Tata Safari Left Me Stranded. Now a Hat-Trick!

[goencho]

Hello to All,

I am an owner of a Tata Safari 2009 VX model which has covered 40xxx kms. The Tata Safari had been my dream vehicle since the time it was released for sale and my dream was fulfilled by my dad after a week of me getting my driving license and my Safari has been my travel companion from day 1, of-course the Safari came with its own share of niggles and left me stranded two times but now it left me stranded the third time and this time in the middle of nowhere.I'd like to share the complete ordeal as it happened to me yesterday:

I was on my way back from from Bangalore to Goa with my dad, left Bangalore quite early at 4.30am to avoid the traffic. All was well,less amount of cars and trucks on the road, quick tolls and the cool weather of Bangalore but as you say stuff happens when you least expect it.

I had stopped for a break and breakfast at a restaurant on the NH4 after which I proceeded again towards the Chalageri toll booth to go towards Goa. Just after crossing 20 kms. from the toll, I was overtaking a truck and was about at 65-70 kms. per hour and increasing,truck to my left and me on the right lane side by side on a curving road. Suddenly the service light glows and the safari starts to lose power rapidly, the power steering is lost and I have just reached near the cabin part of the truck so by great difficulty I let the truck pass me and steer the dead vehicle now rolling on its own towards the guard rail on the curve and stopped the vehicle with no help from the now-dead brakes. Got down and opened the hood but did not find anything wrong in general. I called my local TASS and the breakdown service technician said the three words which I did not want to happen,"timing belt failure". Yes it did happen, happened the third time in four years of ownership, and now in the middle of nowhere!

So I called the Tata breakdown helpline, who took the complete details and first sent me a mechanic from the nearest village TASC who confirmed and showed me that the timing belt had shredded completely, you could say it was hanging for dear life. After consulting with him I call the breakdown call center and ask them to send a towing vehicle, a flatbed to take me to the most competent TASS i.e. at Hubli. The flatbed was a good 160 kms+ away from me and took 2.5 hours to reach me.In the meanwhile me and my dad were stranded 16kms away from the nearest village with just 1 litre of bottle water in the sun sitting like a duck on a curving road full of speeding vehicles. Fortunately I had placed the warning triangle to warn others of our presence.
The truck reached us somewhere around 12.45 pm and we loaded the vehicle to go towards Hubli. Our luck not favoring us again it started to pour thereby decreasing the overall time and it took us 3+hrs to reach Hubli only at 4.30pm By that time myself and my dad decided that being a Saturday and next day being a Sunday leaving the car at Hubli was of no use cause being a timing belt failure, its repair is no joke and can take unprecedented time for repairs and staying at Hubli was not possible. So next we asked the flat bed guy if he could tow the vehicle all the way to Goa and he was ready. Finally reached the TASS at Goa at 11.45pm at night and unloaded the vehicle all at a cost of 18K which by far is the most expensive road trip I ever had.

Now the thing to consider is this same thing happened to me back in August 2011 at 16xxx kms. and that to on a downslope in Goa itself which was a hair-raising event for me and a story for another time. That time too the belt had broken causing a lot of other stuff to break and repairs had been done under warranty by TASS at Goa. Unfortunately the TASS goofed up somewhere and the belt broke off in September the same year within a month but this time it was due to a pulley or something which was misaligned. Thus I was previously stranded twice before.

As of today the safari completed 4 years is is just out of extended warranty.The belt broke thrice in 4 years and within 40xxx kms which is extremely strange to me cause normally a belt has to cover atleast 85-90K kms for something like this to happen and certainly cannot happen if the belt had been changed once /twice before by the TASS. There is something seriously wrong somewhere and I need your help to get me out of this mess.

My dad had paid for this vehicle from his retirement savings and now we are not in a position to at all to cover a huge bill and that too for something that is not our fault other than buying the vehicle itself.Guys, now please advise what should I do,whom do I escalate this to cause this time I ain't taking stuff lightly even if that's the last thing I ever do.

I was stranded miles away from proper help in the middle of nowhere with my senior citizen dad. Secondly I lost a potential client whom I had a meeting with late in the evening related to work and I had to suffer overall for some else's mistake. Either the parts are of inferior quality or the workmanship at Auto Industries,Goa is wrong or both and I plan to get stuff right this time not only for me but all the Tata owners who get cheated of their hard earned money for just believing in Tata.

I am true Tata fan and a loyal customer and my family has owned many tata vehicles,commercial and personal and I own the Nano and the Ace too but the safari has made us loose faith in Tata completely. Please hep me with what I should do next.

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Sad to hear about your problem. Stranded in the middle of nowhere is no joke.

I think you must write to Tata customer care and ask them to rectify the issue free of cost and also refund all the expense for towing, etc.

I too have a tata car, (manza), that broke down, but luckily in the city. I am planning to add a towing rope/line to my toolkit

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Very sorry to hear about your travails and relieved to know that both you and your father are safe. Timing belts can give up due to reasons like excess slack, excess torque, tooth shear, edge wear, etc. Improperly set pulley/tensioner, idler, and water pump could also lead to premature timing belt failure.

In your case it does seem that the culprit was poor workmanship. I don't see any reason for a properly set timing belt to fail before 60000-80000 km. Shoot a strongly worded mail to Tata Customer Care, put this up on their Facebook page, and tweet their MD Mr. Karl Slym. Do put a link to this thread in all your communications with Tata Motors. Tata Motors is known to respond aggressively when the right strings are pulled.

All the best and keep this thread updated.

 

[manojodungat]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Very unfortunate indeed. Sorry for that.

