Photo: news.com.au
If you happened to visit our website last week, you might remember seeing some pictures of a Ford Everest (an SUV specific to the Australian market) that looked like the picture in the Oxford dictionary next to “well done.”
You can read the full story at this link, or you can stay here for the short resume. It all happened to a guy called Peter Barnwell who just happens to be an auto journalist for an Australian publication. He was out testing the car on the road last Tuesday when the SUV suddenly burst into flames. He had time to stop and get out, but the fire quickly engulfed the whole vehicle, giving the firemen a real fight that lasted close to 20 minutes.
Naturally, Ford had to make a statement about what happened, but refused to comment early on, before conducting an internal investigation. The implications were pretty important since the new Everest shares its mechanical and electrical bits with the Ford Ranger pickup, so the eventual manufacturing flaw would have led to a massive recall.
Luckily for them, the investigation found out that there was indeed something wrong with Mr. Barnwell’s car, but it was something strictly related to that vehicle and not a general problem. Yes, that sounds like a classic PR coverup, but Ford Australia’s statement does a better job of clearing the waters:
“The issue arose to due to the incorrect installation of a replacement battery post production and our investigations to date have not found any other vehicles to have been subject to the same issue. The new design of the battery fuse link for Everest and higher spec Ranger models means it is not common with the prior model Ranger and Everest. All of the data collected during the exhaustive investigation to date indicates this is a situation which is not systemic to Everest or Ranger.”
Now that that’s been settled, there’s another question to be asked: who was the person who wrongfully installed the battery? Since this was a press-loaner car, that means it is owned by Ford Australia, so the work carried on the car must have happened in an official Ford workshop by an official Ford mechanic.
While this makes every owner of Ford Everest SUVs and Ranger pickups feel better about the chances of not going up in a ball of fire, at the same time it raises question marks for all Ford owners in Australia.
Naturally, Ford had to make a statement about what happened, but refused to comment early on, before conducting an internal investigation. The implications were pretty important since the new Everest shares its mechanical and electrical bits with the Ford Ranger pickup, so the eventual manufacturing flaw would have led to a massive recall.
Luckily for them, the investigation found out that there was indeed something wrong with Mr. Barnwell’s car, but it was something strictly related to that vehicle and not a general problem. Yes, that sounds like a classic PR coverup, but Ford Australia’s statement does a better job of clearing the waters:
“The issue arose to due to the incorrect installation of a replacement battery post production and our investigations to date have not found any other vehicles to have been subject to the same issue. The new design of the battery fuse link for Everest and higher spec Ranger models means it is not common with the prior model Ranger and Everest. All of the data collected during the exhaustive investigation to date indicates this is a situation which is not systemic to Everest or Ranger.”
Now that that’s been settled, there’s another question to be asked: who was the person who wrongfully installed the battery? Since this was a press-loaner car, that means it is owned by Ford Australia, so the work carried on the car must have happened in an official Ford workshop by an official Ford mechanic.
While this makes every owner of Ford Everest SUVs and Ranger pickups feel better about the chances of not going up in a ball of fire, at the same time it raises question marks for all Ford owners in Australia.
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