Another Ford Kuga catches fire

There has been a new incident involving a Ford Kuga 1.6 Ecoboost catching fire.

Shaun Hansel said his wife was driving their Ford Kuga on Friday 14 April when she heard a loud bang, which was immediately followed by smoke and the car bursting into flames.

“She managed to get out of the car and 25 minutes later the fire was put out,” he said

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Hansel claimed this was only the second time the vehicle was being driven after it had spent 233 days undergoing repairs costing R103 288 at Action Ford Roodepoort.

He said the vehicle was in the dealership from July 2022 until 17 March 2023.

“We were the victims of another Ford Kuga that caught alight, but this time [it happened] after [this vehicle] was returned to us in a ‘safe and working’ order,” he said.

Recalls

Hansel added that their Ford Kuga was one of the models involved in the recalls and confirmed that the vehicle went in for all of its recall checks.

This is a reference to the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa in December 2019 entering into a settlement agreement with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) in terms of which it agreed to pay a fine of R35 million and to offer three compensation options to 56 Ford Kuga 1.6 Ecoboost owners whose vehicles caught fire.

Hansel said the couple’s short-term insurer OUTsurance completed its assessment/investigation of the vehicle and incident, and informed them last week they had decided to write off the vehicle because it was uneconomical to repair it.

Poor form

Hansel said they originally dealt with the complaints department at Ford SA last year about the “poor service and negligence” of the dealership but this was unfortunately dismissed by the company and they remained in a dispute with the dealership.

He is highly critical of the conduct of the dealership, adding that he informed them on the morning of Monday 17 April that his vehicle had caught fire, but more than a day later he had not received an email or phone call from the dealership “to check in with us”.

This prompted Hansel to share a post on social media about the fire that had engulfed the Ford Kuga.

He said they reached out to the Ford SA agent they dealt with last year to get the agent to steer them in the right direction.

He informed Moneyweb on Thursday 20 April that Ford SA had contacted him and was about to start an investigation and assessment of the vehicle and indicated that they would get back to him about their findings.

Hansel said they had not received any response from Action Ford Roodepoort.

He claimed the dealership had not offered the couple any “discounts, compensation or courtesy vehicle” after the fire.

Ford’s offer

Ford SA communications GM Minesh Bhagaloo said a representative of Ford met Hansel last week at the dealership, where they had a “very amicable meeting” and the company had bent over backwards to try and satisfy him with a compensation offer.

Bhagaloo said Hansel was informed that Ford SA would be purchasing the car and would pay him out the market value for the vehicle, which is between the trade and retail value.

He said this also means Hansel does not have to claim from his insurance for the incident.

“Trade is R125 000, retail is R150 000. We are giving him R137 000 so I think he has done quite well,” he said.

Bhagaloo said the dealership would be handling all the administrative charges to ensure there were not any costs to Hansel.

“The vehicle will also be collected from insurance storage at dealership expense and his next vehicle purchase will be done at cost, with finance assistance done at the best possible rates through Action Ford Roodepoort.

“We have done all the things we need to do to try and get him into something else,” he said.

Bhagaloo believes Hansel is “happy” with the offer and that Ford SA has “done right by the customer”.

Bitter taste

Hansel confirmed on Wednesday he had accepted an offer from Ford SA but admitted the incident had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I understand that in their [Ford SA’s] mind it’s a generous offer but I don’t think any consumer would be happy to take on the losses that we have experienced with that vehicle.

“They have made an offer to purchase the vehicle from us at its market value but what we have lost is the R103 000 that we spent on fixing the vehicle at that Ford dealership for eight months – and we are getting no compensation for that,” he said.

“Obviously I’m not going to be satisfied with losing R103 000.”

Hansel said the most important aspect from their side is that Ford SA has accepted responsibility.

“They have made us an offer and haven’t just told us to bugger off,” he said.

Customer says no to removing social media post

Hansel said Ford SA requested that he remove his social media post about the incident or add a comment about how they had assisted him.

But he refused to do so – because “I still think that I am the one bearing the biggest loss”.

Hansel said Ford SA is now waiting for the change of ownership and Natis documents for the vehicle from him and will thereafter collect it from the OUTsurance assessment facility and make payment to him.

“After that, we start the process of trying to source another vehicle from Action Ford Roodepoort with the little bit of money we have got available,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission. Read the original article here.

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