Ford South Africa will recall the Ford Kuga.

Timeslive has reliably learnt that the company’s South Africa CEO Jeffrey Nemeth will make the announcement this afternoon at a media conference‚ in conjunction with the National Consumer Commissioner.

The recall was confirmed by Rod Montano‚ lawyer for family of Kuga fire victim Reshall Jimmy.

“In a discussion with the NCC we were informed by lawyers for the commission that there would be a recall on the 2012 to 2014 Kuga models‚” he said.

The details of the recall are still unclear.

HOT STUFF: A Ford Kuga burst into flames in Durban on December 19 2016
Picture: Zwakele Mncwango‚ Facebook

The recall comes after a high level meeting was held on Friday between senior Ford executives and National Consumer Commission lawyers.

In December‚ after an expose by The Times‚ the commission summoned Ford’s top management to appear before it to explain what the company was doing to investigate and stop the fires.

Ford was given until February 28 to complete its investigation and report back to the commission.

For months Ford has been under intense pressure over its Kuga‚ with customers asking why the vehicle manufacturer has not recalled the car.

To date 48 Kuga’s have caught alight in South Africa‚ 11 of them this month. Reshall Jimmy died in December 2015 when he was trapped in his burning Kuga while on holiday in the Wilderness‚ in the Western Cape.

Since then his family have been fighting a bitter war with Ford to get the company to take responsibility for his death.

While Ford claims that Jimmy’s car caught alight in the rear‚ the family through private forensic and fire investigators‚ have established that the fire started with the car’s electronic wiring system behind the dashboard on the passenger side of the vehicle.

Police‚ and Jimmy’s insurance company’s forensic investigators‚ came to the same conclusion as those made by fire experts hired by the Jimmy family.

Earlier today the Jimmy family through their lawyer‚ Rod Montano‚ handed over dozens of complaints from Kuga owners whose vehicles have caught fire to the National Consumer Commission.

The handover is part of the start of a class action against Ford‚ which the family is driving.

The Times today reported that since 2014‚ Ford has known of the Kuga’s potentially deadly safety flaw‚ but have done nothing to address the matter.

The company was informed over the past two years by various insurance companies about the flaws through investigations by their forensic investigators.

Jimmy’s sister‚ Renisha Jimmy described the announcement as a bitter-sweet victory.

“We have only just won the first leg of the battle with Ford. While we have ensured a recall is done‚ we still have a long fight ahead with Ford‚ which is by no means over.

“We are determined to expose the truth‚ which is that Ford has hidden the fact that their cars burn because of manufacturing faults.”

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