Money for Ford Kuga PHEV owners with battery problems
120 euros and extra warranty as compensation
We previously reported that problems can occur in the high-voltage battery of the pre-facelift Ford Kuga. Ford is working on a solution and offering owners compensation, but is that enough? Consumer program Radar is calling the importer to account in the studio tonight.
The pre-facelift Ford Kuga PHEV (built between 2019-2024) can develop defects in some of the high-voltage battery cells, which can cause the car to stop or even catch fire. Ford has contacted all eight thousand Dutch and five thousand Belgian owners of such a Kuga. They advise not to charge the car anymore and to drive exclusively on petrol until the problem is resolved. A software update is currently being worked on for this purpose, which will take a while. To compensate the owners concerned, Ford initially extended the factory warranty on the battery from five to ten years or 240,000 kilometers from first registration.
Money
Ford is also offering compensation of 120 euros, which the owner must request themselves, with a copy of the registration certificate and the letter received. However, it is questionable whether that amount outweighs the extra costs of the extra fuel that the owners of such a Ford Kuga spend on kilometers they normally travel electrically. It is impossible to name specific amounts in this case, because it largely depends on whether someone charges their car at a public charging station or at home when the solar panels are working overtime. In addition: to what extent can a software solution be sufficient against a hardware problem?
Consumer program Radar of AvroTros has delved into the matter and Ford Netherlands will be held accountable in tonight’s broadcast.