Ford has completed a thorough investigation on the Everest SUV that was involved in a high-profile incident last week and concluded there is no requirement for a safety recall of the Thai-built off-roader.
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In the same week that Drive awarded the Everest its 2015 Car of the Year, a motoring journalist from a rival newspaper escaped unhurt after the press test vehicle he was driving in Newcastle suddenly caught fire and burnt to the ground.
Ford Australia, which was responsible for the engineering and development of the Everest and the Ranger ute on which it is based, immediately shipped the burnt wreck to its Melbourne headquarters and conducted a thorough investigation to understand the cause of the incident.
Led by the company's chief safety inspector, Andy Cooper, and the chief engineer for the Everest and Ranger, Ian Foston, the team discovered the root cause of the fire was a battery terminal connection had not been re-fitted properly when the car's battery was replaced before being shipped to Australia from its Thailand production facility.
"It was a simple human error," Cooper told Drive.
"They couldn't start the car in the holding yard before it went on the boat. Someone replaced the battery but missed one of the connections, which supplies power to the rest of the car other than the starter motor. The terminal had not been fitted properly and was making contact with a bolt near the battery."
While the consequences were catastrophic (and Foston admitted it was a surprise that the car had already travelled 3700kms without any issues), Ford is confident it is an isolated issue and not a design or manufacturing fault.
While Cooper said the origin of the fault was "pretty clear" upon initial inspection, the team also carried out further tests of other components to ensure that was the case.
In doing so, over the last week alone, it has investigated more than 2000 Everest models, here in Australia, at the Thailand factory and in other international markets, to ensure no other vehicles have a similar problem.
"It is disappointing this happened but we understand the root cause and we're confident it is an isolated incident," Cooper said.
"It was a gross error and we have no other records of similar incidents."
Foston added that Ford "will make sure that people are trained properly" to prevent it from occurring again in the future.
Read more: http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/ford-no-safety-issue-with-everest-20151208-glin7r.html#ixzz3ttDuIxWF
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Ford has completed a thorough investigation on the Everest SUV that was involved in a high-profile incident last week and concluded there is no requirement for a safety recall of the Thai-built off-roader.AdvertisementIn the same week that Drive awarded the Everest its 2015 Car of the Year, a motoring journalist from a rival newspaper escaped unhurt after the press test vehicle he was driving in Newcastle suddenly caught fire and burnt to the ground.Ford Australia, which was responsible for the engineering and development of the Everest and the Ranger ute on which it is based, immediately shipped the burnt wreck to its Melbourne headquarters and conducted a thorough investigation to understand the cause of the incident.Led by the company's chief safety inspector, Andy Cooper, and the chief engineer for the Everest and Ranger, Ian Foston, the team discovered the root cause of the fire was a battery terminal connection had not been re-fitted properly when the car's battery was replaced before being shipped to Australia from its Thailand production facility."It was a simple human error," Cooper told Drive."They couldn't start the car in the holding yard before it went on the boat. Someone replaced the battery but missed one of the connections, which supplies power to the rest of the car other than the starter motor. The terminal had not been fitted properly and was making contact with a bolt near the battery."While the consequences were catastrophic (and Foston admitted it was a surprise that the car had already travelled 3700kms without any issues), Ford is confident it is an isolated issue and not a design or manufacturing fault.While Cooper said the origin of the fault was "pretty clear" upon initial inspection, the team also carried out further tests of other components to ensure that was the case.In doing so, over the last week alone, it has investigated more than 2000 Everest models, here in Australia, at the Thailand factory and in other international markets, to ensure no other vehicles have a similar problem."It is disappointing this happened but we understand the root cause and we're confident it is an isolated incident," Cooper said."It was a gross error and we have no other records of similar incidents."Foston added that Ford "will make sure that people are trained properly" to prevent it from occurring again in the future.Read more: http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/ford-no-safety-issue-with-everest-20151208-glin7r.html#ixzz3ttDuIxWF Follow us: @drivecomau on Twitter | Drive.com.au on Facebook
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