FAMILY ‘WINS FIRST LEG OF LEGAL BATTLE’
“WE HAVE only just won the first leg of the battle with Ford.”
Renisha Jimmy – the sister of a motorist who died while trapped in his burning SUV – had this to say in reaction to the safety recall of Ford Kugas announced yesterday.
The recall is a bitter-sweet victory for the family.
“We have only just won the first leg of the battle with Ford. While we have ensured a recall is done‚ we still have a long fight ahead with Ford‚ which is by no means over‚” she said.
“We are determined to expose the truth‚ which is that Ford has hidden the fact that their cars burn because of manufacturing faults.”
She said it had been a year filled with heartache‚ mourning and legal battles. Reshall Jimmy died in December 2015 in his Ford Kuga while on holiday in the Wilderness‚ Western Cape.
“But‚ it’s finally beginning to pay off. As a family we can now finally ensure that no other family suffers the loss that we have.
“The announcement makes this fight all the more worthwhile.”
Jimmy said the family was now even more focused on getting justice for her brother and other Kuga fire victims‚ involved in a planned legal class action.
She said right from the beginning of their battle‚ all the family had wanted was to get Ford to accept responsibility for the loss of her brother.
“We do not want his death to have been in vain.”
Ford South Africa CEO Jeffrey Nemeth said yesterday that the company believed – although the investigation was not complete – that the Jimmy incident was not an engine fire which had affected as many as 48 other vehicles.
Sources within the National Consumer Commission said Ford had recently flown two of its Kugas to the United Kingdom for extensive testing to determine what had caused the fires.
Up until now Ford has insisted that a faulty coolant system was causing the engine to overheat and catch fire.
One of the sources said that the commission had ordered Ford to do the recall last week‚ but that the company’s executives had “pleaded” to be given more time.
“They cited the chaos it would cause if they had to do it last week. The commission said fine but it had to be announced today.”
Another source said that Ford had very little time to do the rectifications.