If you have a Ford please take note. The National Highway Safety Administration announced certain Ford vehicles pose a fire risk due to malfunctioning cruise controls.
WASHINGTON -- The National Highway Safety Administration today urged owners of more than 4 million unrepaired Ford Motor Co. vehicles that are at risk of fire because of a defective cruise control deactivation switch to "immediately" get it fixed.
The Detroit News reported Monday that Ford won't have an adequate supply of parts to repair trucks and vans until June.
Ford has urged owners to take vehicles into dealerships to get their cruise control deactivated as an interim fix until it has enough parts on hand to fix the cruise control.
Ford expanded its recall by 3.6 million vehicles last August, but NHTSA has continued to receive complaints of fires -- about 60 since then.
In a statement, NHTSA said: "Many dealers will perform this as a 'drive through' service so owners do not have to leave their vehicles at the dealership or schedule an appointment in advance. Failure to have the switch disconnected could lead to a vehicle fire at any time, whether or not the key is in the ignition, and whether or not owners use the cruise control system. The safety agency said the fire danger is present regardless of the age of the vehicle, and could even occur while the vehicle is parked and unattended."
Ford has had seven separate recalls since 1999 of a total of 9.6 million vehicles, including 220,000 vehicles re-recalled earlier this month.
Combined, the campaigns represent one of the largest recalls in U.S. history.
The $21 Texas Instruments switches were installed in 16 million Ford vehicles over a decade before the automaker stopped using them in 2002.
The switches have been linked to nearly 550 vehicle fires and 1,500 complaints. Ford faces more than 125 lawsuits around the country.
The switch is used to deactivate a vehicle's cruise control when a driver taps the brake pedal. Most of the suits allege fires began well after the vehicles were turned off.
In many cases, insurance companies initially paid for damage to homes in fires that the owners claim were sparked by Ford vehicles, and then the insurers sued Ford to try to recoup their losses.
Only a few cases involving the faulty switches have gone to trial, among them one in South Carolina. A jury in March 2007 awarded a couple $3.5 million, including $3 million in punitive damages over a house fire allegedly set by a 2000 Ford Expedition. That case is under appeal.
If you have been affected by such a product defect and would like to discuss your situation please contact our firm.
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