Ford’s cocktail of failures
THIS week yet another Ford Kuga went up in flames on one of South Africa’s roads. On Wednesday afternoon Johannesburg businessman Warren Krog stood on the roadside and watched in disbelief as his 2013 Kuga was reduced to ashes.
Closer to home, a motorist driving on the R63 between King Williams Town and Dimbaza lost her car after it self-ignited on Friday last week.
Krog’s car was the 45th Kuga to self-ignite after the death of Reshall Jimmy, who burnt to death inside his car in December 2015.
The car manufacturer has yet to recall these seemingly dangerous coffins on wheels.
After months of obfuscation and denials, Ford SA this month finally admitted – albeit grudgingly and only after public pressure – that the cause of the fires could be the car engines overheating.
The problem batch of Kugas were fitted with 1.6l EcoBoost engines.
Ford has already recalled over 150 000 similar models in the US and China, yet the company will not do so in South Africa.
Evidently the company does not value the lives of its South African customers. Such behaviour smacks of corporate arrogance and greed.
Instead of a recall, Ford is asking Kuga owners to take their cars to their maintenance workshops to have their coolant systems checked.
What more will it take for the company to recall this seemingly dangerous model? How much longer will Ford bury its head in the sand and pretend all is well?
The strong likelihood is that Krog’s car will not be the last Kuga to catch fire – especially since it has now been revealed that the company does not even have enough parts to deal with the demands of panicking owners.
This risky PR blunder is also doing Ford SA no favours. Had they taken a decision to recall the cars, as has been done elsewhere, and had they admitted to the model’s fault from the earliest possible outset, burning Kugas would not continue making headlines.
The Jimmy case was and remains heart-breaking to say the least. His family not only lost a loved one but their trauma has been exacerbated by an ongoing legal tussle between them and Ford SA over the source of the fire that killed him.
Surely a company with a semblance of integrity would have avoided getting deeper into a troubled situation?
Equally shocking is that the National Consumer Commission and the government have not stepped in to force Ford SA to recall the obviously dangerous vehicles.
The Ford Kuga saga is a lesson for other companies on how not to deal with a crisis. And Ford SA should hang its head in shame.