Spontaneous combustion of a Ford vehicle

The car had been sitting idle in the driveway. The ignition was off. The owners had not received a recall notice for any known defects. Nevertheless, this car was one of the millions of Ford cars that had been recalled due to a faulty cruise control switch that should have been replaced.

A total of 16 million Ford vehicles have been recalled just for this defect. The most recent recall was last week, when an additional 4.5 million cars were added to the list. The faulty part is a cruise control deactivation switch manufactured by Texas Instruments.

The faulty switch can leak hydraulic fluid, overheat, smoke and then burn, and risks causing a fire even when the ignition is turned off, parked and unattended, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said.

While most Ford vehicles apparently are at low risk for fires due to this defect, Ford has extended the recall to include any cars that might be at risk, and notices advise owners to take their cars in for a no cost switch replacement.

The most recent recall list includes the following vehicles: 1995-2003 Windstars, 2000-2003 Excursion diesels, 1993-1997 and 1999-2003 F-Super Duty diesels, 1992-2003 Econolines, 1995-2002 Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers, 1995-1997 and 2001-2003 Rangers and 1994 F35 motorhomes.

If you are unsure if your vehicle is at risk you can contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673 or NTHSA's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit http://www.safercar.gov.

The truth is that many manufacturers have vehicles with dangerous defects that owners may not have received recall notices about. Toyota has a recent recall concerning floor mats causing accelerators to stick. There are investigations regarding almost every make and model car out there, though most investigations do not result in massive recalls, and turn out to be isolated incidents.

To check if your car is on a defect recall list, or to see if there is a defect under investigation by the NTHSA, you can go to http://www.safercar.gov to research that information. In addition every car manufacturer has a list on their websites.

While no one was hurt in the recent McMinnville incident, and fire damage was minimal, the results of this incident could have been tragic. What if the fireball had erupted while the family was in the car or standing nearby?

Millions of us are driving cars that should have received recall notices. Perhaps that notice was sent to us, and we didn't realize what it was, or perhaps the notice was lost? For you and your family's safety, I urge all of you to check to see what is known about your vehicle's safety performance.

Resources: Ford recall hits 4.5 million
Safecar.gov