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A fix has arrived for a compliance breach that forced a near-two-month pause on Australian deliveries for the Ford F-150 pick-up – and customers can receive up to $2500 in compensation, or even a full refund.
A pause on the delivery of new Ford F-150 pick-ups in Australia is being lifted, as a fix for a breach of Australian motor-vehicle regulations is rolled out to vehicles in dealer stock, and on the road.
Customers who ordered or took delivery before 29 May will be offered up to $2500 in compensation – or in some cases, a full refund of their vehicle – after deliveries were paused for nearly two months.
The fix for the breach of Australian Design Rules (ADRs) will see the Zone Lighting feature disabled – and a number of lighting units recalibrated or replaced on affected vehicles to bring them into compliance with local regulations – among other changes.
Last month Ford Australia paused deliveries for the F-150 due to a breach of Australian Design Rules related to “certain lighting features,” later learned to be courtesy lights.
It represented the second stop-delivery notice since the F-150 – which is ‘re-manufactured’ from left- to right-hand drive in Melbourne by Thai company RMA with Ford’s backing – launched six months earlier.
Ford Australia has announced today it has prepared a fix for the compliance breach being implemented on vehicles in dealer stock, which once applied, allows them to be delivered to customers.
It is also approaching owners of the 992 affected F-150s already on the road to complete “rectification work” on their vehicles, and provide compensation on top of a five-year/75,000km free service plan offered earlier this year, valued at $2081, according to the Ford website.
“Ford Australia is engaging with F-150 owners to rectify non-compliances with Australian regulatory requirements, with rectification work being done on certain features, primarily related to lighting,” a Ford Australia spokesperson said in a statement.
“Ford Australia is also completing rectification work on all F-150s that are yet to be sold or delivered to customers.
“We thank customers for their patience, and we will be offering compensation to impacted customers, which varies depending on the rectification required on their vehicle.
The spokesperson said: “All F-150 customers whose vehicle has either been delivered or contracted as of when full details of the lightning non-compliances were outlined on 29 May, and who retain their vehicle or proceed with their purchase will receive the compensation, which varies due to the number of features impacted:
- XLT Short Wheelbase – $1000
- XLT Long Wheelbase – $1350
- Lariat Short Wheelbase – $2150
- Lariat Long Wheelbase – $2500
“Alternatively, if customers who have taken delivery of their vehicle are not satisfied with the compensation Ford is offering, depending on their circumstances, they may be entitled to reject their vehicle and obtain a full refund of the purchase price of their vehicle under the Australian Consumer Law.
“Customers who have not taken delivery may choose to have their deposit refunded and not proceed with their purchase,” a spokesperson said.
Ford says 992 vehicles already delivered to customers are affected, in addition to examples yet to be sold.
“Customers who have taken delivery will receive recall letters in the coming weeks asking them to return their vehicles for the required repair works,” the Ford spokesperson said.
“Repair instructions relating to vehicles impacted by the stop sale are now being made available to enable dealers to complete work on impacted units. After the rectification work is completed on each vehicle, it can be delivered to the customer.”
Work needed for all F-150 models includes:
- The Courtesy White Lamps next to the centre high-mounted rear brake light and rear tailgate will be disabled, as Ford says “they are not allowed to be visible from the rear of the vehicle under ADR13.”
- The autonomous emergency braking system will be adjusted to automatically turn on when the vehicle is restarted.
For new long-wheelbase variants, “new Category 6 Side Direction Indicator Lamps (SDIL) will be fitted to the front fenders of each vehicle, to replace the Category 5 SDILs that were fitted,” Ford said.
Lariat variants will require the most work, according to Ford.
- The upper daytime-running lights will be reworked to switch off automatically when the indicators are turned on, as required under Australian Design Rule 13.
- The lower daytime-running lights will be disabled as Ford says “they exceed the maximum allowable distance from the Upper DRLs and are therefore not permitted to be illuminated under ADR13.”
- Zone Lighting – which illuminates the area around the car – will be disabled “as it illuminates the rear reversing lights, which is not permitted under ADR13.”
- The front fog lights will be “reconfigured” so they cannot be switched on when the headlights are in high-beam mode, also required by ADR 13.
Ford F-150 deliveries through Ford Australia dealers commenced approximately seven months ago, but have faced multiple setbacks.
Deliveries have now been interrupted three times – two stop-delivery notices, and one temporary pause on shipments of long-wheelbase examples to dealers – as well as recalls related to incorrect lights, a steering rack that could detach, and airbags which may not deploy.
Ford F-150 pick-ups are re-manufactured from left- to right-hand drive in Victoria by RMA, a Thai company which specialises in modifying Ford Ranger utes for use by police and military in Asia.
It has also previously conducted ‘overflow’ engineering work for Ford in the Asia-Pacific region.
Each F-150 is converted for sale in showrooms with the backing – and under the supervision – of Ford Australia in Victoria, and head office in Detroit, including a full five-year factory warranty.
The post Ford F-150 customers offered up to $2500 cashback or full refund after long delivery pause, recalls appeared first on Drive.
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