2016 Ford Expedition: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Apr 14, 2026 · Electrical · IN · fire

On Apil 6 about 6:15 am I was on my way to work. And I start smelling what appears to be a gas smell and I wasn’t quite sure what was coming from so I cracked the window a little bit and said that I would try to check it when I got to work seeing that I was only roughly about 10 minutes away from work and out the corner of my right eye I noticed a flicker of light and it appeared to be flames coming from the passenger side of my vehicle under the dashboard around the blow motor area and the fuse box panel. I immediately poured over, turned the car off and the heat off that I had on because it was cold that morning popped the hood to ensure there was no fire coming from the hood ran around to the passenger side, noticed there was flames coming from underneath and beside panel, where the fuse box was ran to the back of my truck grabbed about a water and attempted to pour bottle of water on the cover of the box where I saw the flames coming out heard the sizzle realize it was electrical fire so I stopped using the water at that point realized there was a SUV that pulled up next to me which was a off duty police officer he said he saw the smoke call for the fire department at that time. I grabbed some fiber tiles that I use when I’m washing my car. I bought a handful of those up and pulled the cover off the fuse box and I start padding out the fire until I was able to get the fire out. Fire department came assessed. The vehicle said that the fire was put out successfully didn’t see any more source of the fire they left the scene as well as the police officer contacted my insurance company. They told the vehicle to my residency. The insurance damage of investor came out on April 10 and assessed contacted me on April 13 and told me the vehicle was totaled and the root cause was the climate control blower motor They had caught fire and caused enough damage that it will be too expensive to repair the entire vehicle..

Filed Oct 16, 2023 · Electrical · MN · fire

In June 2023 there was a strong burning smell in our 2016 Expedition's cabin. We took the vehicle to a mechanic and they found that a small fire had started around the blower motor that burned up the wires in/around the blower motor. The mechanic replaced the control board and harness. They replaced parts AAABL3Z-19E624-B and AAAFLlZ-188518-G. Then in August 2023 I received a recall notice from Ford for the blower motor. This was the first correspondence I had received from Ford that the blower motor had been recalled. I contacted a Ford dealer, Apple Ford Lincoln in Apple Valley, MN, on August 9th and requested reimbursement for the above parts along with a replacement of the blower motor under the recall. I have been calling and emailing the dealer weekly since August 9th and continue to be told the blower motor under the recall has been on backorder for months with no ETA on the part. On the morning of 10/16/2023, I smelled a burning smell in the cabin of the vehicle similar to the smell from June 2023 and the smell was still present after the vehicle sitting for 3 hours after driving. I would appreciate support with this issue.

Filed Oct 12, 2022 · Engine · 120,000 miles · FL · fire

The contact owned a 2016 Ford Expedition. The contact stated while driving at 20 MPH and the air conditioner stopped functioning. The contact heard a popping sound coming from the vehicle, the contact pulled over on the side of the road and noticed smoke was coming from under the glove department of the front passenger side. The contact proceed to check under the hood and did not see any smoking coming from under the hood. After closing the hood, the contact noticed flames coming from under the glove department on the passenger side, the contact attempted to pull the carpet to stop the flames but it was too late the vehicle was already in flames. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire, the fire department determined that the fire was caused by the air condition blower on the passenger side. A police report was filed. There were no injuries reported. The vehicle was towed, and it was deemed a total lost by the insurance company. The manufacturer was contacted, and they stated that they would contact the contact back. The failure mileage was 120,000.

Filed Apr 16, 2022 · OK · fire

While accelerating to merge onto an interstate, the vehicle jerked aggressively with a loud "bang"(similar to sound of transmission popping out of gear). A flashing check engine light appeared and vehicle lost ability to accelerate further, but was able to maintain speed. Light smoke was noticed from rear view mirrors, followed seconds later by thick, dark smoke. Other cars began honking and waving at us. We pulled over as quickly as possible after the incident to assess. Once stopped, flames could be seen around the driverside cowl/front fender area and I yelled for my family to get out of the vehicle. The front end of the vehicle was engulfed within a couple of minutes of our safe exit.

Filed Dec 2, 2020 · 82,000 miles · ID · fire

Started the car to get heater going and warmed up and started buckling my kids up in their car seats. That's when I started to smell an electrical burning smell coming through the vents. I turned the heater off and the smell got stronger. I turned the heater back on and smelled it even worse. I immediately switched it to AC instead of heat and then I started to notice smoke coming through the air vents. I immediately turned the car off. The smoke continued to bello out of the air vents. As soon and the interior lights turned off I noticed a glow under the passenger dash down by the corner of the floorboard. When I went around to look to see what was glowing I noticed there was a fire down in that corner and it was already big enough that I couldn't blow it out no matter how hard I blew. I am thankful that I keep a fire extinguisher in my garage and was able to quickly put it out. I normally strap my kids in and turn on a movie for them while I go back in the house and spend around 3 to 5 minutes getting the kids waters, making sure the diaper bag is stocked, and basic stuff like that. Had that fire started after I walked back in the house I am sure that I would have lost my kids in a blaze, strapped in to car seats, that day. It was thanksgiving eve. I found out that the blower fan for the vents is what sparked up and caught fire. There are no recalls by ford for this and I have found out that I am not the only one this has happened to. This is an enormous safety hazard and I am shocked that it has gone ignored by ford. Does an actual death need to take place before they set it right? Because I did just buy it; the dealership replaced the fan. But the floorboard in that corner is all burnt up and am now questioning what more serious damage is in that dash that I can't see. Like the airbag or other electronic wiring that may now be at risk.*dt

Filed Sep 5, 2020 · 75,000 miles · GA · fire · 1 injury

We detected a burnt rubber smell while driving on a surface street (with A/C on). The A/C suddenly quit. We pulled over to turn SUV off and back on again hoping A/C would return. A/c did not return, smoke began billowing out of A/C vents. Stopped at a gas station and turned off SUV. The smoke from the vents got thicker and large flames began coming out underneath the dash. Husband ran in to gas station and got a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. Fire kept restarting (the parking lights were on though the car was off). Husband finally had to disconnect the battery to keep fire from restarting. The A/C/heater blower then fell out onto the front passenger floor-mat burned to a crisp.

Filed Feb 13, 2020 · Body, Electrical · 50,000 miles · OR · fire

Vehicle spontaneously started on fire. It had been turned off at a restaurant in parking area. It had been driven about 3 miles in town just before the fire. The vehicle had low mileage, approximately 50000 miles. No know mechanical or other issues, serviced regularly.

Filed Apr 11, 2019 · 131,000 miles · GA · fire

2/1/2019 I was driving up interstate i16 at about 1pm. When my truck started stalling. I immediately pulled over to the emergency lane. I then noticed smoke coming out from under the engine bay. A couple of other drivers stopped to try to render assistance with small fire extinguishers; to no avail. The vehicle soon became fully engulfed in flames. By the time the fire department arrived, it was a total loss. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was I ran over a plastic bag blowing across the interstate, like a walmart bag. I had assumed that the insurance adjuster had already filed this report but they have not.