Brake-mechanism failure: Audi told to refund purchase amount of Q7

CHENNAI: Confirming the brake-mechanism failure which occurred even after servicing the vehicle twice, the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered Audi India to refund a sum of Rs.60.08 lakhs to a private firm that bought the car.

The commission also asked the global automobile giant to pay the complainant Rs.25000 as litigation expenditure.

TNCDRC’s president Justice R Subbiah and its member R Venkatesaperumal passed the award on November 22, 2022, on a complaint filed by Saravana Stores Tex represented by its Managing Partner R R Sabapathy.

Representing the firm, advocate Sanjay Pinto argued that due to the manufacturing defect in the brake mechanism, his client’s Audi Car-Q7 3.0 TDI Quattro suffered brake failure on July 20, 2014.

Stating that the incident caused great panic and trauma to the occupants as they were pushed to the verge of death, the complainant sought direction to replace the defective high-end car and also prayed for compensation of Rs.30 lakhs for undergoing mental agony.

“Despite the replacement of the parts in the brake system of the vehicle twice on November 12, 2013, and July 5, 2014, respectively, just two weeks after the servicing and repairing the brake mechanism, the vehicle had encountered the brake failure due to worn-out brake booster on July 20, 2014,” the counsel argued.

Recording the submissions, the Commission pointed out that the opposite party (Audi) being a globally renowned and reputed manufacturer, who claims that they cross-checked the details from their dealer, could have taken proper action into the matter by recalling the vehicle on their own initiative.

“They could have taken some real steps to recall the vehicle under intimation to the complainant, which they failed to do. In this case, both the Manufacturer and also the Dealer-cum-Service Station exhibited clear conduct of negligence and service deficiency,” the commission accused.

According to the commission, the service station replaces the parts that are supplied to them by the manufacturer and, even after such replacement, if the problem recurs, resultantly causing brake failure due to a worn-out brake booster that was not even signaled displayed by the high-end functioning with sensors, it only reflects the manufacturing defect surrounding the brake mechanism, for which, the 2nd OP must be held liable.

Concluding that it was a manufacturer defect, the commission directed the second opposite party Audi India to refund the purchase amount of Rs.60.08 lakhs and Rs.25000 as litigation expenses to the complainant.