Car parts getting damaged from fuel, says automakers' body, ties itself in knots
India's leading automobile industry body SIAM confirmed in a letter to the government what car owners have been alleging all this while over the E20
India's leading automobile industry body SIAM confirmed in a letter to the government what car owners have been alleging all this while over the E20 policy. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said there was a "huge increase" in cases of damage to vehicle parts due to fuel contamination at petrol pumps after the introduction of E20 petrol. However, as the contents of the letter became public, SIAM quickly retracted the letter, earning the moniker of Scared Indian Auto Manufacturers. Read Full Story SIAM, a non-profit group that represents major Indian auto and engine producers, in a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) on July 28, a copy of which is with India Today Digital, revealed that its members had observed a "massive increase" in issues with customer vehicle parts and their replacements. The SIAM members observed issues mostly with fuel injectors, fuel pumps, the EGR valve, the exhaust, and parts that are in direct contact with fuel or engine emissions. In the letter to the oil ministry, the automobile industry body also cited a field investigation and said that the reason for the failure of vehicle parts is "corrosion and wear" caused by "high chloride presence" in the fuel. According to a research paper in the Corrosion Science journal, high chloride contamination in fuel happens when saltwater, chemical impurities, or industrial cleaning agents mix with the fuel supply chain, often worsened by moisture build-up and ageing underground storage tanks. The issues are being flagged even as the government has advanced the deadline for the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme, making the sale of 20% of ethanol in petrol or E20 mandatory. Ethanol is hygroscopic in nature, meaning that it attracts moisture. SIAM said that chloride issues had increased specifically after the introduction of E20 fuel. However, SIAM issued a clarification on Tuesday (August 4) night as the contents of its letter spread like wildfire.
SIAM's retraction is only a part of a series of curious incidents related to the letter. Several news websites that reported on the letter and its contents had pulled down their articles, with their pages showing a 404 error. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, meanwhile, said it was vigorously checking for contamination of fuel multiple times a day. The wording of the SIAM retraction statement parroted the statement of the oil ministry. While the government mandated E20 petrol in April 2023, over 80% of the vehicles in the country remained incompatible. People are demanding that compatible fuel be made available till their vehicles are phased out. SIAM'S RETRACTION, AN ATTEMPT TO SHIELD GOVT, ACTIVIST POONAWALLA ALLEGES After SIAM issued the clarification and retracted its letter to the oil ministry, activist and founder of Team Bharat Tehseen Poonwalla alleged that the retraction by SIAM showed that it was under pressure from the government on the E20 issue. "A direct side-by-side technical evaluation of both documents exposes alarming contradictions that severely undermine the technical authority of the auto industry’s premier apex body, giving the distinct impression of an institutional retreat under administrative duress," Poonawalla told India Today Digital. The SIAM letter included numbers backed by scientific studies regarding the contamination and excessive moisture content in fuel. "Submitting detailed laboratory figures to a Union ministry only to publicly discard them upon administrative scrutiny suggests that scientific rigor and engineering facts were abruptly discarded the moment they collided with policy narratives," Poonawalla, whose Team Bharat has been protesting against the government's "rushed implementation" of E20 policy, said. "SIAM has chosen to walk back its own technical findings to shield higher administrative directives, leaving vehicle owners to absorb the mechanical and financial fallout of unaddressed fuel quality issues," he added, warning that this decision of SIAM had fundamentally damaged its credibility. Activist and Team Bharat founder Tehseen Poonawalla (centre) and others held a protest on July 5 over the mandatory implementation of the 20% ethanol blending (E20) policy in petrol at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
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