Rk Ranjan Newbie

Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: noida Posts: 8 Thanked: 123 Times

My Horror Story: Chevrolet Captiva on Fire!



I have narrowly escaped death from a burning Chevrolet vehicle, by a margin of a few seconds, and have pledged to expose the callousness and malpractices of GM India.



On 7th Aug, Thu morning I was driving my Chevrolet Captiva, a premium imported SUV of General Motors, to office. Suddenly, I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood on both sides. I immediately got suspicious, rolled down the window and started pressing the brake pedal.... to my horror, the vehicle accelerated instead of slowing down!



There was fast moving traffic all around me. Gathering my wits, I somehow maneuvered the vehicle on the wrong side of road to avoid running over bikers and pedestrians crossing a junction. Seeing a safe spot, I applied manual parking brakes and somehow controlled the vehicle to stop. By then, the bonnet had caught fire and doors had jammed. Thankfully, because I had rolled down the window, I could open the driver-side door from outside and jumped out of the vehicle. Within 3-4 minutes, the entire engine compartment was burnt to ashes.



[Pics enclosed for your reference]



I have lived to tell the tale....



Perplexed by why this happened with an expensive vehicle that was in pristine condition (less than 2.5 yrs old, run of just 27000 kms), I started digging around for answers. And discovered, that this was not just another freak accident... but a case of wilful negligence and endangering the customer's life.



A few shocking facts I have discovered over the last three weeks:

• In Dec 2011, GM announced a global recall of Captiva SUV to correct a reported fire risk in engine compartment. Shockingly, the recall did not and to date, has not taken place in India for this SUV which is manufactured and shipped globally from the same South Korean plant that caters to the US and China- two largest auto markets and where the recall happened very promptly. For more details, you can refer to this link-



• At least 5 cases of unexplained fire in engine compartment of Chevy Captiva have happened across India in the past 11 months. On 22nd July, in an exactly similar incident as mine, Chevrolet Captiva of Samir Suhag, national level polo player and Arjuna awardee burnt down. He and his wife escaped in time, just like me.



• GM India senior management, including their MD, Arvind Saxena who I had contacted and presented all the above facts, had asked for a couple of weeks to conduct a thorough investigation. All they have come up with as explanation after much coaxing, is "extraneous and supervening factors like fuel leakage as the suspected cause". Other owners whose Captiva burnt exactly like this, were also given ridiculous reasons like these, including in one case, a replaced fog lamp! This response, coming from a company, whose entire senior brass was held guilty last year for fudging emission norms data on 1.4 lakh Taveras over a period of seven years, is not surprising.



What would be surprising is if we, as educated and relatively privileged citizens of the country, allow companies like GM-Chevrolet to ride roughshod over our rights as a consumer. Would you allow this to happen? Dear All- (this is a rather long post, but I promise you will be wiser and safer as a car owner and car buyer after reading this...)I have narrowly escaped death from a burning Chevrolet vehicle, by a margin of a few seconds, and have pledged to expose the callousness and malpractices of GM India.On 7th Aug, Thu morning I was driving my Chevrolet Captiva, a premium imported SUV of General Motors, to office. Suddenly, I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood on both sides. I immediately got suspicious, rolled down the window and started pressing the brake pedal.... to my horror, the vehicle accelerated instead of slowing down!There was fast moving traffic all around me. Gathering my wits, I somehow maneuvered the vehicle on the wrong side of road to avoid running over bikers and pedestrians crossing a junction. Seeing a safe spot, I applied manual parking brakes and somehow controlled the vehicle to stop. By then, the bonnet had caught fire and doors had jammed. Thankfully, because I had rolled down the window, I could open the driver-side door from outside and jumped out of the vehicle. Within 3-4 minutes, the entire engine compartment was burnt to ashes.[Pics enclosed for your reference]I have lived to tell the tale....Perplexed by why this happened with an expensive vehicle that was in pristine condition (less than 2.5 yrs old, run of just 27000 kms), I started digging around for answers. And discovered, that this was not just another freak accident... but a case of wilful negligence and endangering the customer's life.A few shocking facts I have discovered over the last three weeks:• In Dec 2011, GM announced a global recall of Captiva SUV to correct a reported fire risk in engine compartment. Shockingly, the recall did not and to date, has not taken place in India for this SUV which is manufactured and shipped globally from the same South Korean plant that caters to the US and China- two largest auto markets and where the recall happened very promptly. For more details, you can refer to this link- http://www.oncars.in/car-news/chevro...fire-risk/1578 • At least 5 cases of unexplained fire in engine compartment of Chevy Captiva have happened across India in the past 11 months. On 22nd July, in an exactly similar incident as mine, Chevrolet Captiva of Samir Suhag, national level polo player and Arjuna awardee burnt down. He and his wife escaped in time, just like me. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/38826408.cms • GM India senior management, including their MD, Arvind Saxena who I had contacted and presented all the above facts, had asked for a couple of weeks to conduct a thorough investigation. All they have come up with as explanation after much coaxing, is "extraneous and supervening factors like fuel leakage as the suspected cause". Other owners whose Captiva burnt exactly like this, were also given ridiculous reasons like these, including in one case, a replaced fog lamp! This response, coming from a company, whose entire senior brass was held guilty last year for fudging emission norms data on 1.4 lakh Taveras over a period of seven years, is not surprising.What would be surprising is if we, as educated and relatively privileged citizens of the country, allow companies like GM-Chevrolet to ride roughshod over our rights as a consumer. Would you allow this to happen? Attached Thumbnails















Last edited by GTO : 13th September 2014 at 13:54 . Reason: Sorry, we don't allow linking to personal blogs. Thanks