My car, a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta Highline 2.0AT had on 8:30 am Wednesday, 1st February 2017 caught fire when parked at my office in Cochin.
Hardly 5 minutes after my arrival at office, I was informed by the neighbor's watchman, who was in a frantic and tensed state, that fumes were arising from under the bonnet of my car. On stepping outside the office, I was shocked and stunned to see dark fumes arising and also a burning fire under the bonnet, as visible from the sides through the tires. Desperate attempts by me and all those gathered to open the bonnet using the mechanism proved futile as by then the same had obviously failed.
It took a 45 min effort, during which the entire neighborhood stepped in, to douse the flames using buckets of water and garden hoses. The bonnet, during the effort, had to be manually pried open, in order to bring the flames under control. Also, due to the intense heat, the bonnet has in fact deformed.
The officials from the local dealer, Volkswagen Ernakulam KTC Cars arrived at my office after the flames were doused, and removed the car to their service center.
My shock and surprise about this incident is difficult to put into words. I shudder to think as to what would have happened, if I was in the car and the ignition turned on. The car's fuel tank was 75% full. It is also shocking that a VW premium car, which is not even two years old, would simply burst into flames when idle. My car was well maintained, and the entire service records are available with VW Ernakulam. In fact, my vehicle had even been sent for the company recall just a few months ago. Being a person who has always sworn by VW vehicles, and having just bought a brand new VW Polo GT TSI hardly a month ago, this incident is highly unpalatable and shocking to digest. The vehicle was only 1.5 years old. The vehicle is still covered under warranty. No modifications whatsoever existed on my car.
Today marks 15 days from the incident. Numerous emails have passed between me and Volkswagen Group Sales India with respect to this matter, to date. All I get is a funny sounding call center person reading to me from some script in response. In the interim, Volkswagen Ernakulam KTC Cars has raised an estimate of over Rs. 30 lakhs for repairing the car! The on-road price of the car at the time of purchase was only Rs. 25 lakhs.
Today, after a lot of talk, two people stating to be from Volkswagen India have arrived at Volkswagen Ernakulam KTC Cars and begun to inspect my car. When I spoke to them, they're response was that they would have to prepare a report and then discuss with their officials at Volkswagen Germany. So that obviously is going to take much more of time. Nobody has any answers.
What is even more distressing is that despite all these highly unacceptable delays, Volkswagen, Volkswagen India, Volkswagen Group Sales India or Volkswagen Ernakulam KTC Cars has not acceded to my request for a standby car. Any prudent man can come to a conclusion about the quality of a car if the same goes up in flames after hardly 1.5 years. It is shocking that they shy away from even the responsibility of providing a standby car, forget not giving a positive answer as to what they intend to do!
I write this here today as a dismayed, disgruntled and distressed customer. The purpose of writing this is 'caveat emptor' i.e. let the buyer beware. Being one of the first Latin terms I was taught when I took up law, the same has always stuck with me. But today, it seems I wasn't aware enough.
If you own or plan to buy a Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Group Sales India's most premium sedan on the road today in India, BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE!
(Copied verbatim from a status update on Facebook on 2017-02-15 by Mr. Isaac Thomas, the owner of the ill-fated VW Jetta car)
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