of a fire in his Kuga in December 2015. His vehicle allegedly exhibited several faults, but was checked by Ford and passed as safe shortly before the fire. Subsequently, further reports were made of fires and other failures occurring after safety checks at Ford facilities. As of 16 January 2017, at least 46 Kugas in South Africa had been destroyed by fire, and Ford South Africa had confirmed that a total of 39 incidents had been reported to the company. By 18 January 2017, the number of incidents had reached 50, with 13 in 2017 alone. Between November 2015 and December 2017, 72 vehicles suffered fires. By 4 February 2019, there had been more than 80 incidents, with one as recently as 1 February 2019. On 16 January 2017, Ford South Africa and South Africa's National Consumer Commission held a media briefing to announce a safety recall of the affected Kuga model, affecting "4556 1.6 L EcoBoost models that were built between December 2012 and February 2014". The NCC said that it had decided to exercise its authority to authorize a recall on safety grounds, and had then been informed that Ford South Africa had decided to implement a recall. Between January 2017 and January 2018, Ford implemented three safety recalls on the vehicles. Ford South Africa identified the mechanism leading to the majority of fires as overheating caused by a lack of coolant circulation, which could lead to cracking of the cylinder head, resulting in an oil leak and subsequent fire in the engine compartment. The proposed solution would be first to replace and check affected components and systems, and later to improve the cooling and warning systems. As of January 2018, six Kugas had caught fire, or suffered engine and electronic failures, after undergoing recall. In January 2017, Ford South Africa said that it was not aware of any injuries caused by the engine fires, and claimed that the fatal incident was not the result of an engine fire. The causes of both the fatal fire and others are disputed. On 17 January 2017, video footage was released that allegedly recorded part of the fatal fire. In November 2018, family of the deceased owner claimed that Ford South Africa had offered them a settlement conditional on accepting that he had died from a gunshot wound. By this time, the family was represented by Advocate Gerrie Nel of AfriForum.