacturing in India. Since we in India tend to believe testing is more rigorous in European countries and USA, companies headquartered there are perhaps allowed more leeway when testing vehicles manufactured in India. Sources in Patel's ministry said a report on the status of the vehicle testing mechanism as of now and future course of action should be ready in about a month. Speaking to Firstpost, Transport Secretary Vijay Chhibber pointed out that the GM incident is "not a question of standards (being inadequate) but of ensuring compliance with those standards. I am sure the Heavy Industries Ministry will look into it". But several questions remain unanswered in this entire saga of Chevrolet Taveras: 1) How come GM was able to fudge emission data for eight long years without the company's top management knowing about this? And what about complicity of Government officials or those from vehicle testing agencies like ARAI, NATRIP etc in certifying GM vehicles which did not comply with emission standards? 2) If the testing systems are inadequate, should we worry about critical issues like vehicle safety too? Also, how come no such cases from any other vehicle maker have come to light till now? 3) This may not be so much about faulty procedures as about standard operating procedures not having being followed. Many companies claim vehicles are tested at several stages during the manufacturing cycle – by the company as well as through random checking by the regulatory and testing agencies. A top official of a leading car maker pointed out that just because of one incident with one company, it would be wrong to generalize about the entire industry. He also emphasised that his company conducts checks on vehicles everyday for things like braking, speedometer indicators, headlight levelling, idling exhaust emission besides taking random samples on a testing track. "We also pick up some vehicles from the assembly line for COP and other checks everyday. So even if tests by regulatory agencies were not done rigorously, our own internal checks would have told us about faulty parameters," this official said. An online story in Indian Express this morning speaks of GM transferring or firing 20 of its senior officials in all for the Tavera incident. It remains unclear if the company or any of its officials will face criminal action. Also, it remains to be seen if top management guys who no longer work with GM, also get sucked into the probe by the Government. A top official at the country's homologation and certifying authorities said there is a structured process for testing and type approval which is being followed. "During normal production our guys pick up vehicles which are ready for dispatch for emission testing. This is a 20-year old procedure and also being used in European countries. Let MoRTH look into whether this procedure needs to be overhauled". Well, if an incident of bypassing emission norms is spurring a somnolent Government to overhaul the entire vehicle testing procedure, car makers should stop cribbing about it. In fact, we should thank our stars this is only about emissions and not a matter of safety of the occupants! And if mandatory vehicle recall is indeed coming, the industry should welcome it – they claim there is nothing to hide. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHR02__KTTi8TZQouK3sgb7btItqQ&url=http://www.firstpost.com/business/gm-probe-effect-several-employees-fired-govt-to-draft-mandatory-recall-policy-989161.html

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