Ford Kuga Plug-in - service campaign announced in August, battery change at the end of December [updated] • ELECTROMAGNETICS

A reader who bought a Ford Kuga PHEV / Plug-in wrote to us. He was very happy with the car until he heard about the car battery service. For more than a month and a half, he cannot get an answer on what to do next and when to wait for repairs.

The following text is taken from the Reader. We slightly edited it, added headings and subheadings. For ease of reading, we do not use italics.

Update 2020/11/09, hours. 13.08: we have added a statement from Ford Poland spokesman Mariusz Jasinski. It's at the very bottom of the text.

Ford Kuga Plug-in - ready for service

Table of contents

• Ford Kuga Plug-in - ready for service
  • Editorial comment at www.elektrowoz.pl and Ford Polska's answer

I am a Ford Kugi plugin owner since summer vacation. The first days of use seem to have confirmed the correctness of the purchase of this type of car. Daily routes covered about 100-200 km. After disconnecting from the charging, I drove up to the highway, there I switched to saving the battery (30 km), then on electric traction around the city, I returned to the hybrid.

After two weeks of this use and long weekend trips, the average fuel consumption was in the range of 3-4 liters per 100 kilometers.

Unfortunately, on 13 August on one of the car portals, probably elektróz.pl, I noticed that a service campaign was underway. I called the dealer, he was surprised but confirmed it a few hours later. A few days later, information about this appeared in the application. I haven't received the letter, so if I hadn't read the Internet, I might have been a handful of gunpowder.

An attempt to arrange a refurbishment ended up with no Ford instructions yet. I received the following information from them:

First half of September: The maintenance action you specified concerns the battery and possible damage during charging. For this reason, the manufacturer strongly recommends using the vehicle in EV Auto mode, which is safe and will not damage the vehicle. The service activity is in its final stages of preparation and customer requests for repairs will begin shortly.

Mid September: For my part, I can inform you that Ford Polska is preparing compensation for customers who have suffered from the failure of these vehicles. For the time being, I ask you to be patient a little as further instructions will be announced as soon as possible.

First decade of October: I'm sorry, but, as a customer support department, we unfortunately have no information on how to service the vehicle. First of all, the official dealers who will carry out the repair will be informed. I recommend that you stay in constant contact with the dealer closest to you, who will be able to provide further instructions as soon as they become available.

In my opinion, the situation where Ford goes to the dealer presents a small bulldozer problem.

Of course, the dealer replied: We are in constant contact with Ford Polska regarding the maintenance status of your vehicle. I would like to inform you that Ford will emphasize in a letter notifying customers that it is perfectly safe to use the vehicle with the work mode switch set to EV and not charge the battery from the mains. I want to assure you that if this were not the case, Ford would not have instructed customers otherwise. However, if you expect to be able to verify this information, please contact BOK – Tel: [phone] ext.3.

Actually, this does not even surprise me, I also believe that this is a Ford business, not a dealer.

At the end of October, the dealer wrote: Based on the information we have in your separate correspondence, Ford will likely send you compensation in the form of additional service contract benefits and an allotted fuel card to be used.

Almost three months later, the first light appeared in the tunnel. It seems that the "final preparation phase" designated in September is slowly coming to an end. As a joke, I can say that buying an ordinary car, I feel like a buyer of a premium brand: BMW also prohibits charging, and Mercedes has the same disrespectful approach to the buyer (and you will have to spend more on the S65 coupe).

Editorial comment at www.elektrowoz.pl and Ford Polska's answer

On the one hand, the terms described above seem standard (months of waiting for any reaction), on the other hand, the situation is complicated. Owners of 27 cars sold in Poland in August they could read on the Internet, and in September they learned from Ford that they should not plug their cars into a charger.

They paid more for a car than for a petrol one, and even though they drove the petrol model for almost three months to avoid burning down the house or the car. So far, they've only heard they'll get a [partial?] fuel refund - and they're still waiting for more information.

We contacted Mr Mariusz Jasiński, who is listed on the Ford website as a press contact (source). Here is his answer (all awards from www.elektrowoz.pl editors). We got it real fast, but by a strange coincidence it was filtered as spam - sorry for the delay:

I confirm that a defect has been identified in a small number of Ford Kuga PHEV vehicles, which we will eliminate. The customers who purchased these cars were informed about the service action, and since the beginning of September we are in constant contact with all persons who may be involved in this issue.

We expect the start of the battery replacement campaign at the end of December. and likely completion by the end of March. This is due to the procurement procedures for the components and the timing of the components production by our suppliers. We will contact all customers again at the end of November.to set an exact repair date for specific vehicles.

We will minimize the inconvenience associated with repairs by picking up and delivering the car from your home or workplace, and, if necessary, provide a replacement car during service work. As compensation for inconvenience in operation and unexpected losses caused by increased fuel consumption, We will send you a fuel card in the amount of PLN 2200.and all of these vehicles will be covered by a free three-year service contract.

Initial Image: Ford Kuga Plug-in ST Line, Content Image: Ford Kuga PHEV Vignale (above) and ST Line (below). Both photo pictures (c) Ford

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