Ford Motor Company has recalled hundreds of thousands of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles due to a faulty cruise control switch that can short and cause the vehicles to burst into flames. If you own a Ford Motor Company product and have experienced a vehicle fire you may be entitled to compensation.

Ford Motor Company — the second-largest U.S. automaker — has announced a voluntary recall of hundreds of thousands of its popular pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles due to a fire risk.

Ford is recalling the vehicles because their cruise-control switches could short circuit and start a fire under the hood while parked, the automaker said Thursday.

“This is a ticking time bomb ready to go off and something needs to be done,” Bob Garcia, owner of a Ford F-150, told NBC News. Garcia's pickup caught fire nine hours after he parked it at his home. The fire destroyed his truck and part of his home before firefighters arrived.

If you have experienced problems with your Ford car, truck or SUV or have experienced a Ford car, truck or SUV fire contact the lawyers of Ennis & Ennis, P.A. about a Ford recall lawsuit. Ennis & Ennis, P.A. specializes personal injury and product liability cases. With offices throughout Florida and in Washington DC we are taking cases nationwide.

‘Significant’ recall
The recall involves approximately 792,000 vehicles, including F-150 pickup trucks, Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigator SUV's that are equipped with a speed-control switch. Also included in the recall are certain F-150 Super Crew trucks that were built through August 7, 2001 and are equipped with speed control as well as the 1998 Expedition. The complete list of recalled vehicles is as follows:

Ford "F" Series Trucks:	1994 - 2003
Ford Bronco:	1993 - 1996
Ford Crown Victoria:	1992 -1998
Ford Econoline & Club Wagon Vans:	1992 - 2003
Ford Excursion:	2000 - 2003
Ford Expedition:	1997 - 2003
Ford Explorer:	1994 - 2003
Ford Ranger:	1995 - 2002
Ford Sport Trac:	2001 - 2002
Ford Super Duty Diesel:	1994 - 2004
Ford Windstar Mini-Van:	1996 - 2003
Lincoln Mark VIII:	1993 - 1998
Lincoln Navigator:	1998 - 2003
Lincoln Town Car:	1992 - 1997
Ford "F" Series Pick Up	1995 - 1997
Mercury Mountaineer:	1997 - 2003

One Ford source tells NBC that the recall is “significant.”

According to Ford, vehicle owners have reported that the cruise control on their vehicles has malfunctioned before they shut down the engine. The mechanism that shuts off the speed control may overheat, eventually causing a fire, Ford said.

“We're getting flame literally falling on other plastic components,” said Florida mechanic Larry Perry.

Perry says even when the engine is turned off, power flows to the switch, causing it to overheat and start a fire.  “All it takes is a little more heat, a little more flame, you've got a vehicle you can’t put out.”

Ford says it knows of 63 alleged vehicle fires and of one alleged injury associated with a fire. No deaths have been reported, but the instances of fires appear to be increasing, the car company said.

Ford will notify owners of the vehicle recall in February, and dealers will deactivate the cruise control switch for free. Once the company has an adequate supply of replacement switches, it will send another letter notifying owners that they can get their switches replaced.

Ford said cruise control will be disabled once the switch is deactivated.

“We recognize this may be an inconvenience, but we believe this preventive action is in the best interest of our customers’ safety,” the company said.

 

***Breaking Ford Fire Recall News***

Ford Recalls 3.6 MLN Vehicles Over Switch

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co is recalling as many as 3.6 million vehicles because a switch that deactivates the speed control can overheat, smoke or burn, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday.

The highway safety agency said in a notice that the switch problem could result in a fire under the hood.

The Ford vehicles being recalled are F-Series and Ranger pickup trucks, Explorer, Bronco and Mountaineer SUV's, Econoline vans and some Crown Victoria, Town Car, Grand Marquis, Capri, Mark VII and Taurus SHO cars with model years ranging from 1992 to 2004, depending upon the particular vehicle.

Ford recalled nearly 6.2 million vehicles in 2005 and 2006 because of engine fires linked to a faulty speed control deactivation switch.

Dan Jarvis, a spokesman for Ford, said the company was recalling the vehicles to alleviate customer concerns.

"We have not seen a high incidence of fires in this population," Jarvis said, adding that there were a few reports of fires in Crown Victoria passenger cars. He declined to specify the exact number of fires.

Ford's recall comes as the second-largest U.S. automaker is trying to stem steep losses in its North American automotive operations. The company lost $279 million in North America in the second-quarter before taxes.

Ford dealers will install a fused wiring harness into the speed control system to solve the problem, the company said.

 

Bread and butter
The F-Series has been a huge seller for Ford, setting industry records.  By some estimates, the F-150 makes up half of the company's pre-tax profits for auto sales.  By all accounts, it's Ford's bread and butter.

The truck line retained the title of best-selling vehicle in the United States last year. The company sold 939,511 F-Series trucks, setting a new industry record for full-size pickup sales. Ford set the previous record with 911,597 in 2001.

“Ford is hoping to act quickly enough so as not to have a repeat of, say, the Ford Explorer rollover problem that is very fresh in everyone's mind,” said Frank Marcus, technical director of Motor Trend Magazine.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into the defect in November after receiving 36 reports of fires. All of the incidents occurred when the vehicle was parked and the ignition was turned off. No injuries were reported.

Ford said it worked closely with NHTSA throughout the investigation.

In addition to the above recalls Ford Motor Company announced on 04/10/2007 that they had issued a recall for over 500,000 Ford Escape SUV's due to a engine fires linked to corrosion on anti-lock brake connectors.

***New Recall On Previously Fixed Vehicles***
Ford Recalls 225,000 Vehicles To Repair Its Repairs

Portfolio Media, New York (February 6, 2008)--In another of many recent setbacks for Ford Motor Co., the auto giant said Friday it was voluntarily recalling about 225,000 vehicles that had already been recalled once to fix a cruise-control deactivation switch. The wiring used to fix the defective mechanisms in some of those cars may itself be faulty, the company said.

The company said it planned to notify the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration this week about the recall. As of press time on Wednesday, the NHTSA's Web site did not contain any notice of the recall.

Ford has put the brakes on approximately 10 million vehicles over cruise control switch issues since 1999. The faulty switch could cause a vehicle to erupt in flames even when it was turned off and parked, Ford said. To fix the problem, Ford installed new wiring harnesses in the recalled vehicles.

According to the company, though, some of those harnesses may contain an improperly placed fuse that does not offer sufficient protection if there is a short circuit.

The vehicles covered by the new recall include the gasoline-powered 1992 to 2003 Econoline, 1992 to 1998 Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis, 1993 Bronco, 1995 to 1997 F series pickup, 1993 F series pickup, 1993 to 1995 Taurus SHO and 1992 to 1995 Town Car. Read More>>>

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If you have experienced problems with your Ford, Lincoln or Mercury car, SUV or truck or have experienced a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury car, SUV or truck fire contact the lawyers of Ennis & Ennis, P.A. about a Ford fire recall lawsuit. Ennis & Ennis, P.A. specializes personal injury and product liability cases. With offices throughout Florida and in Washington DC we are taking cases nationwide. Fill out our free case evaluation form today to find out if you are eligible for compensation.