A FATHER and daughter have shared their frustration after they had to battle with Ford to help pay for an engine which was destroyed by a manufacturer’s fault.
Graham Bartholomew and his daughter Laura, of Leigh, appeared on the BBC’s watchdog show Rip Off Britain. Law firm Roscoe Reid is now investigating a potential group legal action.
Roscoe Reid claims owners of Fords with the Eco Boost engine have reported a dangerous design fault with engines failing due to a lack of coolant. This has caused them to seize and in some cases catch fire, leaving owners with bills as high as £8,000.
In Graham’s case, he bought an 18-month-old one-litre Ford Focus for £11,000 as a part-exchange for his daughter’s old vehicle. 
For two years, Laura was more than happy with the car until one day when she was driving and she heard an odd noise.
Laura said: “All of a sudden, there was a loud pop. That’s the only way I can describe it. You could feel straight away the car started to lose power. Luckily, we were able to turn off the main road and that’s where the car came to a stop.
“It was very scary especially because I had two young children in the back and I realised white smoke was coming from the bonnet. I thought the car was on fire.”
Laura rang her father who rushed to the scene. The fire brigade had also been called.
The car was towed to a local garage where Graham was told the engine could not be repaired.
Graham said: “He called us to say ‘I’m not going to touch it. The engine is full of water. You will have to get in touch with Ford’.”
Graham found similar cases online in a group called “Ford EcoBoost Nightmare”, which had been set up by a fellow customer, and discovered Ford had written to owners of Fords with Eco Boost engines made between October 2011 and 2013 to say the coolant hose in the engine was failing at high temperatures and needed to be fixed.
Graham then entered a months-long battle with Ford over his £4,500 bill to replace the engine because the car was out of warranty.
He said: “It was frustrating. They initially offered £700. Then they upped the offer to £888 but I kept digging my heels in.”
After six months, they settled on Ford paying 75 per cent, leaving Graham to pay £1,600.
Ford say the contribution offered towards repairs depends on vehicle use, service record and repairs being carried out by Ford. They went on to say that with Laura’s car they offered 75 per cent of the service costs despite the car having no service history. 
They also claim more than 86 per cent of the vehicles have been “automatically reworked” thanks to the service campaign but are keen to hear from owners of outstanding vehicles that haven’t had corrective action.