The Ford F-150 has had a rough start in Australia, with US pickups now affected by a second round of sales suspensions and customer deliveries also paused.
Shipment of F-150 to dealers from RMA Automotive – the company that converts pick-up trucks from left-hand drive to right-hand drive in Melbourne – is paused last week due to an undisclosed error.
While dealers can continue to sell vehicles in stock, today’s stoppage has immediately halted deliveries of Ford F-150s to customers, as the pick-up truck does not comply with certain Australian Design Rules ( ADR) has not been disclosed.
A Ford Australia spokesperson said: “Ford Australia has temporarily suspended the sale and delivery of all remanufactured F-150s as we have determined that the specifications of certain lighting features are not suitable. complies with Australian regulatory requirements. Car expert.
“Affected vehicles cannot be delivered to customers until appropriate remedial work is completed.”
As partial compensation to Australian F-150 owners, Ford will offer free servicing for the first five years or 75,000km (whichever comes first) to those who take delivery or sign a contract. contract to purchase their pickup truck by May 6, 2024.
This replaces the existing four-year/60,000km service program, with each visit costing $429.
This is the second pause in deliveries to F-150 customers since the local rollout began in December 2023.
Sales and deliveries to customers were suspended on January 1, 2024 after a period of turbocharger error during the remanufacturing process was found to cause the pickup truck to go into limp mode.
The pickup is also affected by three recalls in the past six months.
In January, the F-150 was hit with a missile recover a steerror is occurringThe vehicle owner is requested to stop driving immediately due to the risk of the steering rack separating from the intermediate shaft.
ONE second recall occurred in the following weeks due to a clock spring failure that could have resulted in the driver’s airbag not deploying during a crash.
Tuesday and most recent recall was issued last month, this time because the F-150’s side direction indicators did not comply with the Australian Design Rules (ADR).
Unlike its North American pickup truck competitors such as Ram 1500 And Chevrolet SilveradoThe F-150 was converted from left-hand drive to right-hand drive by Ford’s Thailand-based partner RMA Automotive, not Walkinshaw Automotive Group.
Australian-delivered Ram 1500s have been converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw – the former parent company of Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) – and importer Ateco in a joint venture branded American Special Vehicles (ASV).
The Chevrolet Silverado was also converted in the same building as the Ram 1500 for a time, but demand for the latter caused the former operation to be moved to a smaller facility in 2022.
Walkinshaw was also recruited by Toyota to convert this model. tundrawith the pick-up currently being leased to a limited number of customers to ensure third-party processes meet the car giant’s rigorous standards.
MOre: Everything Ford F-150
