Ashton Wood, who destroyed his Jeep, now believes parent Fiat Chrysler will fix dodgy cars

THE consumer so outraged at Jeep he destroyed his own car, says the company has had such a change of tune he would now trust it to fix dodgy cars.

EXCLUSIVE

THE consumer so outraged at Jeep he destroyed his says it has had such a change of tune he would now trust it to fix dodgy cars.

Ashton Wood, who has become an unpaid advocate for dudded owners, says since Jeep parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appointed a new Australian chief executive he has raised 21 cases he believed warranted a refund or replacement and FCA has agreed for 17 at a cost of nearly $800,000.

But Mr Wood remains highly critical of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which he says has not done enough to protect Jeep buyers.

Mr Wood said that after the ACCC cut off communication with him in July last year he wasn’t sure how he was going to help aggrieved owners because at that time he had no faith in FCA.

Mr Wood oversees the dismembering of his lemon Jeep. Picture: Megan Slade

Then in August he saw the automaker had appointed a new CEO, Steve Zanlunghi. So he emailed Mr Zanlunghi and, to his astonishment, got a reply three hours later.

Within a week, three of four supposedly closed cases he had raised with Mr Zanlunghi had been reopened and resolved.

They met face-to-face a month later near FCA’s Melbourne office while Mr Wood — a Queenslander — was in the Victorian capital for a wedding. And in December Mr Wood presented to the company’s 15 most senior staff on why consumers were so fed up. By that time FCA had issued $400,000 of refunds and replacements to owners Mr Wood was fighting for.

“I can assure that I would never buy another Jeep,” Mr Wood said. “But if someone had already put money out for one I’d now have faith that they’d get looked after if something went wrong.

“They have so changed their tune,” Mr Wood said.

Mr Zanlunghi, who previously ran Jeep in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said: “When I got here there was a serious customer perception issue.

FCA Australian CEO Steve Zanlunghi. Picture: Supplied

“I did know who Ashton was and I was going to reach out to him. He beat me to it.”

Mr Zanlunghi said that FCA had improved mechanic training, increased parts availability and revamped its complaints handling.

He would not say how many customers had been refunded or received replacements since he took over. Nor would he say whether Mr Wood might be compensated.

Mr Wood lost $49,000 when he destroyed his Jeep and the “consumer redress” program FCA set up to settle an ACCC investigation only saw him receive a cheque for $1300 — which he set on fire.

The ACCC argued the redress program was doing its job.

“Generally speaking, a significant proportion of reviews have resulted in the modification of the remedy originally provided by FCA,” an ACCC spokeswoman said. “These outcomes include offers of repairs, compensation and in some instances, a replacement vehicle.”

She also said the ACCC gave Mr Wood an update on the program last month. He said the content of that update only showed he knew “more about what FCA are up to than they do”.

Mr Wood has never received any payment from FCA or Jeep, as he explained on his Destroy My Jeep Facebook page yesterday.

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Originally published as Ashton Wood, who destroyed his Jeep, now believes parent Fiat Chrysler will fix dodgy cars