Pretoria – The family of Reshall Jimmy, who died after after his Ford Kuga burst into flames in December 2015, on Monday slammed the car manufacturer's handling of the fiasco around the faulty vehicles.
"They [Ford] didn't give us answers. They made no attempts to contact us. We really appreciate [Ford chief executive for the sub-Saharan Africa region] Jeff Nemeth's condolences today but couldn't they do that two months after he passed away? They waited for a public forum to do that," said Reshall's brother, Kaveen, after a Ford media briefing in Pretoria.
"That is very insensitive. Now I think 50 percent of the battle has been won, because part of our goal was to get the Kuga 1.6 recalled so that the safety of South Africans can be protected. We hope we are there."
"The next level of the battle is to get Ford to look at what caused my brother's death".
"It was a very senseless death. We need to get closure," said Kaveen, who was accompanied by his sister Renisha and their attorney Rod Montano.
Reshall, 33, was on holiday in the Wilderness when his vehicle caught fire. He was burnt beyond recognition.
Around 40 other incidents of the SUV igniting on South African roads were reported, sparking public outrage.
Earlier on Monday, Ford Southern Africa announced that it was recalling the controversial Ford Kuga 1.6 SUV as part of a “safety recall”.
“The Ford Kuga 1.6, manufactured between December 2012 to February 2014, must be taken to a Ford dealer as soon as possible,” said Nemeth. He said all the affected vehicles, including those that have already been checked “must be taken to a Ford dealer as soon as possible”.
Nemeth said the recall affects more than 4 000 vehicles.
“We’re now announcing a voluntary safety recall for the affected Ford 1.6. Our investigations has enabled us to narrow the number from the originally stated 6 300 to a total of 4 556 affected vehicles.”
He said other Ford models and other Ford Kuga engine derivatives – the 1.5 and 2 litre models – would not be effected.