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It won't happen to me!


Trevorum

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Well, wait, tho. Don't Fords have a long and hallowed tradition of exploding? It's, like, their tradmark or something, like the drummer in "Spinal Tap". :)

 

My wife can attest to the traditions in Caravans, which seem to be failing brakes, throttles that stick open, and steering rack pins that sheer off. My Much Better Half will have nothing to do with American cars now.

 

And here I sit with my 15 year old Acura, 185,000 miles and still running like a top. Some guy at my dealership got a free new engine when he hit 500,000 miles. Somebody mentioned Toyota trucks? I've read about guys racking up huge miles on them as well.

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A quick update (for those who may be interested).

 

The fire inspector came out and did his CSI magic, determining fire temperature and point of origin, wind speed and direction, etc., etc. It was quite fascinating. He said, "Well, it was clearly the Ford cruise control device. It's a good thing the truck wasn't garaged at the time, or the whole structure would have gone up."

 

So if anyone reading this has a Ford vehicle model year between 1992 and 2002, please take my advice and REPLACE THE CRUISE CONTROL NOW! It's a $21 part and can ignite spontaneously. It can save you a lot of grief and can possibly save your life.

 

 

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Trevorum,

I am curious if Ford could be off the hook on this one. If you were aware of the recall and problem with the unit and failed to replace it, do you bear any responsibility for the loss? Obviously, your insurance will cover you, but playing devil's advocate, if I was the Ford lawyer, thats the tact I would take.

Good news though on the fire inspector finding the source. Better that than having him find a pan of kerosene under the fuel tank!

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Gern, we have excellent insurance, but still had a negative equity in the vehicle. I'll have to make double payments for a while I guess. Ouch. There is a lot of inconvenience here. We're not litigious folks and have walked away from other situations which had injury lawyers salivating. I'm not sure yet what his recommendations will be, but I'd like the party at fault to make things right as if the whole thing had never happened.

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"...to be made whole" is the terminology I think. Here is the site for anyone who's interested:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/16/ford.vehicles/

Looks like Ford is trying to slip responsibility in some of these cases, at least. Noticed my vehicle is one of the ones listed but there is no recall for it yet. Think I'll park it outside tonight.

Wait a minute....there's that squealing noise again comin' from the holler...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Trev,

 

Sorry to hear about your truck. I tried posting when you originally posted but for some reason I was unable to. I hope that Ford is found responsible & you get a new vehicle. What a horrible thing to have happen.

 

My brothers used to say that Ford stood for -

 

Found On Road Dead

 

Fix Or Repair Daily

 

I remember the Pinto, let me get my cane again! :D Wasn't there some kind of skit on tv that the Pinto was in the middle of nowhere & a car came along & very, very gently tapped the rear bumper & the Pinto blew up?

 

Good luck with the insurance company & Ford. I hope that you find another vehicle soon!

 

Judy

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I agree, American cars suck. Now which "foreign" car should I buy...the Jaguar or Volvo built by Ford, the Ford built by Mazda, the Nissan built in Tennessee, the Honda built in Kentucky, the Chevrolet built in Canada, or the BMW built in SC? How about the VW built in Mexico...that would be pretty safe.

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Judy, thanks for the thoughts.

 

I think we'll eventually be rolled into class action and get pennies years downstream. I'm glad no one was hurt and that it was not in a garage at the time. I'm also hoping that the Live Oak it was parked under survives.

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