More than 300,000 angry Toyota and Ford owners who bought faulty cars over the past 10 years will face an even longer wait for compensation after a ruling by Australia’s High Court today in Canberra.

Affected cars included Toyota Hiluxes, Prados and Fortunas with diesel engines, and Ford Focus, Fiesta and Ecosport models with a dual dry clutch transmission problem.

Both cases were first brought to the Federal Court as class actions seeking a resolution as to how the car’s loss of value should be resolved, after repairs for the defective vehicles had been developed.

The key issue concerned the guarantee in the Australian Consumer Law that an item purchased should be of acceptable quality.

In a case like this, where the cars were defective, the law states that consumers are entitled to compensation for loss of value.

The sticking point that the High Court considered was at what point the loss of value should be calculated.

Today, the High Court answered that question, saying that the assessment of damages “is the amount by which the value of the goods at the time of delivery is reduced.”

The three cases, including a Toyota owners class action, a Toyota cross-action and a Ford owners class action, have been returned to the Federal Court to be re-evaluated in light of the High Court decision.

The filters expelled harmful gases

It’s been a long road for car owners and both car companies.

In the case of Toyota, diesel particulate filters were supposed to collect dangerous pollutants, but instead they expelled harmful gases.

It was not until the so-called “field solution 2020” was developed that a solution was found and the company carried out repairs free of charge.

Ford also had trouble troubleshooting the dual dry clutch transmission, which caused sudden deceleration, intermittent revs, and loss of power.

The failures were intermittent and some cars had some of the problems, others had all of them and others were not affected at all.

When problems first arose in 2015, Ford told customers the shuddering was due to their driving style.

The ACCC fined the company $10 million after Ford admitted unconscionable conduct.

The line between compensation and overcompensation

The present case was never about whether compensation should be paid, but rather about where the line should be drawn.

In the Toyota case, the Federal Court said the loss in value of the cars was 17.5 percent, rejecting the company’s argument that it should be lower due to the availability of the solution from 2020.

On appeal, the court determined that the loss of value before repair was only 10 percent.

The Federal Court judge in the Ford case initially ruled that the reduction in value was 30 per cent.

But when Ford challenged that, the Court of Appeal found that the judge had failed to take into account the repairs made to the car at no charge, the value of the car at the time of trial, and the use of the car.

The High Court was asked to rule in both cases on where the line was drawn between compensation and overcompensation.

It found that none of the Federal Court judgments addressed the issue as measured by loss at the point of supply.