Safety is Ford’s number one priority. This is a bullshit statement written to quell the growing and justifiable anger at Ford for selling cars that explode into flames. OK, so the headlines are little over-the-top and Ford cars are not exploding. We are deliberately evoking irresponsible journalism to highlight the greed and profiteering at the heart of Ford’s death cars.

The problem goes back to 2010. Ford had launched the 1.0-litre and 1.6-litre Eco Boost engines. A game changer they said, and an award-winning one at that.

When auto companies like Ford buy out the motoring journalism community it is natural for these sell-out hacks to feel compelled to give away awards like candy.

That’s why you should never take awards of any nature too seriously. Flagship awards within the motoring industry are just marketing exercises to promote and sell cars.

The awards themselves are judged and governed by highly respected motoring journalists. Its all respectable stuff, and also total bullshit.

These awards allow sloppy companies like Ford to increase sales using the cover of trophies and the free publicity such awards naturally give out.

A few years down the line the truth is revealed. Ford ‘s sloppy manufacturing has been churning out engines that catch on fire.

The problem is related to a faulty coolant sensor that causes the engines cylinder head to crack. Overtime and in some cases this causes the engine to burst into flames.

To be fair out of the hundreds of thousands of cars sold with these EcoBoost engines, a small minority have burst spontaneously into flames.

The small minority is in the hundreds. That’s a potential massacre. Or you could construe it as being automotive serial killing in the making.

Ford is finally acknowledging it totally fucked up, and not for the first time. The company has said it has offered to either cover repair costs or contribute to partial refunds to affected customers.

But it only did so after an investigation carried out by the BBC. Otherwise, Ford would have continued to drag its feet and placed the blame on its customers driving habits.

This is the standard non-fault practice for auto companies looking to shift the blame away from their sloppy manufacturing standards.

You can read the proper journalistic and far more respectable approach from the BBC news site.