While we are witnessing EVs going up in flames and having technical glitches, ICEs also face trouble. One example is a new Tata Nexon DCA, which faced issues with its gearbox, as reported by a user on Team BHP. According to the user, the Nexon shifted to neutral by itself — something that looks like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Tata Nexon DCA – Gearbox issue
As the user states, the issue happened when travelling from Murudeshwar to Bangalore and after around 130km, the Nexon shifted to neutral by itself, and the accelerator pedal also wouldn’t respond. Like an electronic gadget, the user did a hard reset by turning off the Nexon and restarting it. This time, the user did manage to get the gearbox to ‘Drive’ mode.
The journey continued, and after a while, the Nexon’s drive modes started changing by itself, and the gearbox went back to neutral. The user was able to pull over to the side carefully. Rebbot methods did not work and the user eventually called the showroom where the Nexon was purchased but was redirected to call the toll-free number, and the Nexon was eventually towed to the nearest service centre.
The gremlins
After the Nexon was checked, the customer was eventually given updates after a week saying that the Transmission Control Unit (TCU) and ABS were malfunctioning. The spares would be ordered and it would take 10 more days to get the Nexon fixed. This raised a lot of questions, which can be found on the Team BHP thread.
What Tata Motors had to say
Tata Motors’ technical team eventually reached out to the user and wanted a meeting in private. As the user reveals, Tata Motors has decided to change the entire gearbox of the Nexon, worth Rs 3.5 lakh. The company will figure out what caused the problem after a detailed inspection and will update the owner.
Other gearbox woes
The above could be a scary situation, however, other carmakers have had gearbox issues as well in recent times. Kia and Hyundai issued recalls recently for the Seltos, Verna, and Creta for issues with the gearbox. While these were mass recalls that affected several units, the Tata Nexon incident is something that needs more scrutiny.
