Sorry if Repost

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/16/for...les/index.html

 

I like the excuse of Ford's lawyers: "The last thing we want to do is make an important safety decision on incorrect or incomplete information" by recalling all of the cars with the potential problem!

 

It's like Firestone all over again. Ford should recall all the cars with the module. There's like 16 million cars out there that are waiting to catch fire.

They're investigating almost 600 fires and half involve vehicles not on the recall.

I don't mind a recall half so much as knowing your car should be recalled but is not.

Remember before Ford recalled all the firestone tires most owners were going ahead and replacing the tires themselves and getting mader at Ford for not doing the recall.

Ford/GM both have the worse reputation for safety IMO. GM takes away standard ABS and makes them an option on some cars, but gives lip service to safety by pushing DRLs (which I think is not a proven safety feature in the first place).

 

I say "better safe than sorry", Ford says "How much will it cost? If only half a dozen people die it may be cheaper to pay them off than recall all the cars".

 

A local family lost their home because their '05 F-150 spontaneously combusted in the middle of the night. Fortunately they were not injured. My understanding is that the local Ford dealer is calling all of its customers with the newest generation F series trucks and disconnecting the cruise control systems until Ford figures out what the problem is.

Didn't know the problem was so widespread with other models, though.

I was looking out the window of my second floor office the other day and watched a mid '90s Dodge Ram spontaneously combust, looked like some of the underdash wiring caught on fire. I called the fire department but it went up in a giant blaze pretty quick, it was scary shit to think what would have happened if that thing was parked in somebody's garage. Made me seriously consider parking my cars outside.

 

well i don't think you have to worry about your cars since they are all hondas, when house fires caused by cars going up in flames, all that comes to my mind is Ford, most of the time when i hear of this kind of incident it's a ford. Ford really ticks me off, and i plan to go into automotive engineering, and i'll tell you this, i hope i never have to work for ford, cause i think it would be an embarressment to be one of their engineers.

 

evidently the switch has a small membrane that uses brake fluid pressure to trip the electronics. The thin membrane breaks, igniting the fluid.

whoever thought this up needs to go back to school.

Ford's conduct on this one is reminiscent of the Pinto and Explorer disasters. THEY HAVE NOT CHANGED AND I WILL NEVER GIVE THEM MONEY.

 

What surprised me about the situation is that Ford had the first recall in 1999 and they were still installing the switch until 2003-2004. Who did the analysis there? Undoubtedly switching to a newer/different switch would have cost some money and someone in the decision making process would have lost a bonus for a quarter or two. Can't have that.

On the plus side, Mustang wasn't listed. I guess I can keep parking it in the garage.

 

I took my Explorer to the dealership in '01 because I saw smoke coming from the steering column one day. They replaced the entire turn signal mechanism at no charge. I wonder if this was the same thing? I knew it was an electrical short of some sort.

I still have the Explorer, it's a '99 XLT with 178,000 miles and going strong. Still drives like new and does not leak one drop of oil. The only thing that ever had to be replaced is the automatic transmission @ 150,000 miles. Other than that no problems.

It's been a damn good SUV if you ask me. I cant say that for the other 8 or so vehicles I have owned, import or domestic.

 

Didn't I read about this problem w/ the cruise control short circuiting a while ago, and the same problem like a couple of years ago?