The Civil Court has accepted a class action case against a subsidiary of Ford Thailand filed by 308 car owners for 24 million baht in damages.
The problem involves the PowerShift transmission, Ford’s six-speed dual clutch semi-automatic gearbox (DPS6), which some users alleged they had trouble with.
The users of Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus and Ford EcoSport filed the charges in April last year against four of Ford’s subsidiaries -- Ford Motor Company (Thailand) Co Ltd, Ford Sales and Services (Thailand) Co Ltd, Ford Operations (Thailand) Co Ltd and Ford Services (Thailand) Co Ltd. They accused the companies of selling unsafe products due to substandard production and distribution and of false advertising.
At the time, 10 owners, representing 421 others, filed the case, seeking damages totalling 24.7 million baht. After a settlement, 113 withdrew, leaving 308 as plaintiffs in the case.
The court scheduled to decide whether to accept the case on Monday.
During the session, the plaintiffs decided to pursue the case only against Ford Sales and Services (Thailand) and dropped the charges against the other three companies.
The court decided to allow a class action trial for convenience, speed and efficiency with no effect on persons or groups outside the case.
The plaintiff’s witnesses will be heard on Aug 1 and those of the defendants will be heard on Aug 30-31.
The court scheduled a ruling on Sept 28.