GM's Tavera recall gets murkier as co fires staff for fudging data

General Motors’ voluntary recall of 1.14 lakh Taveras, its multi-utility vehicles, just got murkier after the company reportedly fired a few executives in connection with the incident.

According to a report in the Mint quoting three people familiar with the development, the company has asked more than 20 executives, including four top managers, to leave.

The company had recalled Taveras manufactured between 2005 and 2013 to address emissions and specification issues.

The company had said it has informed the Indian government authorities of an emissions issue involving the Tavera BSIII and an issue with the Tavera BSIV meeting certain specifications.

[caption id=“attachment_988137” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] General Motors’ voluntary recall of 1.14 lakh Taveras, its multi-utility vehicles, just got murkier after the company reportedly fired a few executives in connection with the incident.[/caption]

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It also offered to repair the vehicles recalled free of charge. Tavera’s is one of the largest vehicle recalls in India.

In response, the road transport ministry set up a panel to probe the recall and decide if any penal action would be taken against the company, said a PTI report.

“The committee will find out how it happened when there are standard emission norms specified in detail by the government,” a ministry official told PTI.

The company has stopped production and sale of the Tavera BSIII on June 4 and the Tavera BSIV on July 2.

GM India spokesperson has told the Mint that the company will work closely with Indian authorities to resolve the issues. He has not commented on the action taken against the staff.

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However, the report says the parent company has taken the issue seriously and indicated some heads will roll in connection with the recall.

Whatever the truth is, the company’s action against its staff has given rise to the question as to whether it can hold the staff responsible for the recall?

An Economic Times report today says the company has told the government that the violation happened because some of its staff “re-fitted already approved engines in new Tavera models sent for inspection”.

Moreover, it has also admitted that the weight of some of its models was manipulated in order to get around stringent emission norms governing lighter vehicles.

As per reports, the company has recalled Taveras sold during 2005-13. What this means is that the fudging continued unabatedly for eight long years. It is difficult to believe that this happened without the knowledge of the management.

Take for instance weight manipulation. How can a lower rung staff change a key data, like weight of a car, to be submitted to the government without the knowledge of top management?

Even in the case of refitting the inspected engines, there is a mystery.

An unnamed government official has told ET that vehicles are selected for testing randomly. “So it is not clear how they were able to use pre-tested engines for the vehicles being tested,” the official has been quoted as saying in the report.

The government seems to be resolved to get to the bottom of the issue.

Vijay Chhibber, secretary, ministry of road transport and highways has indicated to the Mint that the problem is more critical as it is “a very basic problem with the engine” and not a case of malfunctioning.

The government official quoted in the ET report says once the irregularities and violations are proved, the company could be slapped with a penalty and “even more serious provisions of the Indian Penal Code could be invoked if widespread collusion was established”.

The issue has also put the spotlight on the gapping holes in the voluntary recall policy of the Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) put in place last year.

The policy, devised by carmakers themselves, deals with only safety issues and not emission problems. This shows how careless companies are about serious environmental issues such as pollution and climate change.

Ever since the policy was put in place, about 2 lakh vehicles have been recalled, notes the PTI report. But it will be unfair to celebrate the success of this self regulation until companies become more sensitive to and responsible about these green issues.