Kuga victim’s family to sue

We have come into contact with other Ford fire victims

PRETORIA: The majority of families whose Ford Kuga SUVs burst into flames in South Africa in the past few months would file a classaction lawsuit, their attorney announced yesterday.

Attorney Rod Montano said 31 claims against Ford were handed to the National Consumer Commission.

“Initially, I was instructed by the Reshall family, Montano said. “The initial goal was to assist in the investigation by the SAPS in George into the inquest relating to Jimmy Reshall’s death.

“As the matters progressed with the epidemic of Ford fires that have occurred… we’ve come into contact with other Ford fire victims.”

Reshall, 33, was on holiday in George when his vehicle caught fire. He was burnt beyond recognition.

His brother Kaveen said the Ford Kuga SUV had been problematic with a range of technical issues.

“The first issue he had with this vehicle was with regards to his brakes. The challenge there was his brakes going out unusually fast.

“He consulted me for advice and I told him to buy new brakes – it’s a faster way of getting it done.

“He kept having power issues with his vehicle. When he was driving, it lost all power. It happened so much to a point where the vehicle just burst forward.

“The week before he went to George, he took his vehicle to Ford for a service check and he asked them to look into the vehicle because of the power issues. He was concerned it was not safe and we were going to drive quite far. They told him his vehicle was safe and good to go.”

Kaveen said that shortly after Jimmy’s death, Ford officials claimed there was no trail of service history records on the vehicle.

“Later in a meeting with Rod Montano, we uncovered that the service records were still intact on their system. This was some eight months later.”

Montano said the classaction lawsuit would be pursued jointly through the National Consumer Commission, as well as civil claims for the losses suffered.

“We are in the process of obtaining [the names of] the remaining few victims.

“The difficulty we had over the December period was getting in contact with those persons. Consultations are ongoing and we hope to act on behalf of all Ford Kuga fire victims.”

On Monday, Ford Southern Africa announced it was recalling the Ford Kuga 1.6 SUV as part of a “safety recall” after some 40 cases of the model igniting on South African roads.

Ford chief executive for the sub-Saharan Africa region Jeff Nemeth said the Ford Kuga 1.6, manufactured between December 2012 to February 2014, should be taken to a Ford dealer as soon as possible.

This included those already checked, he said. The recall affected more than 4000 vehicles, he said.

Other Ford models and other Ford Kuga engine derivatives – the 1.5 and 2-litre models – were not affected.

Nemeth said that besides the Reshall case, which was being investigated, his company was not aware of any injuries that resulted from the engine compartment fires of the Ford Kuga 1.6.

“Based on the current data, we have determined the fires are due to overheating caused by lack of coolant circulation, which can lead to a cracking of the cylinder head and therefore an oil leak,” he said.

“If the leaking oil [from the cylinder head] reaches a hot engine component, it can potentially catch fire.

“We’ve seen various numbers circulating, however, today we can confirm that a total of 39 incidents have been reported to Ford.”