Ola Electric: The tweet alleged even the physical structure could be unsafe
A man has tweeted a photo of his broken Ola Electric scooter, claiming the front suspension - the tube that connects the wheel to the handlebar - broke during low-speed driving, presenting a very dangerous situation.
Ola Electric has been firefighting criticism from its scooter customers after incidents of the two-wheelers burning up on account of battery issues were reported from across the country.
The latest tweet, however, alleged even the physical structure could be unsafe, in addition to the fire incidents.
"The front fork is breaking even in small speed driving and it is a serious and dangerous thing we are facing now, we would like to request that we need a replacement or design change on that part and save our life from a road accident due to poor material used," the owner of an Ola S1 Pro, Sreenadh Menon, tweeted along with a photo of his wrecked ride.
Mr Menon also tagged Ola CEO and co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal in the post.
The photo shows the front tyre of the black electric scooter has come off. The scooter rests on the ground in a forward tilt, since the front fork is broken.
More people tweeted photos of what they claimed were incidents of the fork breaking.
"This is a misery that happened to me. The front fork got collapsed while hitting a wall at a speed of 25 kmph in eco mode along an uphill side. Similar issue happened to some other customers in plain road also. Take this as a serious and most urgent problem and resolve it soon," a Twitter user, Anand Lavakumar, posted on the same thread, to which Ola Electric's official handle responded they would connect with him in a call.
Ola in a statement on Saturday said the recently reported incidents of front fork breakage are due to isolated high impact accidents.
"Vehicle safety and quality standards are of paramount importance at Ola. Ola today has more than 50,000 scooters on the road. So far, our scooters have travelled over 45 million cumulative km on Indian roads. The recently reported incidents of front fork breakage are due to isolated high impact accidents. All our scooters undergo rigorous quality and performance assessment across different terrains and riding conditions in India," Ola said in the statement.
In late April, Ola Electric said it would recall 1,441 scooters in the wake of incidents of vehicles catching fire. Before that, the government ordered an investigation into the incident of an Ola electric scooter catching fire in Pune.