The Suzuki Celerio has been recalled in the UK and sales have been halted due to brake failure during emergency braking test.
The Suzuki Celerio was launched in the European market last year at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Recently Autocar UK was conducting road tests of the Celerio and experienced complete brake failure during hard braking. Brake failure during emergency braking didn’t happen with one Celerio but two of them, bizarre! Now the sales of the Suzuki Celerio have been suspended in the UK with immediate effect. Owners of the Celerio are also advised not to drive their cars.
The Japanese automaker is currently investigating the reason behind the loss of braking power on both the vehicles. The brake test was conducted at 128 km/hr for assessing the car’s behaviour during heavy braking and measuring the stopping distance. However, all stopping power was lost and the brake pedal got stuck fully depressed having no effect on the speed. With light handbrake usage and engine braking, the car came to a halt. Suzuki then provided another Celerio and the same case happened all over again.
Affected owners of the Suzuki Celerio in the UK will be given courtesy cars until the issue is rectified. According to Suzuki, the Celerio models sold in India, Japan and Thailand are not affected. However, you never know with Maruti Suzuki, as their cars are not extensively tested in India (according to ARAI norms) and are given to only select media for road testing. Forget courtesy cars, Maruti doesn’t even notify owners when a recall is conducted. The customers have to go to their website and fill the details to check if their car is affected or not.
The safety recall of the Suzuki Celerio affects right hand drive vehicles for the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The EURO NCAP recently conducted crash test of the Suzuki Celerio, which scored a weak 3-star safety rating despite having dual front airbags, front side airbags, ABS, ESP as standard on all variants. We can imagine the safety ratings of the India spec Maruti Celerio, which is offered with ABS and airbags on the range topping variants only.
Source – Autocar.co.uk
