Consumer took car in for recal 97 v 083 000 repairs. 3 years later, consumer's car caught on fire the same way as mentioned in recall. Dealer told consumer that a fuse was put in to stop whole car from catching fire. Consumer stated door caught fire while parked.*ak the dealer declined to take responsibility for the failed fuse. The consumer also had electrical problem with the mirror wires and the mirror switch failed.
1994 Ford Explorer visibility complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 69, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Defective design of heating system caught fire twice from pine needles collecting around the heating apparatus under the hood.
Problem 1: electrical burning smell occasionally when turn heater on and once when turned A/C on. Has nothing to do with the first time using the system and smells like when another car of mine had the electrical wires in the steering wheel burn and smoke. Problem 2: gas pedal occasionally floors itself and I cannot brake the car even with all my weight on the brake pedal. I handle it by popping the car in neutral and sitting there while the engine guns itself. I also pump the gas pedal during this time in the hopes that it helps. This is the scariest of all my problems and I have been fortunate enough not to be too close to people when this happens. This happens about 2x a year and I cannot tie any of the incidens together as it has occurred on rainy days, sunny days.... Problem 3: I no longer drive my car above 65mph because in the past I have had problems where after more than 45 minutes of high speed driving the fuel system messes up. My mileage drops to about 8 miles to the gallon and the engine light comes on. I've had to get my purge tank emptied of fuel and other problems after an incident like this, but the problem is not noticable when the car is cool or in city driving. Overall note: I have some of the dates of the problems written down but not all so the dates and mileages are fictional in my notes to you.
Recall 97v083000. Power mirror shorted, causing smoke to enter vehicle. Vehicle's make and model has been recalled. However, this vehicle was not included due to VIN. Manufacturer has been notified.
Cruise control failed.
Vehicle caught on fire due to a short circuit in power mirror switch. Recall 97v083000 was issued for this problem. But dealer did not register this vehicle in consumer's name with manufacturer. Therefore, consumer never received recall notice.
While having the rear wiper motor replaced the liftgage bracket broke, other bracket broke later, both were prior to recall notification (99v‑310)
Related to ea99-004. Earlier incidents (beginning 1998) were just a hint of burning grass, usually occuring when starting car with fan switch on one of the 'on' positions.latest incident had billowing clouds of white smoke pouring from vents, filling cabin, at least 5 minutes. Extinguished by pouring water into outside air vents. Blower moter now only works on high setting. This is dangerous!
Leaves and stems entered the engine through windshield air vents into vehicle heater blower and caused a burning smell. Yh
Was driving down on highway at approximately 55mph when the sun roof exploded. There was no prior warning that this would happen. The temperature inside & outside vehicle did not change. Nothing hit the sunroof. Wasn't closing or opening the sun roof when it shattered.
While driving mirror starts to smoke, causing other functions in the vehicle to blow out, such as the radi/and mirror switch.
Rear lift gate on explorer has broken off on three previous ocassions. On the third occurance the entire lift gate was replaced under a factory 'recall' program. The bolts or screws holding the lift gate to the hinges have now pulled out of the lift gate brackets. Dealer claims no responsibility for metal fatigue failure because it occurred more than 12 months since replacement . Contacted the manufacturer and they rejected claim also. This vehicle has 46010 miles and the lift gate has now failed four separate times. This is not a mechanical failure but structural design failure.
Vehicle experiencing problem with pine needles collected into outside heater duct and catching on fire. Also, rear hydraulic cylinder deatched from vehicle body. Dealer notified of both incidents, and consumer was informed that the vehicle was under no recalls. Seeking help from the federal safety agency inthis matter.
Consumer not notified of recall (97v083000) design flaw in power mirror which may have caused short circuit condition in the remote power mirror control switch to overheat and result in vehicle fire. Nlm
Welded back door support popped off. Door slammed dangerously.
Recall notice not recieved for the poorly design remote power mirror control switch which shorted and caused a vehicle fire. (recall 97970) nlm
Ball joints and u-joints failed causing excessive vibrations. Mjs
Smoke frequently enters the vehicle through the ventilation system.
This is the second instance of a "fire" in the heater/airconditioner ducts.
Smoke and odor from the heater system. Smells like burning leaves.
Vehicle emits smell/smoke in ventilation system upon start up of vehicle.
I had the heater/defroster on when I smelled something burning. Then smoke poured out of the ventilation system into the car. I pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the car and rolled down the windows. I saw a gas station so I started up the car and pulled into the gas station. I told them the problem and they said it sounded like the heating coil had burnt out but they did not have time to check it out. I tried the heater a few days later and a burning smell came out of the ventilation. I have not put on the heat since then.
Debris has been sucked into the air chamber by the heater/ air conditioner. Because the fan motor speed is changed by various sized resistors in this chamber, when the fan operated at low speed, it heated the resistors and caught the debris on fire, with smoke pouring out of the vents, nearly blinding me the driver and burning my lungs. The dealership indicated that I needed to clean off the car to prevent this, and I paid for repairs. Certainly there are other means to vary a fan speed, like multiple winding motors. Fortunately there were no injuries, but the potential was their to cause injury or burn up the explorer.
Fan/heater when used on panel, smells like something is burning, if used as defrost or floor I don't notice the smell as much. Once there was smoke coming out of the vents, we turned it off and it stopped. A mechanic checked it for us and couldn't find any smoke. It hasn't smoked since then, but it continues to smell lkie something is burning if we use the panel vents.
Burning leaf smell and smoke came out of all of the dash vents
When ventilation blower/fan is turned on, it starts smoking and fan cannot be operated while driving. Dealer and manufacturer contacted and cannot remedy the problem. Are not aware of an investigation that was broadcasted. Problem still exists. Provide further information.
The dealership said it was leaves in the blower. They would have to take apart the dash and charge me. Do I have any recourse against the dealer and manufacturer for this safety hazard. I fear the vehicle will ignite because the smoke is very heavy and billowing out from the interior vents and exterior in front of the windshield.
Consumer drove approximately 20 minutes before turning the defroster on, within 15 seconds he began to smell burning odor, smell like leaves. Consumer switched the engine off and sat and watched, never saw any smoke. When the smell got down approximately five minutes later he began to drive again, there is an open investigation at this time.
Leaves accumulated in heater blower assembly. April 1994 we paid $92 to have leaves removed from system after we smelled burning leaves and blower motor was noisy. In november 1996 we paid $52 to have blower motor resistor replaced after it burned up, filling car with smoke but no flames observed. We currently smell leaves burning every time we drive the car with heater on so expect more problems soon.
While driving rearview mirror will fall off, causing loss of visibility. Dealer has reapplied glue twice, defect is still occurring. Consumer reported all three incidences to dealer. *ak
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