The Rural Voice, 1996-10, Page 48GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
Farm Implements Board ruling leaves unanswered questions
On this page of the May '96
issue of The Rural Voice we
presented a factual account of the
life of a CASE IH 1594 tractor in
an effort to assist one of our
members. The story outlined a
dispute as to whether or not engine
failure was caused by rainfall
(which later froze) entering the oil
pump by way of the muffler which
has a raised lip around the top. It is
the contention of the Grcy
Federation that this is a basic flaw
in the design of the original
equipment. As in the words of
Rodney Dangerfield, "I get no
respect," so is the life of this tractor
and its owner.
We found it difficult to research
the facts on the tractor because
there is no "lemon registry" for
agricultural machinery hike that
which the Consumers' Association
has for consumer products. This
writer interviewed a former Case
IH dealer here in Ontario, who said,
"I would not stock or sell that
model of tractor for the company."
Later, on a trip to Ohio, a Case IH
dealer in that state, when asked
about the reliability of the model
1594, responded, "Are you buying
or selling?" When it was assured
that they were not being taped, or
their names revealed, the answers
to the questions were genuine, and
what I believe to be truthful and
factual, and they did not have much
good to say about this piece of
equipment.
The Grey Federation ran the
story on our newsletter page in The
Rural Voice, in order to get
feedback from others with
experience with this tractor. We
appreciate that Keith Roulston
allowed us the freedom to print our
story in our newsletter in spite of
the potential for pressure from
advertisers. Two other farm
publications would not accept our
44 THE RURAL VOICE
article or letter to the editor.
However, 11 of the 12 farmers who
responded to our advertisement,
indicated problems with this, or
similar model of tractor.
The questions of whether the
company was responsible for the
damage to the tractor was heard by
the Ontario Farm Implements
Board (OFIB) on June 24, 1996.
When the application for a hearing
'was made it was requested that the
sections of the Implements Act
covering this situation be quoted.
The Board made a ruling that thcy
could go ahead with the hearing
under the section 5(2)(c), which
refers to the Board's authority to
consider a matter based on the
request of the purchaser, dealer or
distributor. However, when the
decision was handed down, the
findings were under other sections.
The first reason given was that
section 13(a) applies only to new
farm implements. We feel that this
problem was with the equipment
from the time ,it was new, and did
not just develop later, that it is a
basic design flaw. Furthermore, the
muffler was original equipment and
the part number is still valid, and
that design of muffler is still being
sold by Case IH.
The second section quoted is
18(6), that when a distributor is
aware of a "significant percentage
of farm implements sold exhibit a
common defect, the distributor shall
notify purchasers of the defect and
of thedistributor's obligation to
repair the defective farm
implements." The board felt that no
evidence was shown that a
significant percentage experienced
problems. How is the evidence to
be collected when it is not in the
dealers' interests to be negative
about their own equipment? It is
our contention that 11 farmers who
responded to our inquiry may well
represent a significant number of
others, and that if a suitable method
of collecting this information were
available, this could be
demonstrated.
All of this leads one to wonder
about the effectiveness of
legislation and a board whose main
purpose seems to be to reinforce the
manufacturer's warranty — but only
on new equipment and only while
owned by the original purchaser.
Isn't that what the warranty is
supposed to do already? It is the
intention of the Grey Federation of
Agriculture . to work toward
improving the legislation so that
meaningful protection is given to
farmers against bearing the cost of
defects in equipment.
In the meantime, you can be
assured that we will continue to
work, doing whatever we can to
accomplish what is being asked by
our members.°
— submitted by Ken Furlong
President, GCFA
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION
OF AGRICULTURE
56TH ANNUAL MEETING
AND BANQUET
Friday, October 18, 1996
Flesherton Community Centre
Social: 6:30 p.m.
Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
GUEST SPEAKER: Ginty Joclus
President, Outdoor Farm Show
Tickets: $12.00/Person
Tickets available from GCFA
Directors or call the office at
364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 •