Indian Army And Mitsubishi Lock Horns Over Engine Malfunction in Pajero SUV

The Indian Army and the carmaker Mitsubishi Motors are in dispute over the poor quality of the Pajero SUVs procured by the Indian Army to use in the sensitive expanse of Indo-China border in Sikkim. The engine malfunctioning of some units made the Army to bring that faulty units back to Kolkata.

As per the Mitsubishi Motors, the unusual engine problem is developed due to the insistence use of poor quality diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) by the Army. This fuel contains 70% kerosene of instead of imported additives recommended by the carmaker.

Now these defected Pajero SUV is serving different duties in Kolkata, one from the three called back vehicles is now being used at Fort William, the Army's Eastern Command Headquarters. Even Eastern Army commander Lt-Gen Praveen Bakshi is also utilizing one for its works, due to compulsion, According to the Army spokesperson.

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He further added,"The Pajeros supplied to Sikkim did not perform up to our expectations, particularly in the higher altitudes. Their engines developed problems.The situation was so bad that we had to bring down three of them to the plains. It would serve no purpose to allow them to rot. We are trying to make best use of these vehicles."

Mitsubishi Motors countered, "There is no problem with the vehicle or its engine. In fact, the Pajero is a robust vehicle that has performed extremely well in extreme weather conditions. The problems are related to usage of poor quality of diesel, which has maximum kerosene content." And,"Due to the use of different fuel, it developed major issues in the fuel injection pumps and related engine parts. We have extended our support to use additive to avoid diesel freezing, but they have never followed our suggestions. Poor maintenance is also a problem."

The Indian Army had decided to acquire Pajero SUVs in the 2010-11 period since these similar SUVs were already being used by the People’s Liberation Army on the other side of the border. In the eastern Himalayas, the Army mainly uses Maruti’s Gypsy and Mahindra four wheel drive SUVs. Between 2011 and 2014, at least a dozen Pajero SUVs were sent to Sikkim and Mitsubishi has agreed to brought down at least 2 of these sent vehicles.