Jan 09, 2011 08:25 PM
9077 Views
Here is a shocking encounter with i20's bad quality parts, lack of security indications and horrible service (by Advaith). My 4-month old i20 (Asta O) broke down on national highway.
Suddenly the engine stopped in the middle of the highway at around 7 pm while driving at around 100 and all display went blank.
The ICE and other electronic settings were reset completely. Fortunately I was able steer it to the side of the highway.
When I tried starting again, it would not start and after repeated attempts to start the battery became weak. Stranded in pitch dark highway side, I called up the Hyundai Roadside Assistance. They tried assist through phone to check the battery connection etc, but nothing could be done due to lack of proper light.
Then they called the towing service which came around after 2 hours. Till then the battery was discharging as the parking light was on and after an hour even the parking light is completely gone. The vehicle was towed to some other nearest service station. As it was Christmas eve, the service center was closed so I just left it there and took a taxi to my place. It was looked into after two days.
The service engineer mentioned it was due to loose connection from alternator to battery due to which the power was not going to recharge the battery. What was shocking is that I had just got it back from service few days back from Advaith in Bangalore and immediately made that trip of scarcely around 300km.
And it's just a 4 month old car. When I returned to Bangalore, they again had a look but had no clue how it happened and kept mentioned it was proper when it left their service center and never bothered to investigate the main cause despite repeated complaints.
Either way : If it is a loose connection which somehow happened, it goes to show the quality of parts which just gets disconnected. If it happened in the service center, which I believe to be the case, they didn't properly check or had inadvertently messed up the wiring.
Also, there should have been proper indication when there is a loose connection between such important components in a 7 lakh car which will lead to such breakdowns. Also, they do not have a true 24x7 assistance in terms of mechanics: you need park your vehicle until the service station opens and the mechanic arrives on normal duty.
So if you are an i20 owner, just keep those roadside assistance numbers handy, because you may need them at any time...
