Ford needs to get their game together quickly as they are going to be attacked by Chinese equivalents that are 20-25% cheaper offering similar specifications. I am no Chinese fan and I am no Ford fan so would want neither, but not being a fan of Ford is only because of how they have treated their customers.
Ford is hitting the headlines again in South Africa for all the wrong reasons and why I personally would never ever buy a vehicle from them. This time it is the Ford Puma models at risk of having an engine fire due to a fuel pipe fitted to close to another part in the engine it can rub against and ultimately cause a leak creating a fire.
Maybe Ford is learning something after the Ford Kuga fiasco back in 2012-2014 which again was engine fires that resulted in people being burned to death in their cars. The biggest problem was Ford not owning up to this and refused to take the cars back which resulted in other people losing their lives. They tried to deflect the blame asking customers to check their coolant system when they fully well knew what the problem was being the fuel line. Eventually they were taken to task by the National Consumer Commission and forced to pay out R35 million in compensation and recall 4500 of the Ford Kuga model. They killed people instead of owning the problem and fixing it.
When you treat your customers in this way it is even harder to understand why anyone would buy one of their motor vehicles. I know I have been put of for life from ever owning a Ford and would never be found in such a position.
In the last few months Ford has had quite a few different recalls besides the fire hazard models. The 3.0L V6 Ranger and Everest models were recalled for faulty camshaft sprockets which could snap/shatter stalling the engine and creating an accident.
2021 saw the eco sport model being recalled due to faulty transmission assemblies which again could stall the engine and worse if in park the vehicle could roll away. Again the Ford Puma had a bad batch between 2021 and 2024 with faulty fuel systems which could also cause a fire. The Puma has had two separate fire hazard recalls if you count the present day one so this is a problem that has always been around since the beginning for this particular model. Would you buy one because I certainly would not.
When I did a Google search I had no idea things were far worse in the US with Ford recalls ongoing and current. South Africa is not such a big market in comparison and the US recall is around the 850K mark.
The US recall is all around the fuel pump issue with another fire hazard and they just never seem to learn their lesson. I read that Ford had advised people not to worry and that they were going to place another tube over the affected fuel pipe as a precaution instead of replacing the faulty unit. This did not go down very well and the government stepped in and now they have had 88 different safety recalls across the various models within the first 6 months of this year. Apparently the faulty fuel pumps came from a European manufacturer and supplier based in Italy so these were not cheap Chinese parts. Maybe it is time to make these components at home and not outsource from around the globe.
Ford announced this week that they are going to try and boost their sales in Southern Africa by expanding their dealerships and tackling the Chinese competition from BYD which is basically a replica of the Ford Ranger. Maybe if they took more care sourcing their products and making sure these vehicles were assembled correctly they would have a fighting chance. The one thing you cannot do is to deny any fault when clearly there is a fault and own the problem if there is one. Customers are not idiots and it does not matter how big you are you still need the customers to support and buy your products and this is no way to win loyalty to the brand.