Ford fined in Australia re: Mach 1

[Charlemagne]

Adaptive cruise is a must!

For you only. From my experience it's useless, I am fine with regular cruise control on highway (which I'll avoid as much as possible).
Were people complaining about lack of AC or rear sensors on GT350 too?

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[Zelek]

I don't like adaptive cruise on my Accord very much. Sometimes the sensors can't gauge someone properly exiting the highway and it will brake for no reason. Mostly it's been good but I can definitely live without. Regular cruise control is fine but I usually turn it off a lot because central Texas is nothing but hills.

 

[murick]

Adaptive cruise is a must! And to thing 6 years ago I did not want any sensors, now all are must have.

Must be about the driving style or the traffic. Every time I had ACC (in a rented car) it was only getting in the way and I had to turn it off. For the other sensors, I agree.

 

[Hack]

I wish the US would be more like Australia in protecting consumers. I remember that I bought the "most track capable Mustang ever" according to Ford. Only Ford forgot the coolers on my tech pack car. It cost a lot of money and time to add them. Of course the next year Ford put them on all GT350s. IMO by doing that they were admitting it was a mistake. I am glad that Ford made the coolers available, but it took years for that to happen.

 

[WD Pro]

Export cars have no window sticker, or rather customer doesn't get it.

They leave the factory with one so I guess it’s luck of the draw if it’s still on your car when you get to see it.

I asked my dealer to save it but the sales team didn’t have a clue what I was asking for, so I just asked them not to bin anything.

My dealer rang me when the car was on the delivery wagon and I was there shortly after :

After getting the car home, I also found a build sheet in the car, up near the cabin filter.

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[Kermut]

OK, but for real, why don't export cars have the Torsen? Something to do with emissions or other regulations? I honestly have no idea why it wouldn't be included

 

[Charlemagne]

I would think it's the same old thing - homologation / emission tests. They did three combinations of powertrain with expensive tests - normal GT, Bullitt and ecoboost, with measured emissions etc. Changing diffential to Torsen changes power delivery so it would have to be subject to new homologation. Which I guess they didn't want to do given its price and model at the end of the generation. Bean counting and European bureocracy like usual. AU, NZ and UK are not in EU but it's easier to do one version of export model... Alternatively Torsen isn't homologated in Europe which is another expense on top of that.

Supposedly they need to do new emission tests for every combination of options that is why we get only Premium GT with most things standard. And Mach 1 didn't really have much options to choose from - aside from colour it was just Apperance pack, Recaros, optional Y-spoke wheels and alarm. Not even red Brembos...

99% of people don't track the car here so they won't even notice, not to mention majority gets Mustangs in automatics (guess we're scared from shifting in such powerful cars).

 

[Charlemagne]

They leave the factory with one so I guess it’s luck of the draw if it’s still on your car when you get to see it.

Yeah, I know. I got mine from MustangJoe, modified it even to look like US ones (ours are half empty) and intend to frame it

 

[ICU812]

OK, but for real, why don't export cars have the Torsen? Something to do with emissions or other regulations? I honestly have no idea why it wouldn't be included

My guess is down under's hooning laws, Figuring most with a sports car will fire the tires.
I'm sure there is always over the parts counter.

 

[Hack]

OK, but for real, why don't export cars have the Torsen? Something to do with emissions or other regulations? I honestly have no idea why it wouldn't be included

Most likely IMO is because they can get away with it. If Chevy and Dodge don't sell their cars in your country, Mustang is the only choice left. Torsen diffs are expensive and if the accountants at Ford can figure out a way to save a dime per car they will do it. If they had trouble selling the cars without the Torsen, then they would have to include it.

 

[subject617]

Imagine ordering a 60k $ car where it states "comes with Torsen, ACC, and more stuff" but doesnt actually have it.
Next time you get a 4Cyl FWD Hatchback "oh, that was a misprint, it was a SUV all along! Sucks to be you."

 

[DaveR.PP2]

Tsk tsk. Nothing new here. It happens. Understand the metrics of building cars and manufacturers complying with specific country requirements... emissions, headlights, safety standards both uniformities, differences etc.

Then there's export regulations and that alone is a spider web. And of course the representations and spec disclosures and what's required for manufacturers to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of same. I don't know of one company of the scale of Ford or other industry competitors that ever have perfect communications between the production side and the marketing side. It's just human nature that errors happen and especially one would imagine that with the pandemic, shutdowns, working remotely and on and on the potential and probability for errors is magnified.

So misrepresentations happen and we're all ready to play the victim and want our painful cries for justice heard. We're all ready to assassinate big auto for their ruthlessness. Try running a business this scale. Shit happens under the best intentions.

If you live in a country where consumer protections are lacking...either lobby for more advocacy or leave that regime and move on. As I see it Australia acted in defense of consumer complaints knowing they were apparently and obviously misled. So Ford has provided consideration as noted and buyers can decide. That's that. Period.

I would argue that situations like this will likely continue in the future and perhaps the miniscule font size disclosures going forward will be as long as if not longer than the body of the product features representations in sales and marketing brochures and the like....and these materials have to comply with those country requirements and standards. Glad i dont have that job. (Im a small, self - employed professional semi-retired and was never in management of a large manufacturer.)

So tsk tsk. Glad I don't run a car company... one of the toughest businesses on the planet. I'm hopeful all of those "injured" here will decide on their consideration offered and move on. Besides, there are always buyers out there willing to take your misery from not meeting those expectations off your hands.

 

[Charlemagne]

Most likely IMO is because they can get away with it.

Why didn't they drop Tremec too, then? It would sell here/there without it too

 

[Hack]

Why didn't they drop Tremec too, then? It would sell here/there without it too

Shh, don't give them ideas!

 

[gpierce]

Wow, such debate Australia doesn’t have much better consumer laws than the US except a couple of minor exceptions. No lemon laws at all here actually. I haven’t read that article but this fine was issued AFTER Ford acknowledged their mistakes to the owners and offered the free servicing, 5400 bucks OR to buy back the car no out of pocket for the purchaser if they didn’t like either of first two options. While most I know of really wanted that Torsen, they are also mostly satisfied with what Ford offered. The Australian government is just taking their cut and frankly it was unnecessary.

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