After reading some threads here it's got me wondering if I'm the only one who is shrugging his shoulders at this latest pandemic under the hood.

Here are the stakes as I see them:

Do nothing, continue to use the Cruise Control as I have done for the last six plus years the only benefit is your personal comfort, until replacement parts are available...

VERSUS

Lose an option on the truck that it used daily.

Parts should be available 'in NOV' however, 16 million affected vehicles means back order could run into years.

There have been 559 fires (since 1993)
The math says 559 fires, 16 million vehicles, with between 3 to 12 years of service is about 30,000 to 1.

So I see the risk at 30,000 to 1 shot on have CC or burned truck.

I'm standing pat on the Cruise now.
If CC fires go up to change the 30,000 to 1 then perhaps but, I'm guessing it will be a long, long time before I get a replacement harness and I don't intend to be inconvienced one bit by fear of those odds.

Does anyone think this is 'reckless'? The 'tone' of concern and urgency I read in the CC/Fire threads leads me to believe my take on it would be cosidered reckless.
I ask because it just doesn't feel reckless to me and I'm wondering if I'm out of touch with reality.

 

You are ok.....check out the odds of other possible ways to die:

Death by....

 

If you leave it outside, I would not disconnect it, but, if you garage it and the garage is connected to your home, I would disconnect the CC. My wife gave me no option on her Expy that is garaged. When we first heard about it, I had to disconnect it before we even got the letter from Ford. Later on, when the dealer got the replacement, I took it in for the fix. I seldom use the cruise, so it is no big loss to me.

 

I disconnected mine at first, but my father needed to borrow my truck for a road trip and I reconnected it so as not to inconvenience him. That was months ago and it's still connected. I park the truck in my carport (attached to my house) every night.

I have a request in with my mechanic to call me when he can get a harness and install it for me. I'd rather pay him to fix it than hand my truck over to the stealership monkeys for a day and have it 'fixed' for free. God only knows what they will screw up.

 

I have a pretty good dealer. They fixed my wife's Expy in about 15 minutes. Did not mess up anything. I even take my truck in for oil changes and tire rotations. They do an oil change and rotation for $40. I would do them myself, but not worth the hassle when they will do it for $40.

 

Last time I stopped in there (the day the recall was announced), the service guy pretty much flat out accused me of lying and proceeded to tell me how 'the media has an agenda and whatever I heard wasn't accurate'. Then another guy actually looked it up and said I was eligible for the part. I was told to leave the truck and it would be done in about 3.5 hours (this was at 1PM). There were no other vehicles waiting in the service check-in lanes and a couple wrench monkeys were standing around smoking cigarettes and watching traffic drive by.

No, I'll pay my mechanic to handle it.

 

Wow, your more likely to Kill your self with a gun then you are to die in a car crash???


Screw the seat belt, Get me some Prozac

 

I disconnected mine because it is parked in the garage. The garage is under the house I live in. Mine is a 2003 and some reports claim that the recall and faulty switches only go up to the 2002 production year.

The other reasons is, as you know, I have a Lightning. So for me it’s a very special vehicle. Though it may not be a collector’s item to me it is and something I want to keep for a very long time. If something were to happen to it, due to a long odds chance of catching fire I could not easily replace it.

I don’t drive it much it has 4,500 miles on it since bought new in Feb 2004 and I only used the cruise control once. If I needed to use it I would simply plug it back in and then unplug it after putting it in the garage.

From what I have read there are two methods to repair this issue. One is a new unit that screws into the master cylinder and the other is a fuse link that is plugged in between the master cylinder and the other end of the cruise control circuit connector.

So, if you park your truck outside and/or you feel it would easily be replaceable should your odds not work out then probably no reason to unplug it.

 

from the recall notice I got from Ford, It appears that the new harness simply has a fuse added to the hot wire. Why not simply identify the hot wire, cut it and add a fuseholder and fuse? Total cost would be a couple of bucks and no delay waiting for parts or putting up with the dealership bs.

regards

 

Not a bad idea so long as you get the correct specifications on the type of fuse to use (i.e. current limit, fast blow or slow blow etc)

 

I probably should have mentioned that my trucks is seven years old with 91,000 miles and it isn't garaged because I'm married to a pack rat.

 

If it’s not leaking break fluid, the switch isn’t bad. Look at it close to see if it’s damp and dirty because that’s the beginning of trouble but if it’s dry wipe it off clean and keep a eye on it

 

I probably should have also mentioned that we take turns buying new cars and even though I've had the truck 7 years, she's had her van for 11, so she's next.
Cruise Control Fire is the only chance I got.

 

I live life on the edge. All of my mattresses have the tags removed; and, I only run while holding scissors.

 

LoL Raoul. I had mine done in like 15 minutes about two weeks ago. They didn't disconnect anything and leave me waiting on replacement parts.