Your columnist JJ Tabane points to the disgraceful behaviour of Ford with respect to the self-igniting Ford Kuga (Ford incidents show private sector impunity at work, January 9), and you attribute its plummeting resale value to this. However, there is another issue with this vehicle — the misrepresentation of its fuel consumption — where Ford has behaved in the same bullying, arrogant way. My daughter bought a Kuga on the basis of its published fuel economy of 7.2litres per 100km, and the Imperial Ford salesman’s confirmation of that. In fact, the consumption was 13.8litres per 100km — almost double. In spite of damages having been awarded against it in overseas jurisdictions, and an instruction from the Advertising Standards Authority of SA not to publish that figure on its brochures, Ford carried on regardless and resisted any claim with the usual excuse: "It’s the way you drive." The complaint was passed between Imperial and Ford and strung out for weeks, but in the end, it came ...
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