[E90SLAM]

No wonder no one buy FORD...how come there's still 4.5 million on the road???

Its not a big issue, coz I bet 90% of them are still at the dealership, and the remaining 10% belongs to rental companies...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Ford issued the largest single recall in its history Tuesday as drivers of an additional 4.5 million vehicles were alerted about a fire hazard from a faulty switch.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this was the eighth recall, involving a total of 16 million Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) vehicles, concerning the cruise control deactivation switch manufactured by Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500).

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 NHTSA said.

The risk is elevated for 1.1 million Windstars that were subject to a government investigation, said Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood.

"We determined with the government that there is a low risk of fires for those vehicles," Sherwood said. "The other 3.4 million vehicles are the remaining vehicles that have the Texas Instrument switch, so we're recalling them to reassure customers and prevent future recalls."

Sherwood added that Ford has always gone beyond recalling only the cars that present a risk.

While the company does not discuss its current suppliers, Sherwood said that Ford vehicles did not use the Texas Instrument switch in post-2003 models.

NHTSA said Ford drivers should look for warnings of possible imminent fires, including malfunctioning cruise control systems and brake lights and antilock braking system and brake light warnings on the dashboard. The safety agency also said difficulty in getting the vehicle out of the park mode should be treated as a warning.

"I urge customers to pay attention to this warning and bring the affected models in to have them repaired as soon as possible," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in a statement.

Ford is notifying customers and instructing them to take vehicles to dealers for a complimentary installation of a fused wiring harness that will eliminate the risk of fires, the NHTSA said.

The safety recall is expected to begin around Oct. 26. Owners may contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673 or NTHSA's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit http://www.safercar.gov.

Tuesday's recall includes the following Ford models: 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.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/13/news...call/index.htm

[Citizen Z]

How the hell do you have 53k posts, man? Thats a bigger story than the damn recall.

[EpicE90]

lol wow good point. How does 1 accumulate 53 THOUSAND posts!!! You are way to obsessed with e90post my friend lol

[m3pare]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

No wonder no one buy FORD...how come there's still 4.5 million on the road???

Its not a big issue, coz I bet 90% of them are still at the dealership, and the remaining 10% belongs to rental companies...


http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/13/news...call/index.htm

[majin ssj eric]

Originally Posted by EpicE90

lol wow good point. How does 1 accumulate 53 THOUSAND posts!!! You are way to obsessed with e90post my friend lol

Thats nothing! The guy above me has 35k+ posts and he just joined in January!!!

[SilverKnight]

YTD US sales through September
Ford Motor Company 1,187,375
BMW of North America Inc. 144,223

Someone is buying them.

[Kensta335]

Originally Posted by majin ssj eric

Thats nothing! The guy above me has 35k+ posts and he just joined in January!!!

SoCal chat post whores

[Seminole]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

No wonder no one buy FORD...how come there's still 4.5 million on the road???

Its not a big issue, coz I bet 90% of them are still at the dealership, and the remaining 10% belongs to rental companies...

Try and be a little bit more ignorant with your post next time...

[JoosyJoos]

Toyota has had some killer recalls too. Not to mention BMW.

I've got nothing against Ford. I think they are doing a good job of building brand equity.

[m3pare]

Originally Posted by Kensta335

SoCal chat post whores

[TwinTurboXI]

Originally Posted by JoosyJoos

Toyota has had some killer recalls too. Not to mention BMW.

I've got nothing against Ford. I think they are doing a good job of building brand equity.

+1

[blue2fire]

I will hate Ford till they finally give us all their best stuff. Why are we stuck with a cheap remake of the first gen Focus and no Fiesta, Ka, Mondeo and C Max?

Some of them may be coming but till we can buy them, nothing has really changed. We can easily do without a 40 grand fatmobile.

[E90SLAM]

Originally Posted by JoosyJoos

Toyota has had some killer recalls too. Not to mention BMW.

I've got nothing against Ford. I think they are doing a good job of building brand equity.

Originally Posted by blue2fire

I will hate Ford till they finally give us all their best stuff. Why are we stuck with a cheap remake of the first gen Focus and no Fiesta, Ka, Mondeo and C Max?

Some of them may be coming but till we can buy them, nothing has really changed. We can easily do without a 40 grand fatmobile.

Ford vehicle line-ups are horrible in North America....

are they ever going to bring in the European models here?
Even Top Gear likes the new Ford Fiesta....

Hell, even Vauxhall Insignia looks promising...GM should bring it to US as well....

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

Ford vehicle line-ups are horrible in North America....

are they ever going to bring in the European models here?
Even Top Gear likes the new Ford Fiesta....

Hell, even Vauxhall Insignia looks promising...GM should bring it to US as well....

The Insignia is coming as the next Buick Regal which is available in China already.

[herbz]

Originally Posted by blue2fire

I will hate Ford till they finally give us all their best stuff. Why are we stuck with a cheap remake of the first gen Focus and no Fiesta, Ka, Mondeo and C Max?

