AceBusinessDesk – Class actions against Toyota and Ford over faulty vehicles to be heard in High Court

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Apr.12: 2024: ABC Business News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

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Toyota and Ford have been targeted in class actions, after serious faults were found in some of their cars.

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The cases are shaping up to be a test of where to draw the line on compensation, and what constitutes an overcompensation.

Toyota fault affected more than 264,000 cars

The case against Toyota has been running since 2019 when customers took the car maker to the Federal Court over malfunctioning diesel particulate filters. The filters are supposed to capture and burn dangerous pollutants before they are released in the exhaust. Instead the cars blew out foul-smelling white smoke, which reduced fuel efficiency and increased wear and tear on engines. It’s estimated more than 264,000 Hilux, Fortuner and Prado vehicles sold between 2015 and 2020 were affected.

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Toyota stopped short of a recall, but did begin a campaign to clean, replace or retrofit the affected cars in 2019.

An initial Federal Court case assessed that the impact of the defects reduced the value of the cars by 17.5 per cent, or about $7,000, which on some calculations amounted to a possible compensation claim of $2 billion. That value assessment was reduced on appeal, something the car owners hope to overturn in the High Court.

Ford class action over faulty gearbox

The Ford problem affected more than 73,000 cars sold between 2011 and 2018 — including new and second hand buyers. The woman behind the Ford class action, Biljana Capic, bought her Ford Focus from a dealer in 2012, but other cars affected include Ford’s Fiesta and Ecosport models.

In the Ford case there were several key faults in the dry dual-clutch transmission, which affected the input shaft seals, clutch lining and transmission control module.

The result was harsh gear changes, sudden deceleration, intermittent revving of the engine, shuddering and loss of power. Some of the cars had only some of the faults, but some had all.

Ms. Capic reported taking her car to be serviced at least 15 times, with key repairs only made towards the end.

Ford does not deny there were problems with the cars.

Ms Capic’s vehicle was supplied in breach of the acceptable quality guarantee by reason of being manufactured with each of the deficiencies,” Ford says in its High Court submissions. “ In Ms Capic’s case, the risks had manifested in her vehicle.”

But Ford says while the other members of the class action bought cars with a “propensity” for the faults, not all of the cars manifested the problems. “ There was no evidence that any vehicle had become undriveable,” lawyers for Ford told the High Court. Ford progressively introduced repairs for the cars.

The underlying dispute in the case concerns a breach of the guarantee by Australian consumer law that goods are of an acceptable quality.

The law provides for damages to be claimed for any reduction in the value of the goods that result from a failure to comply with the guarantee. The sticking point in these cases is what that compensation should be based upon. The court will hear the cases consecutively over the next two days.

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