Ford Truck Fire, Ford SUV Fire, Ford Van Fire, Ford Car Fire

Fire on Ford truck linked to cruise control

-NBC News

10/16/2009 - A Port St. Lucie woman lost her Ford F-150 truck to fire Wednesday night, a fire that investigators trace back to the vehicle's cruise control system.

Maryanne Komar said when her dogs started barking at 10:30 p.m., she knew something was wrong.

She rushed to the window of her home on the 1500 block of SE Pitcher Rd.

That's when she saw her truck, parked in her driveway, engulfed in flames. The flames quickly spread to her boat, which was parked beside it.

St. Lucie County firefighters acted quickly to put it out.

"They told me if it had been 2 minutes longer my whole house would have gone up into flames," said Komar.

Capt. Jack Edomondson, an investigator with St. Lucie County Fire-Rescue, ruled the fire an accident. He traced the cause to the truck's cruise control system.

Komar's truck is one of millions of Ford vehicles included in recalls for the cruise control system.

According to the company's website, if brake fluid leaks into the electrical components of the system, it can cause them to corrode and create "the possibility of a fire."

A spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) says there have been thousands of complaints and hundreds of fires linked to the faulty Ford cruise control systems.

Ford has issued a series of 8 recalls over the past decade. The most recent, issued just this week, includes an additional 4.5 million vehicles.

Komar says she never received a recall notice in the mail.

"Someone needs to protect people," she said. "This car was not running. This car had not run for 5 hours."

Ford spokesperson Wes Sherwood says his company has gone to "considerable efforts and expense to get the latest customer registration information," and to provide owners with recall notices.

Komar says her husband called Ford following the fire and was told someone would contact him within 15 days.

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