Honda?s hope
Recalls are pro-active countermeasures taken by Honda to upgrade parts that have potential of a malfunction, based on product complaints and their analysis anywhere in the world. If it is found that there is a potential of similar malfunction in cars sold in India, these product updates (PUD) are also carried out in India. HSCI has all the vehicle identification number (VIN) list of cars covered under the PUD. The company will communicate with the customers directly and inform them about the part replacement that needs to be carried out. This will be followed by a customer contact programme by the respective dealers, which includes fixing up for appointment for part replacement in the car. The part replacement will be carried out free of cost.
It is only natural that customers get anxious after knowing about recalls at the first instance. Our customer relationship department and dealers are, therefore, updated and fully equipped to handle the customers queries related to PUD.
The recall does not affect the brand if we do these part replacements proactively. In fact, our past experience shows that our brand has further strengthened in our customer?s mind. It is perceived as a very positive customer-centric move carried out by the company to benefit the customer.
Jnaneswar Sen, VP Marketing, Honda SCI
As told to John Sarkar
For the record, Honda is recalling more than 8,000 units of the City, sold in the Indian market in 2007, for a replacement of the power window switch located on the driver?s side door.
Toyota?s test
Toyota has announced a fix for nearly 1,50,000 vehicles in dealer inventory and 2.3 million vehicles in customer hands that will remedy a sticking accelerator pedal. It involves replacing a piece of the complete pedal assembly with a steel countermeasure bar that will be manufactured in Japan. The first examples of the countermeasure part should be arriving at dealers ?this week or next?, which would allow the 1,200 American dealers to begin repairs of the nearly 1,50,000 vehicles in Toyota?s inventory. Officials from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have reviewed the fix that Toyota has submitted, and have deemed it to be an acceptable solution to the company?s recall issue. Toyota?s top executive, family scion Akio Toyoda, finally broke his silence on January 28 and addressed the mounting calls for him to make some sort of statement regarding the increasing firestorm of controversy surrounding the global concern over the recalls. ?We are extremely sorry to have made customers uneasy,? Toyoda said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as broadcast by Japanese channel NHK. ?We plan to establish the facts and give an explanation that will remove customers? concerns as soon as possible,? he said.
Toyota?s reputation has taken a serious hit in terms of the bulletproof reliability of the vehicles it makes, but the sales impact has been rather immeasurable due to the fact that Toyota is not selling 57% of its US vehicle line-up at the moment. But if the public senses that Toyota has not been frank or forthcoming with the issue over the past several years, and has been attempting to hide the severity of the pedal issue, the sales impact from potential customers could be devastating.
Excerpts from IHS Global Insight auto analysts? Ian Fletcher & Aaron Bragman?s note on Toyota
After Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Sequoia and Tundra, the automaker is now considering a US and Japanese recall of Prius. There was no recall in India.
Nokia nips anxiety
During a routine quality control process, Nokia identified a potential product quality issue with a limited number of chargers manufactured by one of our third-party suppliers. Only a limited number of charger model for the Nokia 7210 Supernova handset were within the scope of the exchange programme in India.
As soon as the defect was detected, we took immediate action and stopped shipments of the chargers with a potential quality issue. We then launched an in-depth investigation with our supplier as well, as an independent third party and carried out thorough checks across all our devices chargers to narrow down on the specific model and manufacturing timeframe. Once we knew we needed to reach out to the consumer, we took a 360-degree approach to create a robust communications strategy. While at one end we took a completely open and responsible communications approach towards this activity, on the other hand, we also invested extensively in creating multiple redressal channels to address potential consumer queries.
To help consumers in India identify a charger under the programme, we put in place a simple three-step SMS solution:
Step-1: Key in (CHG) SPACE (the 27 digit in the serial number of the charger). Example: 4956279255070008866:0675387
Step-2: Send to 55555
Step-3: The SMS reply validated if the charger fell under the exchange programme and requested the consumer to go to the nearest care centre to get the charger replacement.
Starting November 10, 2009, consumers could also walk into any of our over 700 exclusive Nokia care centres (NCC) and any of our 700 Nokia priority dealership stores across the country and get their chargers checked and verified if they fell under the charger exchange programme, with NCC acting as the replacement centres as well. Additionally, consumers could also log in to http://chargerexchange.nokia.com and fill up their charger details, with replacement chargers couriered to (such) consumers.
From a communications point of view, Nokia reached out to consumers through media on November 9, 2009, over 12 states through press briefings and press releases in the media to clear their doubts and clarify the issue. We ensured the presence of a company spokesperson at all times of day to address all queries. A media campaign in multiple languages was also run with the above messages.
Today, three months later, we feel it was our openness and constant availability to media and consumers that has helped us further build on our consumers? trust.
Source: Nokia India spokesperson