Electric vehicles have registered a surge in their adoption in the country, however, there have been instances of electric vehicles offering sour ownership experiences. One such incident that was reported from Hyderabad last year, involved a Tata Nexon that caught fire. The owner of the vehicles - Mr. Jonathan Brainard, reached out to the district consumer disputes redressal commission of Hyderabad to seek a full refund of the price he paid to buy the electric SUV. Now in 2024, the court has Tata Motors to compensate the complainant.
The Compensation!
The court has directed Tata Motors to refund the full amount paid during the car purchase (Rs 16.95 lakh), along with an interest of 9 per cent. In addition, Tata Motors will have to pay Rs 10,000, which is the expense incurred by the electric SUV owner, to file the legal complaint. Lastly, a payment of Rs 2.50 lakh will have to be made by the carmaker as compensation for the mental agony caused to the owner and the motorcyclist who was injured while the incident took place.
What The Owner Has To Say:
As per the owner, the Tata Nexon EV offered a rather good ownership experience initially, but the SUV started to throw issues from the first 11 months from the date of purchase. Brainard mentioned that the car would stop running even if the state of charge stood at 18 per cent. Also, changing driving modes will become a nearly impossible job at times. Later, the owner was offered a battery replacement, but the new battery pack that came to him was a refurbished one. After 12 days of the replacement battery's installation, the car caught fire.
The owner reiterated that he heard a loud sound, which panicked him. Resultantly, he crashed the car into a stationary motorcyclist and then into a tree. Upon getting out of the Nexon EV, the owner spotted flames from the underside of the car. The incident caused complete damage to the vehicle.
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