A timing belt failure could cause extensive engine damage as I read elsewhere. In your case it gave away three times in 40,xxx km, which is just unacceptable. Don’t ever let your dealer/Tata get away with another replacement of the timing belt at FOC.

You need to get the whole engine assembly inspected by Tata Engineers not by those so called technicians at the dealership level. Whether a poor workmanship or a manufacturing defect – you certainly don’t need to know it and suffering from it.

BTW, where exactly is the vehicle now? Hope it is already at the TASS.
Did you get a loaner vehicle from the dealer? If not, get one immediately.
Wishing you the very best of luck and do keep us updated.

 

[Tornado]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Get the car repaired FOC and simply sell it off earliest. If these TATA and TASS are stranded on the reason why there is a hattric of the problem, you should not waste time as it would exponentially reduce resale value.

 

[jarpickle]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

goencho:What had the they changed along with the belt.Have the changed the pulley or the tensioners.Maybe the belt is not aligned properly which is causing it to strain and break off.

Ask them to check the angles of the pulleys.Also check the pulleys for excessive wear.Ask them to check all related parts.The Safari uses serpentine belt which connects a lot of the accessories, hence they fail when the belt is gone.

Fight with TASS and TASC.

Do update us on what is going on.

 

[goencho]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Got a call from the Area service manager(probably connected to the Regional office) today, he said that he'd get me a loaner car in the mean time my car is being repaired but the second thing he said that he ain't covering for the repairs, according to him the car repairs will run somewhere upto 25K and he needs me to pay part for it,secondly he flatly refused from paying for the towing charges. I told him exactly how he'd need to think again considering the car has got timing belt issues not just once but twice,left me stranded twice before and this time recently in a different state altogether just due to something faulty and wrong with the Dicor engine. I assured him that solving my issue FOC would be a better option rather then facing PR cleanup issues. Later he said he'd talk and get back to me again.

I spoke to the S.A. and the technicians regarding my vehicle and saw my vehicle too. They have made a report and have sent to the Tata HQ to find out what's the problem. They have right now disassembled the complete timing belt region. According to the technicians themselves they say there was something very wrong with the Safari and the Xenon 2.2 Dicor engines during my period and they had a lot of cases like this. When my Safari's belt broke the first time they did a retrofit with something called as a "d" kit, the second time just after 400-500kms after repair the belt conked off and they changed the HLA's along with the belt. Now just as i covered 20K from the second belt this happens.

Guys please pour in your suggestions as to what should I do next. I definitely am getting my towing charges from them and also want my repair done. I aint in a position to bear charges for no fault of mine. Please help.

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Did you post this on Tata Motors/Safari Facebook page and did you Tweet Karl Slym? If not, please do it now. Tata Motors top management is extremely responsive when it comes to such issues.

p.s.: I don't think 2009 Dicors had any problems. 2007 models did saw some retrofits, though. What's the VIN of your Safari?

 

[manojodungat]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Got a call from the Area service manager(probably connected to the Regional office) today, he said that he'd get me a loaner car in the mean time my car is being repaired but the second thing he said that he ain't covering for the repairs, according to him the car repairs will run somewhere upto 25K and he needs me to pay part for it,secondly he flatly refused from paying for the towing charges.

That is a good start. Get a good loaner car first, at the earliest.

• After that tell them strongly that you are not going to pay them anything at all.
• Also tell them that you will take your vehicle back from them,only after they sort out all the issues related FOC and that too with a letter of explanation for whatever issues they detected and resolved.
• Mean time as Sam said, post a link to this thread on Tata Motors/Safari Facebook page and Tweet Karl Slym as well without wasting any time.

 

[jarpickle]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Follow Sam's advice and start creating a media buzz.Use all avenues.If you have bills from the earlier issue, scan them and post them.Let us know when you post on facebook, I will like your post and comment on it.

Give them hell man.

 

[goencho]

Re: Tata Safari Left Me Stranded, Now a Hat-Trick!

Well thank you guys for all the support. I have tweeted to Mr. Karl Slym as well as the Tata Safari page.I will update you guys on the current happenings and hope you guys will alwyas give your best suggestions as always.

 

[jarpickle]

Do let us know what's their reply.

We are with you all the way

 

[swift&furious]

scary indeed, make sure your issue is highlighted in the FB page, i would do my part of passing it on to other Tata Safari owners i know, make a buzz they will feel the impact and will react to you positively

The car for which we paid 2L is doing its job wonderfully for almost 8 years till now with regular maintenance, paying more than 13L for a vehicle and experiencing all this trauma should really be hurting

 

[goencho]

Now for some updates:

I visited the TASS today and everybody from the CRO to the SA was in a "customer is king" attitude dont know why,did my problem have this effect or the escalation reached to the right spot,God only knows.

So anyhow,the TASS CRO gave me a Tata Manza as a loaner till my Safari is repaired. The second pleasant news was, Just as I reached the TASS,Mr. Sijjin (Area Service Manager) had called the CRO just at that moment to inquire whether I got the loaner vehicle or not. The CRO gave the phone to me and Mr. Sijjin told me that Tata will take care of my vehicle and the entire timing belt kit will be replaced under goodwill warranty.

I guess escalation helped after all. Now to see how good Tata keeps to its word and how soon I get my vehicle. Will keep you guys updated. Would love to hear your views too.

I had posted a couple of links to this thread on various FB & twitter pages related to Tata and finally someone,somewhere got fed up of me:

Dear Marlon,
Sincerely request your co-operation while the support team helps you resolve your case. As per the latest update from the team, a loaner vehicle has been arranged for you. Trust our team to ensure utmost satisfaction. Thank You.

 

[jarpickle]

Do you still have to bear part of the expenses?

Are they reimbursing any of the towing charges?