Motorists in South Africa will heath a sigh of relief after Ford announced on Monday that it is recalling the Kuga model, which had been nicknamed by local media as a “ticking bomb”.
For months, Ford has been under intense pressure over its Kuga‚ with customers asking why the vehicle manufacturer has not recalled the car.
To date, 48 Kugas have caught alight in South Africa‚ with 11 of them happening just this month. Reshall Jimmy died in December 2015 when he was trapped in his burning Kuga while on holiday in the Wilderness‚ in the Western Cape.
Ford South Africa CEO, Jeffrey Nemeth, made the recall announcement at a press conference in Pretoria. He stated that the global motoring giants has recalled Ford Kuga 1.6 litre model built between December 2012 to February 2014.
“We will engage with customers with burnt out vehicles and hopefully get them back into a Ford vehicle. There is no reason to doubt your vehicle after this recall, but we will listen to our customers on a case by case basis.
“These are our customers, we want to reassure them that their cars will be safe after this recall,” said Nemeth.