ACCC v Mazda about to face-up

The legal stoush between Mazda Australia and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) formally commences next week.

The consumer watchdog is taking Australia’s number two new-vehicle retailer to court accusing it of unconscionable conduct and making false or misleading representation in its dealings with 10 buyers of seven new vehicles between 2013 and 2017.

A First Case Management Hearing will be held in the Federal Court in Melbourne in front of Justice O’Callaghan on Friday December 6.

The ACCC will be represented at the hearing by legal firm Webb Henderson and Mazda by Mills Oakley.

As the title suggests this is an administrative hearing and it is anticipated there will be several more in 2020 before evidence in the case starts being heard.

If eventually found guilty the theoretical potential exists for Mazda to cop millions of dollars in fines.

But at this early stage, Mazda isn’t showing any signs of backing down.

“We reject the allegations very strongly and we will let the legal system take its own course,” said Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi.

The ACCC isn’t making any comment on the case beyond the description of the seven cases it furnished when it announced the case in October.

The ACCC has alleged the 10 consumers – represented in the court documents as both individuals and couples – began experiencing faults with their vehicles within two years of purchase between 2013 and 2017.

These faults allegedly included unexpected power loss and deceleration while being driven and resulted in repeated visits to Mazda dealers for repairs including multiple engine replacements. One vehicle was off the road for four months within a six-month period, the ACCC claims.

Vehicles affected include the Mazda2, Mazda6, Mazda CX-5 and CX-5B, Mazda CX-3 and Mazda BT-50.

The ACCC has confirmed to carsales.com.au it received a total 13,781 consumer complaints about cars in the 12 months between October 1, 2018 and September 30 2019. Of that, 517 related to Mazda or its dealers.

That’s 3.75 per cent of complaints for a brand that has a 9.6 per cent market share.

While refusing to comment further on the case at this week’s CX-30 local reveal, Bhindi highlighted more than once Mazda Australia’s record in JD Power sales and service surveys.

But Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak did acknowledge the noise around the ACCC allegations and said he was hopeful Mazda customers would point to their own personal ownership when considering the news.

“Customer service has been very much a focus for us and always will be,” he told carsales.com.au. “The great thing is our customers know the brand because they love it. They love the service and are happy. And that’s why we do very well [in industry surveys].”

This is the latest in a series of actions and campaigns by the ACCC against automotive companies.

Most recently, Federal Court Justice Foster reserved his decision in the ACCC action against Volkswagen over dieselegate.

The ACCC had reached a settlement that would have seen Volkswagen pay a record $75 million fine plus $4 million in court costs, but Justice Foster indicated the court might impose a much higher penalty.

An ACCC court action resulted in a then-record $10 million fine for Ford for unconscionable conduct in the way it dealt with complaints relating to the Powershift transmission in 2018.

The ACCC has also gained a court enforceable undertaking from Holden to comply with consumer guarantee obligations and a similar undertaking from Hyundai, which has even agreed to publish on its website data relating to issues or faults with its different models.