Close call for family in PE Kuga fire drama
Dealer assured owner after check-up that vehicle was safe
APORT Elizabeth family is in shock after their Ford Kuga burst into flames while they were driving through Gelvandale in a horrifying echo of a similar incident in Wilderness a year ago that left another Kuga driver burnt beyond recognition. The Port Elizabeth incident in the early hours of Saturday will likely put more pressure on Ford, with a Facebook site of angry Kuga owners already set up and an estimated 38 burn-out incidents reported so far.
Maria Daniels, 47, her boyfriend Alton Jantjies, 46, her two children and a friend escaped uninjured, but it could easily have been much worse.
The SUV stalled and flames erupted from under the bonnet just as they were about to roll into a service station.
Daniels, a senior bank employee, bought the second-hand 2013 Kuga EcoBoost Titanium automatic with 68 000km on the odometer on December 9 from Ford dealer Eastern Cape Motors along the William Moffett Expressway.
She said she had heard about the problems with the make but was assured by the saleswoman that they had been assessed and the problems were related to motorists modifying their vehicles with gadgets not approved by Ford.
As a devout Catholic, Daniels, of Aspen Heights, had the car blessed last week and was due to set off on a trip down the Garden Route with her family.
However, they had to delay the trip after the car would not start on Thursday. Ford mechanics diagnosed a faulty battery and replaced it but Daniels, with the prior reported Kuga incidents in the back of her mind and their holiday pending, insisted they do a safety check as well.
“They came back saying everything was fine with the vehicle and I was happy that they had gone through it,” she said. “Our plan was to leave early on Saturday morning.”
On Friday, at midnight, she and Jantjies, together with her daughter Sinclaire, 20, picked up her son Anver, 17, and his friend, Juraldo Mascha-ka, 15, and were driving back to Aspen Heights when the incident occurred.
Daniels recalled how after she had bought the Kuga she had fielded half-joking warnings from friends to always leave her car doors unlocked to ensure she could escape and not be trapped in a locked, burning car as appeared to have happened in the case of Reshall Jimmy in Wilderness.
Wary of leaving her car doors unlocked in the gangster-plagued northern areas, she had so far avoided adopting this measure.
“But that night, for the first time, I left them open. I don’t know why,” Daniels said.
It was a decision that possibly helped save their
lives. The incident went from bad to a nightmare in a couple of seconds, she said.
“Smoke started coming out from under the bonnet.
“We were just about at the Gelvandale Shopping Centre service station and I had just turned the corner to drive in there when the engine cut out and we saw the smoke had turned to flames.
“We scrambled out as fast as we could and Alton went around and opened the bonnet although we were all shouting at him not to.”
Jantjies, who works at VW, said his intention was to douse the flames before they got bigger.
“When I opened the bonnet, they just went whoosh right up high, but with the help of some other guys who arrived on the scene we picked up sand from the side of the road and eventually put the fire out,” he said.
Daniels said the whole front of the SUV was gutted, and their holiday plans were shattered.
“The whole family is traumatised,” she said.
“The sales lady returned my call and apologised for what had happened.
“They [the dealership] gave me a loan car and I am due to speak to the dealership [today] about getting paid out.
“But I wonder how many other Kuga owners are out there?
“It’s a beautiful car, but there seems to be something seriously wrong with it.”
Repeated attempts were made to reach national Ford spokeswoman Rella Bernardes via phone, SMS and e-mail, and an auto-mail said only that she was on leave, with no contact details supplied for a back-up spokesman.
Ford saleswoman Nina Swanepoel, who dealt with Daniels, could also not be reached for comment.
However, a December 22 report by TimesLive quoted Bernardes as saying that the risk of the Kuga SUV catching fire was confined to a particular model, the 1.6-litre Eco-Boost, possibly as a result of engine overheating.
She said the estimated 6 300 owners of Kuga EcoBoosts bought between December 15 2012 and October 20 2014 could take their vehicles in to be checked.
Dealers would check the coolant concentration level and for leaks or damage to the coolant system, she said.
Also last month, the National Consumer Commission said Ford would instruct its dealerships nationwide to conduct safety inspections on all Kugas sold in the country as a precautionary measure.