CLASS action cases against Toyota and Ford, some going back more than eight years,  have been sent back to the Federal Court after a High Court judge allowed appeals by 300,000 disgruntled owners.

The judge permitted appeals in two separate class action lawsuits against Toyota and Ford which are seeking damages for the manufactures’ sale of defective vehicles. 

The ABC has reported that the proceedings have been remitted to the Federal Court to reassess damages. 

This is based on the product’s value at the time of purchase, without consideration of any factors occurring after the time of supply, including repairs or continued use.

2015 Fortuner

The ABC said that the “sticking point the High Court considered was at what point that loss of value should be calculated.”

The High Court this week said the assessment of damages “is the amount by which the value of the goods is reduced at the time of supply”.

The reassessment, which will realise the amount of damages payable to class action claimants, will centre on the interpretation of section 272(1)(a) of the Australia Consumer Act 2010 (ACA), which allows “affected persons” to recover damages if the guarantee of acceptable quality under section 54 of the Act is breached. 

The case against Toyota is a class action brought against it by Kenneth Williams and Direct Claim Services on behalf of consumers who had bought Toyota vehicles – Hilux, Prado and Fortuner – between October 1, 2015 and April 23, 2020 with a defective diesel particulate filter (PDF), the exhaust-mounted device that reduces the emissions of diesel engines.

The PDF is designed to collect harmful emissions but in Toyota’s case, the device failed to work correctly and emitted noxious gas, according to a report by the AAP.

The claimants said that Toyota successfully repaired the problem subsequent to vehicles sold in May 2020.

Ford Focus 2015

This case was first heard by the Federal Court of Australia in 2022, which found Toyota had breached the acceptable quality guarantee under the ACA. 

The court awarded damages, calculated at 17.5 per cent of the average purchase price, for the reduction in value of vehicles as a result of the defect. Now, the court said that damages should have been calculated with regard to reduced value of the vehicles at the time they were sold to the consumer. 

The Ford case was made in  2016 when claimant Biljana Capic started action on behalf of consumers who had bought Ford vehicles, specifically Fiesta, Focus and EcoSport models with the dual-clutch transmission.

The problem with the transmission was that it had instances where its problems, often intermittent, led to erratic engine revving, drivetrain shuddering, sudden deceleration and loss of power.

At the time when consumers first brought the problems to Ford’s notice, primarily through the dealership service departments, in 2015 the car-maker said the shuddering was a result of the owners’ driving style.

The ABC said that the ACCC came onboard and fined Ford $10 million after Ford admitted to unconscionable conduct.The Federal Court found that the Ford transmission issue centred on five defects, two of which were “architectural deficiencies”, and the other “component deficiencies” and that there was a breach of the ACA. It awarded damages based on the vehicle’s reduced value at the time of purchase.

Ford appealed to the Full Court which, like the Toyota case, found that there were factors that extended beyond the time of supply. The High Court judge upheld the complaint and the proceedings were remitted to the primary judge for the reassessment of damages payable.

Now members of the class action have a longer wait as the case is reassessed by the Federal Court