The Ford Motor Company has agreed to pay a R35 million fine and settlement fees to consumers who were impacted by its Kuga 1.6 Ecoboost vehicle fires.<\/p>\n
In a presentation on Friday (29 November), the National Consumer Commission (NCC) said it had concluded settlement negotiations with the car company after Ford took responsibility for the damages.<\/p>\n
NCC acting commissioner Thezi Mbuza said that the NCC’s investigation showed that an estimated 46 Ford Kugas caught fire.<\/p>\n
She added that the commission has ordered the Ford Motor Company to pay an administrative fine of R35 million with consumers able to elect from a R50,000 settlement, mediation, or their own civil action as possible remedies.<\/p>\n
“The Ford Motor Company of South Africa engaged in prohibited conduct by distributing Kuga vehicles that failed, or could have failed, as a result of a cooling system failure.<\/p>\n
“The failing of the cooling system rendered the vehicles unsuitable for general purpose and this resulted in the vehicles being unsafe at the time of the fires.”<\/p>\n
Ford faced heavy criticism over the course of December 2016 and January 2017 after a number of Ford Kuga\u2019s caught fire in those two months.<\/p>\n
This resulted in a class-action lawsuit<\/a> <\/strong>against the company, with documents alleging that Ford knew about existing problems with Kuga models.<\/p>\n Despite the significant backlash, Fords overall sales weren\u2019t heavily impacted<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n WATCH: National Consumer Commission (NCC) acting commissioner Thezi Mabuza say #Ford<\/a> engaged in prohibited conduct by distributing #FordKuga<\/a> that failed or could have failed due to the cooling system failing pic.twitter.com\/KLX2ZPDFiR<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) November 29, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n