Man what a night. My girlfriend and I decided to head to bed around 11:00. I was tired so I sacked right out. We have a window unit in our bedroom which we normally use, but tonight it was acting funny so I decided to just put a box fan in the window. Holy crap what a lucky break that was.

About 4AM Keri woke me up and told me she smelled something funny (she has a hound dog nose), so I get up and stroll through the house looking for stuff. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary until I opened the front door. There sat my F-150 engulfed in flames. (This surprised me since I hadn't even started the truck in two days!) I ran and grabbed the fire extinguisher, that was about like pissing on a volcano. Next I got out the garden hose while I was waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. Again that did nothing. It got a little spooky when the horn started going off and the engine was trying to start its self. Keri thought I was trying to move it! I said, "hell no, it doing that on its own".

About 5 minutes later the police and firemen arrived. They were all great guys and got it put out fairly quickly. About the only bright side is that it didn't spread to my house, which is lucky because it was parked pretty close to it.

Im about to call my insurance, any ideas about how I should handle them? Im assuming they are going to try and low ball me on a settlement. Should I contact a lawyer? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. There was a recall on the cruise control switch, and oddly enough my cruise stopped working about 3 weeks ago.

I also found this website, apparently this is not all that uncommon.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...f150_fires.htm

 

HOLY SH!!TT!! Incidents like this one scare the crap out of me!! Had to be electrical, certainly wasnt residual heat from running the truck moments up to the burning.

So glad no more than the truck was damaged and that you and your girlfriend were not injured!!

I am sure that the insurance company would at least do an investigation but if you havent even started it in two days, and the PCM should log something to that effect, then clearly this was just a pure accident, and completely unforseeable. Sad that your truck is so damaged, and I am no expert but I would say that is a totaled vehicle. This one is nobody's fault!! Good luck with the insurance though, and if they give you grief, use more resources to pressure them into a fair settlement, like the media, etc.

Definitely let us all know what the cause was if such can be determined!!

 

wow man that really sucks. it is likely the cruise control switch caused it but no promises there. man theres alotta copper wiring u can see now.

 

The first question they will ask you is whether or not the cruise recall was done.

Steve

 

Me thinks i am going to book my recall today. That is a scary mess. Hope you have fire insurance and they don’t weasel their way out.

Good Luck


Josh

 

Bet its the dreaded cruise control fire. Just happened to a builder friend of mine. He was working on a house and taking a break talking to the owner. The truck was parked about ten feet away and the guy says "hey, your truck is on fire!!" He popped the hood and snatched off the wire on the master cylinder before it really started flaming. Talk about lucky!

 

She's a gone-er Bud. Most likely that cruise switch problem. If you guys aren't going to take your truck in to have the FREE recall done at least un-plug the switch on top of the master cylinder. Look through the salvage sale lists of Ford trucks ........ row after row of FIRE as the cause of damage. Yep, yours is going to be on that list now. I'm really sorry for your loss and thankful that you, your girlfriend and house are safe. But this is serious STUFF!!!!

This is the current salvage sale list of '97-'03 F150's @ Charlotte NC & Columbia SC just for THIS WEEK in two cities. The lists read like this every week, all over the US.

There are 38 '97 - '03 F150's, 12 are FIRE ......... get a clue!!!

Year Make Model Miles Damaged By
1997 FORD F150 171483 Collision
1997 FORD F150 191430 Collision
1997 FORD F150 173226 Collision
1997 FORD F150 13934 Collision
1998 FORD F150 154963 Collision
1998 FORD F150 141758 Collision
1998 FORD F150 292097 Collision
1999 FORD F150 ? Collision
1999 FORD F150 195722 Collision
2000 FORD F150 ? Collision
2000 FORD F150 157992 Collision
2000 FORD F150 180626 Collision
2001 FORD F150 ? Collision
2001 FORD F150 ? Collision
2001 FORD F150 109693 Collision
2001 FORD F150 126445 Collision
2002 FORD F150 106919 Collision
2002 FORD F150 ? Collision
2002 FORD F150 127160 Collision
2002 FORD F150 96890 Collision
2003 FORD F150 107828 Collision
2003 FORD F150 123965 Collision
1998 FORD F150 ? Fire
1998 FORD F150 ? Fire
1999 FORD F150 ? Fire
2000 FORD F150 ? Fire
2000 FORD F150 ? Fire
2000 FORD F150 ? Fire
2000 FORD F150 ? Fire
2001 FORD F150 ? Fire
2001 FORD F150 ? Fire
2001 FORD F150 ? Fire
2002 FORD F150 ? Fire
2003 FORD F150 ? Fire
1997 FORD F150 204497 Not Reported
1999 FORD F150 ? Not Reported
2000 FORD F150 127468 Theft

 

As soon as I got my first major round of mods installed, I went right to the dealer and got that TSB taken care of. Only then I merely thought it could lead to issues, but not like that shown above. Glad I got mine done, and urge all others that the TSB covers to get it done as well!!

 

Does this recall also apply to expeditions? I just bought a 99 expy and would like to know if I should look into this. Also if it does apply how would I know whether it has been done or not?

 

Ask your local dealer. They can run your VIN and see what recalls apply and which have already been done.

 

The only sure way to know is to ask your Ford dealer but some expeditions are affected. Go to this link:

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...=183531&page=3

And even though 2003 models dont appear on the list at this link, I got a notice in the mail from my dealership asking me to bring my truck in so the TSB parts for this item could be implemented. So I did.

 

This is what the recall harness looks like and the recall tags attached. If it's been done it is easily identifiable.

 

Whoa, that's the worst one I've seen so far. Might wanna try giving Ford Customer Service a call, see if they'll do anything. It's worth a shot at least.

 

Man that sucks. I had mine done on my work truck and it only took about 10 mins from the time I got there till I left. I did have an appointment. Just out of curiosity is it a paid or volunteer FD.

 

I don't know about you, but I still here allot of fireworks going off around here. It happened @ 11pm - it's possible.

You have homeowners insurance right? I would consider that option as well