Vehicle caught on fire in the passenger compartment, there is damage under the dash, claim 53-c737-570.
1997 Ford Escort electrical complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 114, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While traveling and without any indication vehicle stalled. Consumer had vehicle towed, and technician noticed that electrical wiring harness was burned out. *ak
Consumer saw smoke and some sparks come from underneath passenger front seat, the area where sparks and smoke came from is the exact same area where avr had worked, fire department stated the fire was an electrical fire centered under the seat, claim 03-3209-456.
Vehicle caught on fire under dashboard while driving. Manufacturer has been notified.
Vehicle is experiencing erratic operation of horn. Horn will go off without consumer engaging it. Dealership is replacing airbag as well as horn to fix this. Please provide any additional information.
Vehicle experienced passenger compartment fire at dash panel, claim 18-0486-942.
Consumer came to vehicle after a day of work and interior was smokey, dashboard and interior were burned, electrical fire from the instrument panel, claim 05-4593-366.
The horn was inoperative and making a clicking noise when it is applied, the dealer found that the horn switch was stuck on part of the air bag, dealer replaced horn and drivers side air bag. Nlm
Vehicle caught fire under dashboard, claim 53-c675-364.
Vehicle was parked inside of the parking lot. Horn was blowing constanly and then it started beeping. The consumer contacted the dealership and the mechanic told her that she left her vehicle parked in the sun and the sun damaged the horn. And in order for her to fix it the mechanic needed to go into steering column with airbag and the steering column has to be replaced.
In oct of 1998 horn started to activate and won't stop unless driver unplugged it, consumer was out of an airbag and horn for a month, consumer sa0id thatcurrently problem was back, and dealer wastrying to charge consumer $700.00 to fix this problem.
While driving on highway without warning vehicle will completely shut down, cause unknown. *ak the dealer had replaced the transmission twice.
While driving, consumer noticed that something was burning and pulled over, there was a short with a wire in the dash, causing a fire in the passenger compartment, claim 60-c180-623.
Consumer noticed that airbag light was flashing on the dash panel wednesday night. Then, next day the light was still flashing, and vehicle started smoking. She had vehicle parked, then she got inside of vehicle. Turned vehicle on, and it started smoking. Had moved the panel, and noticed that fire was comming from there. Another vehicle had a fre extinguisher, and put fire out. Vehicle was taken to dealership. Mechanic told her that it would take $1300 75 to fix vehicle.
Consumer took vehicle to dealer because horn was stuck. Dealer stated that the only way to repair it was taking the airbag out. Consumer would be charge $ 700-$750. Dealer couldn't explain what caused it.
While driving wiring harness under the dash had a short circuit on the passenger's side, causing a fire. Fire department came, and determined the cause of the problem. Dealer has not been contacted.
Gas gauge doesn't show the correct amount of gas once it reaches 1/4 of a tank. *ak the vehicle also stalls on highways. The anti-theft alarm goes on for unknown reason. The horn malrunctions too.
While driving consumer smelled smoke, stopped car , popped hood and saw fire near spark plugs, consumer indicated that fire went out by itself, consumer felt it may have been an electrical problem, and that vehicle was not safe.
Vehicle experienced fire in the passenger compartment, fire may have started in ignition switch, consumer feels the fire may have occurred due to a prior collision, heater core leaking into the ecs module, causing a short in the wiring harness, claim 40-2188-822.
Defective horn pad switch caused horn to be inoperative which is needed in case of an emergency. *ak
Vehicle was parked in a parking lot and when consumer came to his vehicle, he noticed it was engulfed in smoke and there was a fire on the passenger seat, claim 30-v210-873.
While driving the vehicle started to smoke and die out. Vehicle was towed home. When attempting to restart, vehicle caught on fire under the dash area. Fire department was called and linked the fire to an electrical short. Please provide any further details.
Vehicle was parked overnight, an electrical fire in the passenger compartment damaged the vehicle, claim 55-s207-197.
While sitting at a light vehicle shut down, and engine check light came on. Vehicle shut completely down due to computer module failure. Also, alternator and battery died out, and engine belt, that runs everythng within the vehicle, disconnected due to the harmonic balancer that almost came off. Three sensors were also replaced.
Intermittently headlights become inoperable. Headlights would not come on when ca ris warm. If consumer runs the car for an hour with headlights on, then shuts car and lights off, then turns sit back on within an hour or two, headlights will not come on. Dealer checked and replaced relay, but still didn't fix the problem. Possible faulty wiring.
Possible electrical failure caused the wires behind the fuse panel to short circuit and melt which could have resulted in injury if a fire occured. However, consumer experienced interior light problems when purchasing the vehicle.
Horn has blown 2 times in just over a year, and is not under warranty anymore.
Pulled into a parking lot and while waiting for a space heard loud banging noise. Dealer replaced crankshaft pully system. Electrical system short circuited behind fuse box and melted wiring. Additional damage still unknown. Caused dashlighting, tail lights, & reverse lights to fail.
The horn will start to blow by itself without anyone in the car or without the car being started. Fuse has to be taken out in order to stop the horn. Dealer had to replace the horn and the airbag.
05/25/1999; while driving at 35 MPH, the head gasket on engine "blew out" car was undriveable. On 07/15/1999; the horn started honking continuously on it's own, when car was parked & locked. Had to remove fuse to shut off. Dealer said it was a bad air-bag module, not covered by warranty, cost $ 675.00. 07/25/99, crankshaft pulley broke off, car not driveable. I note 4 other reports on this web-site for the crankshaft pulley, and 1 each for the head-gasket & horn/airbag problems + many other airbag problems.
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