Some owners of affected vehicles, family of the deceased owner, and other parties have criticized the conduct of Ford South Africa. A commissioner of the National Consumer Commission (NCC) said that the matter should have been addressed sooner in view of the risk both to those travelling in affected Kugas, and to others. In court papers related to the fatal fire, the South African Police Service has alleged that Ford South Africa may have failed to comply with its obligations under South African consumer protection law, and obstructed the police investigation. On 17 January 2017, family of the deceased owner held a media briefing together with an attorney, and announced plans to initiate a class-action lawsuit against Ford South Africa. Owners of models not included in the recall, but also damaged by fires, have expressed interest in joining such a suit. As of January 2018, Ford South Africa was offering affected owners a settlement, that included a non-disclosure agreement, and was criticized both as inadequate and as an attempt to forestall the class action. On 2 March 2017, the NCC announced that it had begun an investigation into Ford South Africa's handling of the matter, after receiving numerous complaints alleging what the NCC described as "prohibited conduct". The NCC report was completed by April 2018, at which time Ford South Africa was contacting affected owners with offers of compensation. On 4 February 2019, an inquest into the death of the driver in December 2015 opened in the Western Cape High Court at Cape Town, and was postponed to 18 March 2019. During this initial hearing, advocates for the various parties stated that some witness statements were outstanding, and made allegations about the circumstances of the death, the handling of the police investigation, and the conduct of Ford South Africa. The outcome of the inquest would determine whether a public or private criminal prosecution might follow. In June 2020, at the conclusion of the inquest in the Western Cape High Court, Judge Robert Henney found that the fire was caused by an electrical fault between the vehicle's dashboard and windscreen, that the driver was probably overcome by fumes inside the vehicle, and that there was no evidence of "any act or omission amounting to an offence on the part of any person". Henney also found no evidence that the driver had done anything that could have led to his death. In