Fire???

[Marauderjack]

Well Folks....

I see Ford has recalled a bunch of trucks and SUV's for a poorly made (Chinese??) Cruise Control cut off switch that could short out and ignite the whole car....even if it has never been used!!!??? :mad: :confused: :mad2:

They also said the recall may include up to 6 MILLION cars and trucks!! :help:

Wonder if our cars have this switch?? :confused: Any way to find out?? :(

If so....they just unplug it for now until they can get replacements.....BACK ORDERED!!! :argue:

Marauderjack :o

[carfixer]

Well Folks....

I see Ford has recalled a bunch of trucks and SUV's for a poorly made (Chinese??) Cruise Control cut off switch that could short out and ignite the whole car....even if it has never been used!!!??? :mad: :confused: :mad2:

They also said the recall may include up to 6 MILLION cars and trucks!! :help:

Wonder if our cars have this switch?? :confused: Any way to find out?? :(

If so....they just unplug it for now until they can get replacements.....BACK ORDERED!!! :argue:

Marauderjack :o
Our cars use a second brake light type switch mounted on the brake pedal bracket for cruise deactivation. Completely different than the type that was recalled.

[Silver_04]

Well Folks....

I see Ford has recalled a bunch of trucks and SUV's for a poorly made (Chinese??) Cruise Control cut off switch that could short out and ignite the whole car....even if it has never been used!!!??? :mad: :confused: :mad2:

They also said the recall may include up to 6 MILLION cars and trucks!! :help:

Wonder if our cars have this switch?? :confused: Any way to find out?? :(

If so....they just unplug it for now until they can get replacements.....BACK ORDERED!!! :argue:

Marauderjack :o

Ya know the only reason the part would have come from China is because Ford sourced it there...neverminding the fact Ford supposedly validated the part for safe operation before it went into production.

Any supplier manufacturing parts for Ford is to meet all of the QS and ISO standards and should pass site audits so the location of part manufacture really has nothing to do with it being a crappy recalled part. I say we blame this on Nasser.

[MAD-3R's Wife]

Wonder if our cars have this switch?? :confused: Any way to find out?? :(



Actually, the recall is for 2000 vehicles and those made in the begining of 2001. I was worried too as I have a 2004 Truck as well as the Marauder.

[bryanknie]

A similar problem has been around for years.

My dad was looking at new Town Cars in 2000 to trade in his 1996. In hind site he should have took the deal when he thought the dealer was asking 3K too much.

When he could not get a deal that night he came over my house for Dinner. After dinner he drove 4 blocks home, parked the car in his garage and hours later he woke up because of the smoke detectors.

The entire house was on fire. We lost a 1930 Ford Roadster we just completed a concourse restoration on a week earlier (28K spent not including the original price of the car) and had not benn driven yet. 250K to rebuild the what was left of his house, plus all of his personal belongings and 9 months in a rental home. His house was his newly built retirement home and he had only lived in it 1 year.

Investigators for the insurance company stated they had seen this problem before with Towncars that had burnt up on dealer lots. They stated this was the classic, cruise control shorting out, which when it shorted it activated the electronic fuel pump to pump gas under the hood. Unfortunatelyhe had a full tank of gas.

Anyhow the car burned in the garage reaching the drywall burning to the rafters and then spreading to the rest of the house thorught the attic.

At this time there was a web site called "burningtowncars.com".

Amazingly, he did buy another Towncar and for still parks in the garage. Die hard Ford Guy.

[Mike Poore]

Well Folks.... switch that could short out and ignite the whole car....even if it has never been used!!!???
Ever wonder why you never see many Aerostars? Same issue, only, in this case it was a faulty ignition switch. It included some of the Mustangs, up to a certain date, and I believe a host of other models as well. Sunshine's a '93 and we were going nuts trying to find out if it was part of the recall, and were assured it was not. It gives you something to think about, when you've got a potential bomb with a tank full of gas, living under your bedroom.:eek:

[Wires]

I'm an electrical engineer for a construction equipment company. I use these stories when the "suits" ask me to use a cheaper switch for something.

Sometimes, that cheap part can cost a lot of money.

