Chevrolet Cruze is one of the popular sedan in the premium sedan market and in spite of not being so popular in the Indian market, is considered to be a value for money car, which is Chevrolet’s USP as well. So far the car has been good enough and I personally have driven this car on the Delhi-Jaipur highway and I must tell you it was a delight. The ride was enjoyable and quite fast as touching the car 150 km/hr mark was not a big deal.
Now coming to the main news, 4,75,000 units of Chevrolet Cruze manufactured between September 2010 and May 2012 have been recalled in the U.S.A and Canada as there were engine fire complaints. Ever since the car hit the showrooms overseas, which is nearly 2 years ago, this is the fifth time the car is being recalled, raising questions on the reliability of the car.
image – 2012 Chevrolet Cruze India
The current reported case count is 30 of which 2 cases were the scariest where flames engulfed and destroyed the cars. Starting from July 11, GM will notify owners about their free repair and the customers will have to bring their cars to the local dealers where it will be fixed by cutting the plastic shield and letting the fluids drain out.
In addition to this enormous count, GM has also recalled 61,000 Cruze which are covered in another recall, of which 249 have welds missing from the brackets that hold the tanks. In cases of severe accidents the tanks could come lose and become cause of fires.
Around the same time when Cruze was launched, eight other models were launched of which only two other models have been recalled, the Mini Countryman and Mitsubishi Outlander.
Alan Adler, General Motors’ spokesperson said that the company is backing up its products by offering free repairs for its customers. He quoted:
“When you discover an issue, you do what’s right by the customer, and that’s what we’ve done,”
On one hand where the 2013 Cruze has been unveiled in Korea, while on the other GM India is gearing up for the launch of the 2012 upgraded Cruze which is essentially the ongoing one but has an upgraded engine. 2012 New Chevrolet Cruze launches in India on 27th June with a new engine which delivers higher performance. There have been no recalls for the Cruze in Asia.
Source – USAtoday
