Govt Issues New Mandatory Vehicle Recall Guidelines

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued new guidelines for mandatory recall of a defective vehicle sold in India.

The ministry has now set a threshold for the number of complaints that can be received about a defective part in a vehicle before automobile firms initiate a recall.

According to the new mandatory vehicle recall rule, 2-wheeler manufacturers will be required to recall a product with annual sales up to 3000 units if the number of identical complaints rise beyond 20 percent (600 units) of its sales.

A 2-wheeler with yearly sales between 3001 units and 60,000 units should be recalled if the number of complaints go beyond 600 plus 10 percent of its annual sales.

For 2-wheelers which witness over 60,000 unit sales a year, a recall should be initiated if complaints cross 6300 plus 10 percent of sales beyond 60,000 units.

The new mandatory vehicle recall guidelines also take into consideration 3-wheelers and quadricycles. According to the Road Transport Ministry, for such vehicles with sales up to 500 units annually, the recall process should commence when 20 percent identical complaints are received.

If annual sales of 3-wheelers and quadricycles lie between 501 units and 10,000 units, their manufacturers should recall them when the number of complaints increase beyond 100 plus 10 percent of sales beyond 5000.

In the case of 3-wheelers that see more than 10,000 unit sales, automobile firms will have to call them back should identical complaints rise beyond 1050 plus 2 per cent of sales beyond 10,000 units annually.

Coming to 4-wheelers that can carry up to 8 passengers, the government says a recall should be initiated given 20 percent of identical complaints are received for vehicles with yearly sales of up to 500 units.

If 501-10,000 units of a passenger vehicle get sold in a year, then the complaint threshold is set at 100 plus 10 percent of annual sales, while the same is 1050 plus 2.5 percent for vehicles with over 10,000 annual sales.

Mandatory vehicle recall for commercial vehicles should be initiated by manufacturers if complaints cross 3 percent of a model’s yearly sales.

These new rules have been put in place to increase safety standards of vehicles sold in India. Also, the government has defined rules for the investigation process with regard to vehicle recall, type-approval procedures, accreditation of testing agencies and the obligations of manufacturers, importers and retrofitters.

Last year, automobile firms including Maruti Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Toyota, among others, recalled a collective of 3.8 lakh vehicles, which was a 4-year high.