Manufacturing defect

I have a 2016 Ford Everest Limited which I have purchased just over a year ago, the vehicle comes standard with a Ford towbar. I do not own a trailer or caravan and with lockdown there was no opportunity to tow anything. I rented a trailer from a well known company, and once I tried to connect the harness to the Ford we realized the SOC is incorrectly fitted by Ford. I took the car to Ford Silver Lakes, where they also confirmed that it was weird and a manufacturing defect. The claims representative, said the car is out of warranty and why only now it is an issue, surely I do not know why the previous owner did not tow. She gave me the name Alex as escalation manager, and the number provided does not exist. I send Alex on Linked in a message for contact details without reply. Ford wants me to pay over R2000 for their mistake.