The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer is set to announce a new voluntary recall policy, agreed to by most of the major Indian car manufacturers. However, these are only guideline that won’t have any legal binding but they will at least bring in some visibility in a market which currently has no rules on vehicle recalls.
It is a start, especially considering the fact that most manufacturers in India avoid officially calling recalls despite numerous defects, which are sorted during service or by individually calling the customers. The new voluntary agreement will certainly make car makers a little more responsible and accountable for their products – however, the government is not happy with this initiative and plans to oppose the SIAM guidelines that will be unveiled this week. The government is not happy that the guidelines do not penalise the defaulters for the errors and hence is planning to derive a mandatory recall policy for cars later this month in sync with all the ministries related to auto industry.
SIAM’s new code will not impose penalties on the carmakers for faults; it will merely expect them to voluntarily declare the issues and rectify them. This is not the case in many developed markets, where a strict regulatory body looks over the guidelines and even fines manufacturers for serious errors. The government has earlier tried addressing the issue of vehicular safety in the 2010 National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board Bill, but the bill did not move forward as the standing committee recommended comprehensive legislation.
While we welcome the government’s plan of a stringent statutory recall policy, we still want SIAM’s guidelines in place – at least for the time being – keeping in mind the pace at which the government works.
