Maruti recalls 3,796 units of Ciaz

India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, on Monday said it would call back 3,796 units of its newly launched mid-sized sedan Ciaz to fix a suspected faulty clutch in the manual version of the car. The fault does not impair the safety of the vehicle but may lead to problems in engaging gears.

The company stopped short of calling the move a recall, terming it "a service campaign to minimise any future inconvenience to customers." This is Maruti's third car recall this year. Car recalls have become common in the Indian market and over 700,000 vehicles have been fixed for various malfunctions in the last three years.

"Maruti Suzuki India Ltd will proactively undertake a service campaign to inspect a suspected fault and replace the relevant part of clutch operation system of a batch of 3,796 Ciaz (manual transmission) cars," the company said. "The cars are among those manufactured till November 7,2014. The initiative for the Ciaz is not a recall."

The company said dealers have started to communicate with owners of impacted vehicles. The inspection and replacement will be done free of cost.

Ciaz is the company's third attempt at cracking the mid-size sedan segment that is ruled by Honda City and Hyundai Verna. Traditionally, Indian buyers have stayed away from buying premium sedans offered by established small car makers such as Maruti.

This is the second instance after Ford EcoSport last year, when a car has been recalled barely a month after launch.