Video footage of 33-year-old Reshall Jimmy’s Ford Kuga burning emerged last week for the first time and aroused intense debate and anger in Ladysmith, because Reshall was born at Ladysmith Provincial Hospital and grew up in Drividian Road.
Car-maker Ford had to be threatened with an ultimatum to make it take action: “Either you sort out your combusting Kuga SUVs or we will”. The ultimatum, given by the National Consumer Commission about two weeks ago, led to Ford announcing last week the recall of 4556 Ford Kuga 1.6 vehicles made between 2012 and 2014.
He was the third of four children born to Polly and Laldew (Ronnie) Jimmy. He attended Aloe Park Primary and thereafter Ladysmith Secondary School. Upon completing matric, he joined his family, who relocated to Mid Rand in Gauteng.
He immediately carved a niche in the IT industry and received numerous commendations.
He established an online marketing company, Native VNL, and received an international award from Google. Reshall was unmarried. His former schoolmates and teachers are still reeling from the news of his tragic death and there is growing anger at Ford for failing to admit that the fire was caused by a defective system in the Kuga.
Harrowing cell-phone footage, which was taken by passersby, was filmed after his vehicle, a 2014 1.6l EcoBoost Kuga, was already burning on the night of December 15, 2015. It made a mockery of Ford’s initial assertion that the fire started at the rear of the Kuga. Jimmy died in the blaze.
The only way the family of 33-year-old Reshall Jimmy could identify his body after he died trapped inside his burning 2014 Ford Kuga SUV was through a DNA sample from his older brother Kaveen. According to the postmortem report, Reshall’s body was severely charred.
He burnt to death while on holiday in the wilderness in the Western Cape, in December 2015, apparently after an electrical fault behind the dashboard on the front passenger side of his vehicle set his car alight.
Two forensic reports – one done by police and the other by an independent forensic inspector – point to an electrical fault as the fire’s cause.
It’s been over a year since Reshall’s tragic death, but still the family does not have closure, despite Ford having conducted numerous inspections of the vehicle at a police impound in Oudtshoorn.
According to the Jimmy family’s lawyer, Rod Montano, Ford would not commit to handing over the latest forensic report. The report is needed for the inquest into Jimmy’s death to proceed.
The family is now preparing for a class action suit against Ford, with several other dissatisfied Kuga drivers. Despite Ford announcing a safety recall of the Kuga 1.6l, the siblings of Jimmy Reshall want the company to take responsibility for their brother’s death.
Representatives of one of the world’s largest car manufacturers preferred to try and point evidence in any direction but themselves. “One would expect that any big international brand, like Ford, would contact the family and not only offer their condolences but share with us their plan on investigating the matter,” said Kaveen.
Reshall’s younger sister Renisha said the safety recall of the vehicle simply isn’t enough. Reshall’s father passed away in the 60s and his mother, who brought the children up despite numerous trials, is battling to come to terms with this loss.
The family is yearning for closure on the tragic death of Reshall and the longer Ford takes to duck and dive, the longer it will take for this tragedy to be laid to rest.
As it is, more and more Ford Kugas have caught fire and social media are mocking the Ford brand. There are indications from the public that this David and Goliath battle will portray the Ford brand in dimmer light not only because of the fault in the Kuga brand, but more so for the manner in which Ford has dealt with the Jimmy family.
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