Ford Kuga EV drivers will not be compensated after fire risk warning
Ford advised owners of the Kuga models in question to not plug in their vehicles to charge the battery, and instead to use the ‘Auto EV’ mode until the issue is addressed.
Car manufacturer Ford has informed owners of a hybrid vehicle, under recall for potential battery issues which could trigger a fire, that no compensation will be considered until a fix becomes available.
The company has written to owners of newer Ford Kuga plug-in hybrids to tell them that a fix is planned for the issue affecting the vehicles sometime in the next three months.
It said that it is ‘planned’ that the fix should be provided free-of-charge to owners when made available.
However, the company added that “there are no plans for compensation until the fix is available”.
The queried Ford as to whether or not dealerships which had sold the Kuga model in question had been informed about the recall, and whether or not replacement vehicles had been offered to owners while a fix is awaited. A response had not been received at the time of publication.
The company had previously written to owners of the hybrid vehicles to inform them of a product recall on foot of the potential for the high-voltage battery in their car to “short circuit”.
It said that it had discovered the issue as a result of its “monitoring vehicles in operation”.
“In the event of a high voltage battery cell internal short circuit, you will experience a Stop Safely Now message and warning icon,” the initial recall letter from the company said.
“You may also experience a loss of motive power, increasing the risk of an accident,” it said. “You may also experience battery thermal venting potentially resulting in a vehicle fire, increasing the risk of injury.”
Pending a fix for the issue, Ford advised owners of the Kuga models in question to not plug in their vehicles to charge the battery, and instead to use the ‘Auto EV’ mode when driving the car only.
That mode sees the car operate as a petrol-powered vehicle only, with EV mode kicking in only in certain situations, such as when the car is being driven downhill.
