Automotive industry
Carmaker also ordered to establish a compensation scheme after it mistreated customers whose vehicles had faulty transmissions
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Ford Fiestas were among the models that customers complained about. Customers reported their vehicles shuddered, jerked or lost power. Ford has admitted it ‘took too long to identify the issues’.
Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP
Ford Australia has been fined $10m and ordered to establish a compensation scheme after its mistreatment of customers who bought faulty vehicles.
The carmaker admits it mishandled thousands of complaints from customers who bought vehicles that shuddered, jerked or lost power because of faulty transmissions.
The company was fined $10m in the federal court on Thursday for engaging in unconscionable conduct, in breach of consumer law.
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The penalty comes after the consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, took action against the car manufacturer over its dealings with customers between May 2015 and February 2016.
The complaints related to Focus, Fiesta and EcoSport models sold in Australia between 2011 and 2016 that were fitted with the problematic PowerShift transmission.
In some cases the transmission failed several times and customers were made to spend time and money on repairs and replacement vehicles.
“We took too long to identify the issues and we acknowledge that PowerShift customers did not have complaints handled appropriately,” Ford Australia’s chief executive, Graeme Whickman, said after the court hearing.