Ford owns up to emissions irregularity
NEWS
Lawyers and prosecutors are already scrambling after US-based Ford Motor Company confessed that its published fuel economy and emissions figures were wrong.
While Ford hasn’t confirmed how widespread the problem is, the initial focus is on the 2019 model Ranger pickup.
The company confirmed it had hired an outside expert to investigate how it got fuel-economy data wrong, with its confession leading to a slight dip in its share price.
While insisting it did not have a “defeat device” like the one used by the Volkswagen Group to skirt official test procedures, Ford still faces huge fines and possible class action lawsuits in the US.
Group vice-president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering, Kimberly Pittel, said Ford employees raised concerns that the mileage and emissions data given by Ford to government officials were incorrectly calculated.
Pittel confirmed Ford voluntarily shared the information with the US Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board last week.
A statement from the EPA insisted the information Ford provided was “too incomplete for EPA to reach any conclusions. We take the potential issues seriously and are following up with the company to fully understand the circumstances behind this disclosure.”
It’s not the first time Ford has messed up its published official fuel economy figures. It was forced to cut 3l/100km from the C-Max hybrid’s claims and compensate owners in 2013 after customers complained they couldn’t match the published mileage. It then cut the claimed mileage from six other models a year later.
In 2014 Ford South Africa withdrew an internet advertisement that misled the public about the fuel consumption of its EcoSport crossover vehicle.
Highlighting the discrepancy between car manufacturers’ claimed economy figures versus real-world fuel consumption, the Advertising Standards Authority found the advert didn’t sufficiently inform motorists that the quoted consumption figures were obtained in controlled test conditions and weren’t realistically attainable by customers.
There has been a major clampdown on fuel economy and emissions claims in the US since Dieselgate struck in 2015, costing the Volkswagen Group more than $25bn (R346bn).
South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia were forced to pay $300m and paid out another $400m in class action suits after misquoting its economy figures in 2013. The fine prodded MercedesBenz, Ford and Mini to lower their fuel economy claims.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was fined $77m this month after it failed to meet fuel economy requirements in 2016.