Jodhpur : Jodhpur Mercedes Benz worth Rs 99 lakh crashes without airbags opening: Consumer Commission orders the company to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh and repair the vehicle within two months. A handicraft businessman from Jodhpur bought a Mercedes Benz car and when he was going to Ahmedabad with his family, the air bags suddenly opened, thus an accident was avoided. On this the businessman gave the car to the dealer and told that there was a default in its manufacturing. On this the dealer assured to fix it but did not fix it. When the businessman asked for registration fee and compensation, the dealer refused and the businessman took refuge in the Consumer Commission. After hearing the petition, the Commission decided that automatic opening of airbags is a service fault. The dealer was ordered to pay Rs 5 lakh to the businessman as compensation for the mental damage he suffered and orders were also issued to repair the vehicle within two months.
M/s Suncity Art Export Partner, Jodhpur, Jitendra Jain had filed the suit against Mercedes Bench and others. State Consumer Commission in Jodhpur Bench considered the automatic opening of driver’s side air bag of Mercedes Benz as a service defect and ordered to replace the air bag and pay Rs 5 lakh as mental agony to the complainant for the trouble caused to him. Complainant before the State Consumer Jodhpur Bench. Jitendra Jain, partner of Suncity Art Export, while presenting a complaint against Mercedes Bench Company and local dealer T&T Motor, said that the complainant had bought the Mercedes Bench Car from the dealer for Rs. 88 lakhs. Bought it for Rs 87 thousand and paid Rs 9 lakh 94 thousand for registration.
In June 2023, he was going from Udaipur to Ahmedabad with his wife. Suddenly the driver’s side curtain airbags in the car opened without any reason. The complainant and his wife survived the accident. The complainant’s car was taken to the dealer. Dealer Bar- Bar assured to get the car repaired soon but did not repair the car. The dealer could not understand the fault in the car for a long time. The dealer did not even provide the car to the complainant. The car remained for one and a half years. Workshop from The dealer gave the defective car to the complainant in return for which the complainant demanded a new car along with the registration amount and compensation.
On behalf of the dealer, his lawyer told the Commission that the car was being used commercially and earlier it was told that while going to Ahmedabad, the tire of the truck running near the car burst and the bag got opened and later they changed it to manufacturing. Defect was reported. When the technical team inspected the car, it was found that due to high pressure reading on the airbag sensor, the airbags opened due to air shock. This is an accident case. There is no manufacturing defect in the car. Is. The complainant did not give approval regarding carrying out the necessary repairs. An estimate was also given to the complainant, if there was a manufacturing default in the vehicle then how could the car last thousands of kilometres.
After hearing the arguments of both the parties, judicial member of the commission Urmila Verma and member Liaqat Ali, considering the arguments of both the parties and the available evidence and judicial precedents, said in their decision that whether any car has been purchased for commercial use or not, it will be decided in each case. It will depend on the facts and circumstances. The complainant gave the information that a truck had passed near the car and its tire burst. No such document is present on the file. It is also shown in the manual of the car that the vehicle’s tire burst. Airbags will open only in case of collision, whereas there was no collision with the car. The Commission, in its detailed decision, said that the side airbags in the Mercedes Benz car opened without any collision, which is a service defect. Accepting the complaint of the complainant, the Commission issued its order. Said that the airbag and necessary parts of the car should be replaced and handed over within two months. Ordered to pay Rs 5 lakh within a period of two months for the mental distress caused to the complainant and Rs 25,000 as complaint expenses. l Advocate Lata Jain on behalf of the complainant and Mohit Sharma and N.K. on behalf of the opposition. Dadhich advocate appeared.
