The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has ordered the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa to “withdraw or appropriately amend” a fuel consumption claim contained in a brochure for the Ford Kuga.
The action follows a complaint by Claire Ben Haim, a customer who was not happy with the consumption of her Ford Kuga 1,5 EcoBoost Ambiente.
The Ford brochure in question lists a claimed combined fuel economy figure of 7,0 L/100 km for this model, but Haim said her “day-to-day consumption was sitting at 15,0 L/100 km”.
“The best average she has managed to achieve is 12,0 L/100 km even after taking the vehicle on the open road, as suggested by the sales representative,” the ASA said in its ruling.
“Attempts to upgrade the software have lowered the daily average to 12,5 L/100 km, which is still substantially more than advertised, and the respondent does not offer any further assistance,” the ASA added.
Ford, meanwhile, submitted that it needed to “benchmark fuel consumption figures in a comparable manner due to the many variable factors that impact vehicle fuel consumption”. As such, it conforms to the Economic Commission for Europe standards for fuel economy claims, which are conducted and ratified independently for the sake of standardised comparison.
“In independent ownership, fuel consumption is open to many different variables that render it difficult to compare individual economy figures. By way of example, geographic and climatic difference has the greatest practical impact. Road conditions and routes are factors in other cases, as well as individual driving styles,” Ford responded.
“Accordingly, fuel consumption claims should be taken as an indication of a vehicle’s economy and not as a fixed figure obtained on every tankful. It is a means of comparing competitors against each other during the purchase consideration,” the automaker said.
The Ford brochure does contain a notice that details fuel consumption claims, along with the necessary disclaimers. But the ASA said that this disclaimer only “appears on page 9 and again on page 11 of the brochure”.
“The claimed consumption, however, appears on page 10. The problem this poses is that there is a substantial amount of information presented, with a strong likelihood that the average reader would not even notice the disclaimer quoted above,” explained the ASA.
“In addition, the consumption figure as it appears on page 10 provides no indication, such as an asterisk or explanatory footnote referenced to this figure. This suggests that there are no special conditions attached to it, which suggests that it is reasonable to expect similar values when using the vehicle after purchase.”
In its ruling, dated August 18 2016, the ASA thus upheld the complaint and ordered Ford to “withdraw or appropriately amend the claimed fuel consumption” and “action the withdrawal or amendment of the claim with immediate effect upon receipt of this ruling”.
