Owners of Ford’s second-generation Kuga in South Africa are troubled after multiple reports of cars equipped with the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine are catching on fire.
Local website Wheels24 first reported on the story last December, showing a video with a Ford Kuga (offered as the Escape in the U.S. market) up in flames in Durban. Since then, more owners have come forward and more videos have emerged, including tales of overheating and more fire accidents which in one instance got a 33-year-old Reshall Jimmy killed back in 2015.
Since then, Ford Kuga owners have started a petition on Change.org, demanding the company to recall and fix their vehicles.
“Ford South Africa has not taken responsibility to explain why their Kuga models just go up in flames, they have also failed to finalize a matter on the death of Reshall Jimmy who died due to his car going up in flames, it’s a year since his death and no explanation or settlement for his death. The fear is Ford South Africa not recalling the Kuga models and putting Kuga owners’ lives in danger and fellow motorist who drive on South African roads,” the group said.
Ford South Africa responded with the following statement:
We are currently investigating reports of engine fires in Kugas equipped with the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine in SA. While our investigations into the incidents are not complete at this time, we have found that the fires may be a result of engine overheating. We take the safety of our customers very seriously. Our decisions are driven by the data available, and when the data indicates action is needed, we move quickly on behalf of our customers.
To help reduce the risk of engine overheating, just prior to the holiday period we advised affected customers to contact their Ford dealer to request a further check of the maintenance items, especially to check coolant system condition and integrity. Our initial contact with affected customers was through email, SMS and a social media campaign, and we are rapidly following up with letters to each customer.
The dealer check is free of charge and will take approximately one hour to complete. Affected customers can also contact Ford Customer Service directly at 0860 011 022.
There are about 6300 1.6-litre Kugas built between December 15, 2012, and October 20, 2014, included in this action. Kugas with 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre engines are not affected by this dealer maintenance check, but we strongly recommend that customers of all Ford vehicles follow the regular maintenance checks stated in their Owner’s Manual.
It is still early days on the maintenance action, particularly given the seasonal holiday, so we aren’t able to give you a number of vehicles that have been checked at this stage.
We also have agreed with the National Consumer Commission that we will report back to them voluntarily by the end of February, and we will keep you updated on any developments.
Carscoops asked Ford for a comment and will update once we hear back from them.
H/T To Armand!