[wchain]

Ever wonder why you never see many Aerostars? Same issue, only, in this case it was a faulty ignition switch. It included some of the Mustangs, up to a certain date, and I believe a host of other models as well. Sunshine's a '93 and we were going nuts trying to find out if it was part of the recall, and were assured it was not. It gives you something to think about, when you've got a potential bomb with a tank full of gas, living under your bedroom.:eek:


My 1990 Crown Vic LX did the same thing once. I got in it after school (this was high school) turned the key, and I heard a crackling noise, and smoke started coming from the column.

I shut it off and disconnected the battery, and had it towed to the dealer.

I think the issue was swept under the carpet, since they never got me any paperwork, but they fixed "some sensor", happens all the time, according to the service writer......

www.flamingfords.info

We got TONS of Aerostars running around here, they must have all migrated south. Neighbor retired man has a 1996 Aerostar with the 4.0L and 5 Speed!!! RARE!

[Warpath]

Ya know the only reason the part would have come from China is because Ford sourced it there...neverminding the fact Ford supposedly validated the part for safe operation before it went into production.

Any supplier manufacturing parts for Ford is to meet all of the QS and ISO standards and should pass site audits so the location of part manufacture really has nothing to do with it being a crappy recalled part. I say we blame this on Nasser.

Whenever you try to compress time, you lose definition. In other words, when you try to test a component for the life of a vehicle (like 10 yrs) in matter of weeks, you may not always get every reaction possible. The engineers try their best and don't always find every possible outcome. On other hand, the design could be flawless and the problem is due to the part supplier not making it properly as you indicated.

ISO is a joke. It basically requires you to write down what you do and do what you wrote down. You could write that you produce parts that always catch on fire. As long as they do, your ISO compliant. QS is a little better because it gets into testing requirements.

[RoyLPita]

This has been going on for a while. There was a recall on my GM for that same speed control switch. In fact, the switch was leaking when I bought the car.

Look for an F150 on fire: www.amazingfirephotos.com

[Mike Poore]

We got TONS of Aerostars running around here, they must have all migrated south. Neighbor retired man has a 1996 Aerostar with the 4.0L and 5 Speed!!! RARE!
I think they had it fixed by mid-93, or it started then, I'm not sure which is correct; but a bunch of 'em burned up. Talk about rare, Wes, have you ever seen one with four wheel drive?

Now you've got me going, I'll look it up.:D

[wchain]

I think they had it fixed by mid-93, or it started then, I'm not sure which is correct; but a bunch of 'em burned up. Talk about rare, Wes, have you ever seen one with four wheel drive?

Now you've got me going, I'll look it up.:D

Yup, look for that little decal on the fender...I seen em...Like twice in my life....
:burnout:
heres an early one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6223&item=4522460141&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
I want to say that Roush or Saleen had a blown one....but Im not sure..

AEBPI!
Aerostar eddie Bauer Police Interceptor (http://carnut.com/cgi-bin/_image.pl?/show/99/hay/hay080.jpg)

[Mike Poore]

Yup, look for that little decal on the fender...I seen em...Like twice in my life....
:burnout:
heres an early one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6223&item=4522460141&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
I want to say that Roush or Saleen had a blown one....but Im not sure..

AEBPI!
Aerostar eddie Bauer Police Interceptor (http://carnut.com/cgi-bin/_image.pl?/show/99/hay/hay080.jpg)
Ok, I found the info about the Aerostar history and the data about the ignition switch recall. It's posted on a new thread in the Lounge under Aerostar, ...did you know.

[Silver_04]

Whenever you try to compress time, you lose definition. In other words, when you try to test a component for the life of a vehicle (like 10 yrs) in matter of weeks, you may not always get every reaction possible. The engineers try their best and don't always find every possible outcome. On other hand, the design could be flawless and the problem is due to the part supplier not making it properly as you indicated.

ISO is a joke. It basically requires you to write down what you do and do what you wrote down. You could write that you produce parts that always catch on fire. As long as they do, your ISO compliant. QS is a little better because it gets into testing requirements.

My point is the part just as easily could have come from the US and caused the same problems for the same reasons. My job reminds me daily that everything isn't or can't be caught in validation and I at some point, heaven forbid, I might be involved with a product that has to be recalled because of some weird scenario wasn't thought of. But until things change, QS, ISO, site audits and validation are the measuring sticks in incidents like this.

[RCSignals]

GM has sourced parts from China for years. We had an '86 Jeep Cherokee with a GM V6. The module in the distrubutir burnt out. Original GM part, with the GM "mark of excellence", and in tiny letters on the module "made in china"
Replacement part was not GM and "made in USA"