The Consumer Commission is considering a ‘flood’ of complaints against Ford after the decision to recall the 1.6 Ford Kuga Ecoboost, says a Beeld report. The complaints are not limited to the Kuga. Spokesperson Trevor Hattingh said the majority of complaints are about burnt out vehicles and proposed action against Ford, and also proposals about what role the commission is supposed to play in terms of the Consumer Protection Act.

‘There are other models – not just the Ecoboost – which also caught fire. These incidents were not brought to our attention earlier.’ Investigators will make recommendations to the commissioner this week, Hattingh added.

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Ford has deliberately obstructed the police investigation into the Kuga fire that killed Reshall Jimmy, the investigating officer charges in an affidavit handed to the Western Cape High Court yesterday, notes a TimesLIVE report. The affidavit was in response to Ford's urgent High Court application for an order giving it access to evidence in the inquest docket on 33-year-old Jimmy's death. In its affidavit, Ford said the police and Jimmy family had deliberately thwarted it in its investigation into the cause of the fire. The evidence the company wants to see includes video footage of Jimmy's burning car. Jimmy was burnt to death in December 2015 while on holiday in the Wilderness, in Western Cape, when his 2014 1.6litre Kuga caught alight. In his affidavit Constable Thembekile Matwa says that, despite Ford representatives signing agreements to share information the company had refused to do so. He said throughout his investigation he had found Ford's ‘conduct obstructionist’.

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