Ola had recently issued a recall over the quality issues of the front fork of their electric scooter
Ola Electric had recently issued a voluntary recall of their scooter. This was in a response to multiple front fork breakdown cases reported across the country. Customers got a beefier front fork unit equipped for free. This new fork is said to withstand extreme conditions. Ola Electric mentions the new fork has a “much higher” FOS (Factor Of Safety) too.
Ola Electric has now shared a stunt video of their electric scooter, in an attempt to demonstrate toughness of its new front fork. In the video uploaded on Ola Electric, six people squeezed onto an Ola S1 scooter and rode it on uneven terrain for a brief period. Is this the right way of demonstrating strength of front forks?
Ola Electric Scooter Stunt
It seems that automakers are taking a rather offensive route to counter criticism. We saw Mahindra Scorpio N subjected under a waterfall to show durability of its sunroof. Now we see Ola taking a similar route. No explanation was given to customers regarding do’s and don’ts in both cases.
Speaking about the latest Ola electric scooter stunt with 6 people on board, all of them wore helmets. This stunt didn’t involve a public road. All individuals involved in this stunt seem to be teenagers. If you can’t spot the 6th person, he is sitting on the floorboard. You’re welcome. At the end of the video, Ola flashes a hashtag – #BuiltToPerfection.
In this 17-second video, we can see an Ola S1 scooter almost slammed to the ground. And still manages to traverse uneven and varied terrain. Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter to showcase the strength of its new front fork. He tweeted “Wow! The toughest stress test I’ve seen of any scooter till date. Ola S1 is a beast.”
Is a brief load like this equivalent to months or years of real-world usage with unfavourable road conditions? No. But the scooter did manage to hold on to its own against 6 young individuals. Proper comparison between old and new forks showing results of load tests, stress tests, bend tents, twist tests and compression tests would have made it more professional.
Ola Front Fork Issue
There have been multiple front-fork failure reports on Ola Scooters. This is a serious potential hazard and could very well lead to casualties, if unlucky. Single-sided fork lends a photogenic aspect to the scooter’s right side. Customers were hoping to get twin fork setups like on Ola S1 Air as part of the free-of-cost voluntary recall. That isn’t the case and Ola has issued a stronger single-sided front fork unit instead.
Durability reports of this new fork, in the long run, are yet to come. Also, FOS is an engineering term. Most products in India have much higher FOS anyway. That’s how a 1-tonne rated truck carries almost twice the load and a commuter motorcycle can take up to 3 times its intended load.
