On October 13, 2009, Ford Motor Co. announced an expansion to its existing vehicle recall. Ford has now added 4.5 million vehicles to the recall regarding a faulty switch linked to hundreds of vehicle fires. There have been eight separate recalls over a 10-year period and a massive federal investigation as a result of this fire hazard problem.

The cruise-control deactivation switches, made by Texas Instruments, were installed in 16 million Ford vehicles. Ford stopped using them in early 2003 but not before millions of unsuspecting consumers had already purchased the cars. The switches have now been linked to at least 550 vehicle fires and 1,500 complaints.

The new recall includes:

1995-2003 model year Ford Windstar

2000-2003 Ford Excursion diesels

1993-1997 and 1999-2003 Ford F-Super Duty diesel

1992-2003 Ford Econoline

1995-2002 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer

1995-1997 and 2001-2003 Ford Ranger

1994 Ford F53 Motor home vehicles equipped with the Texas Instruments speed control deactivation.

A year earlier, National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration recalled millions of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury SUV’s pickup trucks, vans and cars. NHTSA refers to the problem as a “defective cruise control switch that could lead to a fire at any time, even while the vehicle is turned off, parked and unattended.” Nearly 5 million still have not been brought in for repair. On August 3, 2007, Ford recalled an additional 3.6 million Ford trucks, cars and SUVs from due to the faulty cruise control switch issue. An additional 177,000 vehicles in Mexico, Canada and Europe were covered by this recall.

Be careful – millions of Ford vehicles with the same or similar defective switches have not been recalled! Many owners have reported fires in vehicles not included in the recall. Last year CNN reported that a Ford document it obtained showed that the same or similar switch was installed in a total of 16 million Ford vehicles.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a fire in a Ford vehicle, or injured by any faulty vehicle, please contact us at 800-517-0602. As St. Louis injury attorneys, we handle Missouri and Illinois product liability cases daily.