Some of them may be coming but till we can buy them, nothing has really changed. We can easily do without a 40 grand fatmobile.

Unfortunately the average American consumer does not agree with people like you and I. They want to drive bloated beasts and SUV's with 7000 horsepower. There is just no market for nimble, proportionate cars.

If you think Ford is the only company that is bloated, look no further than BMW. Their lightest car is 3400 lbs, for the supposed "ultimate driving machine"... at least Ford's aren't pretending to be something that they're not..

[herbz]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

No wonder no one buy FORD...how come there's still 4.5 million on the road???

Its not a big issue, coz I bet 90% of them are still at the dealership, and the remaining 10% belongs to rental companies...



http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/13/news...call/index.htm

Why don't you post the story about Toyota floormats causing the acceleration pedal to depress all the way? At least Ford does the recall before their mistake kills 4 people.

Here, I'll do it for you:

http://www.examiner.com/x-1995-Green...n-Car-Examiner

Toyota is recalling 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus models for a simple but critical safety problem that could cause the car to accelerate uncontrolably and kill you, your passengers or those in another vehicle.

Simple because the safety problem is the floor mat. Critical because the floor mat defect already has caused serious accidents. Like the one that killed four people riding in a 2009 Lexus ES 350 in California recently.

My sources at Toyota-Lexus tell me it is not a recall -- yet -- just what's being called a "safety advisory to owners of affected models. Our engineers are working with NHTSA on a potential fix beyond the retention hooks that are already in the vehicles."

Even though it is a legal distinction, to those of us who own and drive the affected Toyota and Lexus models, there is no difference between the words 'safety advisory' and 'recall'. Whatever you call it, Toyota and NHTSA say it's a bad enough problem that could kill you. Get it fixed.

What is not being said is that this is not a new problem. Toyota and Lexus have known about this problem for two years. Consumer Reports reported In October 2007 -- two years ago -- that Toyota recalled 55,000 floor mats for the same problem of unintended acceleration. That recall was under the wire. This one is front page news. And it already is damaging Toyota's reputation for building quality, problem-free vehicles.

SEE VIDEO BELOW

It is the largest recall in Toyota history, ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It covers these Toyota and Lexus models from 2004 to 2010 --

Toyota cars and trucks -- Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Tacoma

Lexus cars -- Lexus ES 350, Lexus IS 250, Lexus IS 350

If you own one of these models, remove the driver side floor mat immediately, because it could stick under the accelerator and cause what is being called very diplomatically and very legally "unintended speed". Then, drive to the nearest Toyota or Lexus dealer for a quick fix.

My buddies at the auto blog RPMGO report the California accident involved an off-duty state trooper and three of his family members, which crashed when the 2009 Lexus ES 350 reached the 'unintended speed' of 120mph, the vehicle's max.

And earlier this year, Toyota recalled nearly 3/4 million cars made in China for a problem with car windows that could cause the vehicle to catch fire.

An off duty state police officer and 3 of his family members were killed when his Lexus ES 350 (AKA TOYOTA CAMRY + $10000) RENTAL CAR (LOL) accelerated uncontrollably because the FLOORMAT pressed the pedal down. They are recalling 4 million cars.

[ChrisV]

If you read the article, there were a "small number of reports" and most of the vehicles involved in the recall had no reports of problmes ever. At least Ford is proactive aboput repairting things, unlike certain Japanese and German manufacturers who, in their climb to the top of the market, would quietly sweep problems under the rug and hope to secretly fix them when people came in for routine maintenance or other issues.

I'm old enough to remember the days when ALL manufacturers had known defects, and if you liked the car, you simply bought the next year's model that had those issues resolved (or if you bought the versions with problems, you worked with other owners on how to resolve the problems on your own. it was what car enthusiasts did. Especially with British and Italian sports cars).

As for Ford bringing over their Euro models, every time GM or Ford has done that the market has responded with a resounding "meh." German Fiestas (not the Korean Festivas), Capris, Sierras, Opels (german ones, not Isuzus), etc. Even the Mondeo in Contour form (due to having to meet American standards) was not the succes it could have been. it was sized not too far from the Escort, but priced like the larger Taurus. And the only enthusiast version, the SVT Contour, was priced way higher than the average Joe would pay for a mid size sedan at the time, regardless of how good it was (and it was very good indeed).

Europeans are willing to pay a premium for nicer small cars, Americans aren't. Which is why even on this BMW board, due to being based in the US, premium priced small cars are regularly derided, from 1 series to Smarts, to anything small and expensive EXCEPT the MINI.

[blue2fire]

I would actually buy the 500, Mito or the CRX but i loathe the MINI with a passion. It is too overplayed, especially the interior. Almost like a german trying to crack a joke.

Good to drive but that isn't anyone's main concern at that price range.

[scollins]

I'm tempted to sell the 335i (no problems, but my luck can't possibly hold....) for the F150 SVT Raptor!

I can honestly say I can find at least one car from every major car manufacturer that I would own, and in many cases, more than one. I just need Jay Leno's money and garage....