Ford ordered to pay B23m to car owners

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Ford ordered to pay B23m to car owners

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Ford ordered to pay B23m to car owners

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/ne ... recent_box

The South Bangkok Civil Court has ordered Ford Sales & Service (Thailand) to pay 291 car owners for substandard vehicles in the country’s first class-action ruling.

The court’s ruling read out on Friday ordered the subsidiary of Ford Motor to pay 291 customers compensation in a range between 20,000 and 200,000 baht each, plus a 7.5% interest rate a year, for repair costs and lost time.

The company also had to pay their lawyer a 150,000-baht fee and an 800,000-baht reward for winning the case as required by law.
Another 12 plaintiffs did not receive the redress as they either had modified their vehicles or had not taken their cars to change the parts with the firm, the court said.

The award was for the production of unsafe, substandard and defective vehicles which put drivers at risk.
The firm has to follow the court order within seven days after the ruling.

The problem involves the PowerShift transmission, Ford’s six-speed dual clutch semi-automatic gearbox (DPS6), which some users alleged they had trouble with.

The plaintiffs bought Fiesta and Focus cars from Ford Motor Company (Thailand) and later found the defections.
They took the cases to the court last year against Ford Motor Company (Thailand), Ford Operations (Thailand), Ford Services (Thailand) Co, and Ford Sales & Service (Thailand).

As the buyers encountered the same problems, the court allowed the case to be tried as a class action lawsuit.

Ford Motor Company (Thailand), Ford Operations (Thailand) and Ford Services (Thailand) were later dropped from the lawsuit, leaving Ford Sales & Service the only accused on grounds that it manufactured and distributed the defective cars.

Jinna Yaemouam, the lawyer for the car owners, hailed the ruling as a victory for consumers although he disagreed on some points of the ruling, according to Thai media.

The lawyer said he would discuss with the clients whether they want to appeal since some still wanted the company to buy back their cars and 12 plaintiffs had not been compensated.

Cars having the problems were the Fiesta and Focus models produced in 2011, according to the lawyer.

Opas Anantasomboon, chief of the South Bangkok Civil Court, said on Thursday that the case originally involved 421 affected owners but 113 had withdrawn after they took a settlement offered by the defendant before the trial.

Class action lawsuits were allowed three years ago under the 2015 Act on the Amendment to the Civil Code (No. 26).
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