Ford Australia has admitted a clerical error will cost it almost $10million, with plans to compensate owners of more than 430,000 vehicles that were charged for “free” roadside assistance over the last five years.

The car maker has initiated what it calls a “remediation program” after an internal investigation found that it had charged customers $15.95 for a free service that may never have been used.

It comes a week after the blue oval was hauled over the coals by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which launched legal action over what it claims as “unconscionable and misleading or deceptive conduct” and “false or misleading representations in its response to customer complaints."

It also follows an announcement by Holden on Thursday in which it launched a 60-day refund or return policy on faulty new cars after an ACCC investigation into poor customer service.

Ford claims its roadside assistance blunder was detected internally and that it had not received any official customer complaints.

Roadside assistance is offered by most car makers as an ownership incentive, providing a call-out service for drivers when stranded by mechanical issues.

The deal was offered to all new car customers from May 2012 through to July 2017 as part of a scheduled servicing scheme. While it was advertised as free, customers were charged the fee as part of the first visit back to the dealership.

Ford says it affects up to 430,000 customers, which will all be contacted in writing with an apology and explanation of how they will be reimbursed. Ford says it will offer $21 to each consumer, compensating for interest.

While customers purchasing a vehicle from now will be charged for roadside assistance, those that bought a new car under the assumption the service was free will receive price adjustments for future eligible servicing.

“Ford is committed to honouring its promise of free roadside assistance with standard scheduled servicing to affected customers,” said Ambrose Henderson, Ford’s Marketing and Sales Manager - Parts and Service.

“We apologise to customers affected by this error and have launched a remediation program to refund customers the amount they were incorrectly charged.”

The ACCC has put a spotlight on the automotive industry recently, taking brands to task over customer service programs for faulty cars.

Most recently, it launched legal action over Ford's handling of an issue with its Powershift automatic gearbox which it claims customers experienced "excessive shuddering and jerking when accelerating, loss of gear selection and sudden loss of power and/or excessive noisiness.”

The ACCC alleges owners were not properly looked after by the company and some were forced to pay on average $7000 for a refund or replacement under the PowerShift Ownership Loyalty Program.

"The ACCC alleges that Ford misrepresented to customers who made complaints that the issues with their vehicles were caused by the way the driver handled the vehicle, even though Ford was aware of systemic issues with the vehicles from at least 2013," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

In addition to this the ACCC is claiming that Ford then made the situation worse by then selling affected vehicles to new customers without fully disclosing the history of the problems with the transmission.

It's an allegation Ford strongly denies, claiming every vehicle was fully repaired before being sold again via its dealers.

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