Ford Dealer Fires Two Employees For Putting Racist Slur On Stickers

Rusty Eck Ford in Wichita, Kansas, has fired two employees after an investigation revealed that inappropriate stickers containing a racial slur were placed in customer vehicles. The issue came to light late Monday, September 7, when a longtime customer notified dealership management after finding an offensive racial slur on an oil-change reminder sticker following a July 27 service visit. Rusty Eck Ford immediately launched an investigation and identified the Quick Lane employee responsible for entering the offensive language into the sticker system, terminating his employment that same day. The investigation revealed that the employee had entered the offensive language while creating a reminder sticker for his own vehicle after servicing it at the dealership, and the language was inadvertently left in the system, subsequently appearing on reminder stickers printed for affected customers. In total, three additional customers received stickers containing the same offensive language, and management promptly contacted each of them. A second employee later discovered and removed the offensive language from the system but failed to report the incident to management; that employee is also no longer employed by Rusty Eck Ford. In a public statement, the family-owned business, operating for more than 73 years, apologized to the affected customers and anyone hurt or offended, emphasized a zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory conduct, and stated they are reviewing internal procedures and safeguards to prevent future occurrences.