Indian court directs German luxury car maker Audi to pay Rs. 60 lakh to customer for faulty brakes

Over the years, the major automakers in the country have most of the time managed to escape the consequences of selling defective products to customers in India. Most of these companies get away with their deeds because of major corporate lawyers although this time around one of the biggest names in the Indian car market was directed to compensate the owner of a faulty car from their brand. In this case, the German automaker Volkswagen which owns Audi India has been asked to pay Rs 60 lakh to the owner of a Q7 in Chennai.

Recently Volkswagen the owner of Audi AG has been ordered by the Tamil Nadu Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to reimburse the full Rs 60 lakh purchase price to a city businessman who purchased an Audi Q7 SUV in 2009. The owner filed a complaint that he has experienced many brake-related issues ever since 2014. Volkswagen has been given two months by the commission bench composed of Justice R Subbiah and member R Venkatesaperumal to pay Saravana Stores Tex, the company that purchased the vehicle, 60 lakh along with the litigation costs of Rs 25,000.

The verdict from the Tamil Nadu Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission stated, “No service provider can be allowed to go scot-free when a defect in their product is found to have the potential to cause serious injury or major loss to the consumer, particularly in respect of safety feature of the vehicle.” It further added, “Mere denial is not sufficient to taint the truthfulness of the failure in brake mechanism.”

Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500

Back in January of 2009, the plaintiff purchased an Audi Q7 3.0 TDI Quattro under his company’s name. He then described that on July 20, 2014 while travelling with his family, they narrowly avoided a tragedy when their vehicle experienced brake failure close to Kallakurichi. Earlier he  requested 30 lakh in compensation in addition to the replacement of the car from the commission after many setbacks. Although  Sanjay Pinto contended that the car’s purchase price of 60 lakh and the 42,036 kilometres it had travelled demonstrated that it had not been used roughly as the company had claimed. At first, it underwent a 2.4 lakh service, but the brake issue persisted. It wouldn’t have happened again unless it was intrinsic, he claimed.

Along with casting doubt on the case’s capacity to be maintained, the company and its dealer also contested the purported occurrence of brake failure and contended that it was untrue to claim that the car had any inherent manufacturing flaws. The panel rejected the arguments, citing tax invoice bills, and stated that the complainant had twice paid huge sums totaling lakhs of rupees to the corporation and the dealer for repairs, replacements, and service.

In a similar case of a complaint against a major automaker, recently Rajeev Agrawal, an industrialist from Ahmedabad filed a complaint against Cargo Motors Ltd, the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) dealership in Ahmedabad. Agrawal said that he filed a complaint with the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission against his Jaguar dealer for harassment. He said that despite taking his Jaguar XE sedan to Cargo Motors Ltd for repair three times beginning in September 2021, the problem had continued for the last four months and had not been fixed. He alleged that he has been subjected to dealer harassment for over 10 months.

Also read: Upcoming 2022 Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza rendered

Over the years, the major automakers in the country have most of the time managed to escape the consequences of selling defective products to customers in India. Most of these companies get away with their deeds because of major corporate lawyers although this time around one of the biggest names in the Indian car market was directed to compensate the owner of a faulty car from their brand. In this case, the German automaker Volkswagen which owns Audi India has been asked to pay Rs 60 lakh to the owner of a Q7 in Chennai.

Recently Volkswagen the owner of Audi AG has been ordered by the Tamil Nadu Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to reimburse the full Rs 60 lakh purchase price to a city businessman who purchased an Audi Q7 SUV in 2009. The owner filed a complaint that he has experienced many brake-related issues ever since 2014. Volkswagen has been given two months by the commission bench composed of Justice R Subbiah and member R Venkatesaperumal to pay Saravana Stores Tex, the company that purchased the vehicle, 60 lakh along with the litigation costs of Rs 25,000.

The verdict from the Tamil Nadu Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission stated, “No service provider can be allowed to go scot-free when a defect in their product is found to have the potential to cause serious injury or major loss to the consumer, particularly in respect of safety feature of the vehicle.” It further added, “Mere denial is not sufficient to taint the truthfulness of the failure in brake mechanism.”

Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500

Back in January of 2009, the plaintiff purchased an Audi Q7 3.0 TDI Quattro under his company’s name. He then described that on July 20, 2014 while travelling with his family, they narrowly avoided a tragedy when their vehicle experienced brake failure close to Kallakurichi. Earlier he  requested 30 lakh in compensation in addition to the replacement of the car from the commission after many setbacks. Although  Sanjay Pinto contended that the car’s purchase price of 60 lakh and the 42,036 kilometres it had travelled demonstrated that it had not been used roughly as the company had claimed. At first, it underwent a 2.4 lakh service, but the brake issue persisted. It wouldn’t have happened again unless it was intrinsic, he claimed.

Along with casting doubt on the case’s capacity to be maintained, the company and its dealer also contested the purported occurrence of brake failure and contended that it was untrue to claim that the car had any inherent manufacturing flaws. The panel rejected the arguments, citing tax invoice bills, and stated that the complainant had twice paid huge sums totaling lakhs of rupees to the corporation and the dealer for repairs, replacements, and service.

In a similar case of a complaint against a major automaker, recently Rajeev Agrawal, an industrialist from Ahmedabad filed a complaint against Cargo Motors Ltd, the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) dealership in Ahmedabad. Agrawal said that he filed a complaint with the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission against his Jaguar dealer for harassment. He said that despite taking his Jaguar XE sedan to Cargo Motors Ltd for repair three times beginning in September 2021, the problem had continued for the last four months and had not been fixed. He alleged that he has been subjected to dealer harassment for over 10 months.

Also read: Upcoming 2022 Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza rendered