Another Ford Cruise Control Switch Recall
Friday, February 01, 2008
Ford Motor Co. made the public aware on February 1, 2008, that 225,000 vehicles that were previously fixed as part of an earlier recall are being recalled again. The affected vehicles represent a small share of the 9.5 million cars and trucks that Ford has recalled since 1999 to fix a potentially serious defect in the cruise control switch, which caused some vehicles to catch fire, sometimes causing deaths.Ford responded to that dilemma by installing new wiring harnesses in the recalled vehicles. Now, some of those wiring harnesses appear to be defective. The harnesses, all of which came from a single supplier, have improper fusing.
Ford discovered this latest predicament while repairing a vehicle in its own fleet, and stressed that no accidents or injuries have been caused by the defect. In fact, the company said the issue does not appear to have affected any customers yet.
"It turned out that this group did not have the intended protection, so we are re-recalling them and replacing that," Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said Friday.
Mostly older models
the affected vehicles mostly are older models, the bulk of them -- 185,000 -- E-Series vans with model years ranging from 1992 to 2003. Other affected vehicles include:
- 1993-95 Ford Taurus SHO
- 1992-98 Ford Crown Victoria/ Mercury Grand Marquis
- 1992-95 Lincoln Town Car
- 1993 Ford Bronco
- 1993 Ford Super Duty (gas engine only)
- 1995-97 Ford Super Duty stripped chassis (gas fueled only)
"It tells you a lot about the quality control systems that are in place both at Ford and at its vendors," said Sean Kane of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a vehicle safety research and advocacy firm based in Rehoboth, Mass. "It was embarrassing enough for them the first time."
Posted in Defective Products