18 Jan 2017

The general manager of Ford Botswana, Mr Zachariah Kepaletswe says so far they have not recalled any Ford Kuga vehicle in Botswana.

Ford Motor Company has started a voluntary safety recall of the Kuga models equipped with the 1.6-litre engine to address an engine overheating condition that could cause a fire, following months of controversy. The South African National Consumer Commission has said that Ford Motor Company South Africa was to issue a recall of Ford Kuga vehicles fitted with a 1.6 Eco boost engine.

Mr Kepaletswe said they were fully aware that there was a recall campaign on certain derivatives, of which it was specifically the 1.6 Eco boost engine of Kuga vehicles which were manufactured between 2012 December and February 2014.

“This action is only affecting the Ford Eco boost. The 1.5 and 2l diesel and models before that are not affected,” he said.

He said the recall campaign was made for them to go through the vehicle, just to ascertain if there were any problems with the vehicle.

“But if we do identify any component that might need to be replaced, we then do that. The recall campaign stipulates fully what needs to be done, with parts replaced, software updated and oil leak checks conducted” he said.

He said in Botswana, only 28 vehicles were affected by the recall, adding that so far they have contacted 10 customers, whose vehicles have been checked, with parts replaced on some of them.

“If we find out that there is a vehicle which has a problem, such a vehicle will be grounded and the customer will either be provided with a loan vehicle or a car hire, we will not allow that car to go back to the road up until we are happy that it have been perfectly fixed,” he said.

The general manager went on to say that the timing of the exercise is expected to be completed by the end of the weekend, depending on the part availability.

“We have a branch in Francistown, a satellite operation in Maun, our mobile technician to go in areas of Mahalapye, Palapye and Serowe to attend the vehicles, and customers will be notified accordingly,” he said.

He appealed to customers that as far as the exercise was done, he believed that if all the checks were done on the vehicle the Kuga was safe to drive. ENDS