Today the Bangkok Civil Court ordered car manufacturer Ford to pay compensation totaling a hefty amount of THB23 million (about US$710,000) to 296 people in Thailand who purchased two of its vehicle models that were found to have defective clutch and gear systems.
A crowd of 308 plaintiffs — all of whom filed a collective lawsuit against Ford Sales & Service (Thailand) on April 3, 2017 after discovering defects in their Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus cars — gathered in the South Bangkok Civil Court in Sathorn District to wait for the verdict this morning, reported Thairath.
The court determined that, out of the 90,000 units of the two problematic vehicle models that Ford distributes in Thailand each year, only 500 vehicles were found to be defective, so the court cannot force the company to buy back the cars they’ve sold or recall the models, according to INN News.
There have been no reports of anybody being killed or injured as a result of the vehicle defects.
The court, however, did order Ford to pay 296 of the plaintiffs compensation, in amounts varying from THB15,000 (about US$463) to THB240,000 (about US$7,414), plus an interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum from the date of filing.
The money will be paid to the buyers within the next seven days.
The court dismissed the complaints of 12 of the plaintiffs because six of them had adapted their vehicles in violation of their warranty agreement, and the other six didn’t bother get their clutch and gear systems fixed by Ford.
“We’ve been fighting for this day for over a year and a half now,” case attorney Jinna Yaem-uam told reporters outside the Civil Court.
“We didn’t just gather here today for the verdict, we also want to demonstrate the joint power of consumerism.”
Jinna regarded this verdict as “historic” as this was Thailand’s first instance of a class action lawsuit, which were only allowed three years ago based on the amendment to the Civil Code of May 25, 2015.
Korpsak Noomnoi, a representative of the plaintiffs told The Nation that the consumers have achieved their goal and were satisfied for the most part.
Korpsak added that the 12 that who were not compensated may be filing an appeal.
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