Reference Auto

Tata Motors seems to have launched a major damage-control exercise by beefing up the Nano’s safety as six of its brand new iconic small cars were engulfed in flames after they were handed over to customers.

Had the auto company been apathetic any longer, it could have dented its reputation. After all, one car catching fire could be seen as a stray incident. But if the figure is a whopping six, then there is a big reason to believe that something is going haywire with the production process.

Tata Motors is unwilling to call it a recall but said it will install “additional safety features” in the nearly 70,000 Nanos already sold, in case the owners want them, so that such incidents could be plugged in the future.

Tata Motors had initiated a probe after the first couple of fire incidents but had been given a clean chit. Even after this, more Nanos were engulfed in flames.

The latest fire incident was on August 17, 2010, in New Delhi, just a few months after the company declared the Nano absolutely safe.

Tata Motors, in a press release, had said, “We have decided to make the car even more robust. We will do this by providing additional protection in the exhaust system and the electrical system. Efforts do not constitute a recall.”

Earlier, Tata Motors’ group chief executive and managing director Carl-Peter Forster had said that the auto maker planned to introduce additional safety features in the small car after reports of it catching fire.

Well, this statement seems to give an impression that the fire incidents are just media reports and the company seems to have completely absolved itself despite a string of such fires.

So far as the safety measures go, the company will cover the catalytic converter to prevent the car from catching fire. It will also put a fuse in the electrical components to tackle short circuits.

“From the third week of November, all owners will be informed about these measures. The option lies with our customers as to whether they would like to avail these measures. This will be provided at no cost,” the company statement added.

Tata Motors’ managing director (India operations) PM Telang had been harping on the Nano’s safety also. “We are quite convinced that Nano is safe, based on our probe. However, we feel that probably there may be some extraneous circumstances where people may want additional protection.”

Tata Motors said an investigation by a team of international experts has again inferred that the reasons for the fires in a few Nanos are specific to the cars.

Besides the Nano, Tata Motors has also been striving to tackle fires on its low-floor buses it supplied to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). Eight of DTC’s low-floor buses have caught fire within the span of a year.

So, will this constant denial by Tata Motors not tarnish its image, especially in the wake of the mounting competition in the auto sector?