This week my 1998 F-250 burnt. It also took my wifes mini van and burnt the front of my house. I had a recall appointment the next day. The problem was the underhood speed control deactivation switch. If anyone gets a notice in the mail please don't park near your house. My truck burnt with the keys out and it was just sitting there. A good sameritan came up the an open window and screamed GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE IT'S ON FIRE.My wife was in bed sleeping and I was in the shower. We had no idea the house was burning. We got out safe and my three golden retrivers.

I just want to thank FORD for almost killing us. We were in shoch and had to find a truck to replace what burnt the next day. Because we lost our transporation. Before we saw the fire martial and he showed what burnt. I purchased a F-350 and now I'am thinking what did I do! Why did I purchase a Ford when they almost killed us. I can't park it at my house. My Dad lets me keep it on his driveway (away from his house) untill we get over this. Saturday I'am looking at a Dodge and take the loss. Please look at your Ford Don't let it happen to you that happend to us.

 

Don't take this wrong but with as much info that has been posted on the this site and others including what to disconnect I have to question why you didn't disconnect the switch until you could get to your appointment. The full recall was even posted on this site explaining how to repair or at least disable the cruise control to prevent a fire. This is not to say that Ford isn't at fault however if it was my truck that still needed the recall the first thing I would do would be to disconnect the switch until I could get it fixed. Nice choice on the F-350, by the way, the dealers are required to complete any open recalls prior to delivering any vehicle. Therefore your F-350 should be fine(I don't even know if it was affected by the defect).

Sorry to hear about the truck and house. Glad to hear that you and your wife were not injured.

Speedy

 

Sorry about the vehicles and the house. That's what insurance is for. You, your wife, and your kids (dogs) got out fine.... the rest is just material posessions.

So did you call and cancel your appointment?

The new superduty has a completely different system for the cruise.... there's nothing that'll cause a fire.

And since when can the fire marshall pin-point the cause of the fire from a totally charred vehicle??

Besides.... it's not like it hasn't been national news for the last month or anything like that......

-Joe

 

The notice said nothing about unplugging it. The ford dealer didn't tell me just unplug it. After the fire I lodged on to warn people how important this is.When I got the notice I parked it away from the house just to be safe. This is not about my mess this is to warn people and to try to save anyone from going through this.

 

I called ford to find out about getting my 98 Navi fixed. They said they wouldln't have the parts till mid november. Said to come in for an appointment and they would temp fix it until the parts were available. I said, well can I just drive through so you can unplug it. He said they needed it for half a day. I asked him why they needed half a day to unplug a sensor in 2 seconds, and if I could just do it myself and they could notate it. He said that he "couldn't advise me on what to do." I said thats d1ckhead, when my house burns down I'll come and see you with the charred remains of my car

 

Just make sure your insurance policies are up to date, and if it lets you sleep better at night, unplug the harness and zip tie it to the cruise control cable so it's not dangling in the breeze. That's all the temporary fix involves. You don't HAVE to let the dealership do it.... it's not rocket science, and whether they note it in your service history or not makes no difference.

FWIW, I ran mine like normal, simply un-plugging it when it was parked next to the house. I plugged and un-plugged the sensor as needed for three months until the parts became available. Once the switch is unplugged, the chance of spontaneous combustion are no worse than any other vehicle on the road.

-Joe

 

Just had the recall done to my '02 F150, we brought it in when I was test driving F150's. Really sorry to hear that bud, that is horrible, hope all goes well with the insurance. I'll pass the word around to the people I know who are affected by the recall, of which I know a few.

 

Major bummer...

but you sound like the most irrational being alive right now. Ford acknowledged the problem as soon as they found it. They at least were willing to fix it. Many companies would hide it.

You think it is a FORD specific problem that a car could have a fault and catch on fire? Try using Google...many automakers have had such problems. no one is perfect.

Getting a Dodge and selling your new truck that DOESN'T have the problem just because "It's a Ford and Ford almost killed me" is just about the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Dodge is absolute crap...but if it helps you sleep better at night...

 

Chevy had problems with that some years back on the S10 pickup with the starter overheating and causing failure to start and fires