I heard on the news today that Ford is recalling the Escape SUV to fix oil leaks that can cause fires: Fuel, oil leak fire risk leads to Ford Escape recall affecting more than 160,000 SUVs - NY Daily News http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/26/us-autos-ford-recall-idUSBRE9AP0ST20131126 Fuel and oil leaks have led to 13 fires. These are fires that happen without the car being in an accident. This is the 7th recall of the Escape SUV. In the last week I have been asked almost daily if my Tesla has caught on fire yet. I am glad I do not have the chance of oil and gas leaks causing a fire!
Yeah... it seems like Ford forgot to make a reliable car. They've done terrible in recent and semi-recent Consumer Reports reliability ratings now. For awhile, many models had decent reliability. Maybe they're reverting to their old ways with more than 11 recalls on the '00 Ford Focus: Recalls - Search Results | Safercar.gov | NHTSA . (Not all 18 listed there are Ford's fault.) Not a Ford but the '01 BMW X5 had 10 recalls: Recalls - Search Results | Safercar.gov | NHTSA .
Wow. 13 fires in a 2013 model. Just imagine all those headline articles and youtube videos, an Ford owners getting ridiculed every day as a result. Poor guys. The Ford stock price must have REALLY taken a beating!
Six times the fires, six times the sales... Don't be too quick to ridicule... At least the tesla fires weren't spontaneous or a result of a design flaw
Ford on fire? This reminds me of the Ford Pinto incidents decades ago when their gas tanks exploded when rear-ended.
Don't forget Honda has had to recall 700,000 Fits TWICE due to spontainious fire risk. Apparently their first repair done several years ago didn't work. They don't have enough parts right now so are recommending NOT parking the vehicles inside a garage so if they catch on fire, at least your house won't burn down..... http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/06/28/honda-fit-fire-risk-recall-power-window/2474023/
That's FIVE separate recalls just for fire related issues. http://jalopnik.com/ford-recalls-ford-escape-for-sixth-time-in-18-months-ov-1471855972
I just posted this in another thread, so I'll try to say something a little different here and include a different link: from 2005 - 2009, Ford had the biggest automotive recall in history: 14 million cars that could have a cruise control module spontaneously catch fire even while parked. There were several house fire, and a couple of deaths. They first realized the problem in 2005, but only recalled 4.5 million of the first vehicle that caught fire, the F150. Some of the other cars that used the exact same component were not recalled until 2009. Owners were told to park the car outside until they could get a replacement part. The second-largest recall in history was also Ford's, and also fire - this one from ignition switches.
A friend of mine was a firefighter for several years in a rural area. I have been asking him about his experiences. He has seen more car fires than house fires ( fires are a minority of all calls, most are non-fire medical issues ). When they get to a car fire, if no one is hurt and there is no sign of arson, and no sign of another car involved they don't even call the fire marshal and no significant investigation is done. - - - Updated - - - Also note that the 13 fires cited appear to only be from the current recall, there were more fires that lead to the other fire recalls.