Ford Australia faces class action seeking refunds on 70,000 allegedly dodgy cars

THIS woman — worried her Ford is going to kill someone — has joined thousands of other Australians in a new class action, details of which can be revealed for the first time.

Taylor Morgan, who has joined the new Ford class action, with her faulty Focus. Picture: Jay Town

EXCLUSIVE

FORD Australia faces a potential billion-dollar liability in a new class action seeking refunds on 70,000 allegedly dodgy cars.

Ford is accused of misleading or deceptive conduct in selling 22 different models of Fiesta, Focus and EcoSport vehicles between 2011 and this year because it promised a breakthrough PowerShift transmission would deliver “acceleration much smoother than a conventional automatic” only for it to cause sudden power loss, “shuddering, jerking, bucking or kicking”.

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News Corp Australia can today reveal details of the action for the first time, with documents obtained from the Federal Court showing the case is built on the experience of a Victorian woman Billie Capic who was “frightened for her life” after a power loss while driving her 2012 Focus Sport in February this year.

The $29,000 car had already lost power a number of times in 2015. In October, she was unable to change gears or use reverse without difficulty. A fortnight later, she was unable to drive the vehicle faster than 80km/h. The vehicle was shaking. Then an error message showed on the dash: “Transmission overheating”.

Miss Capic also experienced uncontrolled movement of the car, sudden gear changes and gear-skipping.

Billie Capic and her dodgy Ford Focus. Picture: Paul Loughnan

She first raised the car’s jerking and shuddering with a Ford dealer in April 2013, then again in August that year, April 2014 and September 2014.

Court documents filed on Ms Capic’s behalf say: “On each occasion prior to September 2014, mechanics at the Ford dealers denied (there) were defects in the affected vehicles and/or PowerShift transmission.”

The class action alleges the cars are not of acceptable quality, as defined under Australian Consumer Law and that Ford knew of the problems. The vehicles have never been recalled.

The action seeks refunds or the difference between the purchase price and the true value of the vehicles, as well as aggravated damages.

The cost of refunding 70,000 cars at an average price of $25,000 would be $1.75 billion.

A spokesman for the firm running the action, Bannister Law, said “thousands had registered” to be part of the case. Anyone who bought and still owned one of the 22 models was automatically included in the action, the spokesman said.

A Ford spokeswoman said: “While we can’t comment specifically about the ongoing litigation, Ford is committed to providing our customers with top-quality vehicles.

“We are equally committed to addressing potential issues and responding quickly for our customers. We encourage customers to work with their local dealers on their individual circumstances.”

A case management conference is scheduled for June 29 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

Earlier this month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it would conduct a market study into the new car retailing industry to investigate concerns including compliance with consumer guarantees. Last year, the ACCC took action against Fiat Chrysler over consumer guarantee complaints.

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This car has a “major failure”, says Taylor Morgan, who has joined the Ford class action. Picture: Jay Town

Road to nowhere

“NEXT time it happens it could kill somebody.”

Last year Taylor Morgan’s Ford Focus wilted while she was on a busy and wet Southern Cross Drive near Sydney Airport. She managed to get the car off the road.

When NRMA Roadside Assistance arrived, the car was in a coma. It wasn’t even giving off error messages.

The NRMA man got it going and she was able to drive it to the nearest petrol station, where he took a further look.

When everything looked okay, he sent her on her way. No sooner had she pulled out on to the 70km/h road than the engine malfunctioned again. The NRMA man, who had yet to leave the petrol station, saw this. He came after her and pushed the car out of harm’s way.

It had to be towed to a Ford dealership.

“It’s a major failure,” Ms Taylor said.

Under consumer law, a major failure triggers rights to a refund or replacement.

But Ms Taylor hasn’t been able to get a refund or replacement. So she has joined the Ford class action. Her vehicle also has the clutch shudder that the action argues makes it “not of acceptable quality”.