Maruti Suzuki Ordered To Pay Rs 2 Lakh Compensation To Tamil Nadu Buyer In Car Defect Case
The commission found a manufacturing defect in the car and asked Maruti Suzuki to take back the car and pay compensation to the petitioner.
Published : September 13, 2025 at 6:53 PM IST
Thiruvarur: A consumer court in Tamil Nadu’s district ordered automobile conglomerate Maruti Suzuki to pay compensation of Rs. 2 lakh to a customer for selling him a defective car.
Karunanidhi (70), a resident of Madukkoor town, bought a Maruti Celerio car from PLA Motors, a Maruti dealer in Thanjavur, on May 14 last year for Rs. 659,447. After PLA told him that he would get an additional warranty of 3 years or up to one lakh kilometres in addition to the existing 2-year warranty by paying Rs. 10,280, he paid the additional money and got the warranty.
However, he heard an unusual noise coming from the engine area of the car, after which he flagged the issue and sent an email to Maruti Suzuki's customer service department.
“After the complaint mail, I then took the car to PLA Motors in Thanjavur for a free service on June 21. “The company technician inspected the car and said that the noise was fixed after a few hours,” Karunanidhi said. “However, noise continued to increase, so I had to bring the car in for service again on September 10 and 16. The company technician serviced the car and claimed that he had fixed the problem, but the noise reemerged,” he said.
Upset with the constant noise, Karunanidhi filed a case with the Thiruvarur District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. Maruti Suzuki appeared in the case and stated that there was “no manufacturing defect in the car” and that the noise mentioned by the complainant was a normal noise coming from the air conditioner. They also argued that the complainant should have driven the car well before buying it and been satisfied with it before buying it.
The company also argued that they had thoroughly tested the car before delivering it, and it had not made any such noise before, and that the complainant had driven the car after each service and was satisfied with it before taking it home.
The commission that investigated the complaint appointed a lawyer and an expert car mechanic to inspect the car. The car mechanic inspected the car and submitted a report stating that the noise in the car was due to a manufacturing defect.
Following the probe, the commission acquitted PLA Motors of the case in the judgment delivered today. Furthermore, the car’s manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, was ordered to take back the car and pay the petitioner, Karunanidhi, Rs. 2 lakh as compensation for mental anguish, along with the car’s price of Rs. 659,447, as well as Rs. 19,800 for legal costs and mechanic fees.
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