2004 Ford Focus: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Aug 7, 2017 · Electrical · 150,000 miles · AZ · fire

Alternator caught fire, feb 2017. Replaced and checked system. July 30, 17 alternator smoked and melted inside. , positive terminal on battery was so hot that the connector was too hot to touch. Replaced. Alternator and battery. Picked up car from repair shop and within one mile the alternator melted its internal wiring wiring and smoked. Car is back in shop. Each time this happened the car was being driven.

Filed Jun 27, 2017 · Acceleration · 155,000 miles · MI · fire

Tl* the contact owned a 2004 ford focus. The contact heard a car horn sound while being away from the vehicle. Upon inspection, the contact noticed flames underneath the vehicle. The fire department was contacted and extinguished the flames. An investigator diagnosed that the failure originated from the cruise control switch. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a salvage yard where it was deemed destroyed. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the federal safety agency. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign number: 09v399000 (vehicle speed control), but the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 155,000.

Filed Feb 13, 2017 · Seats · 93,878 miles · MI · fire

Passenger heated seat caught on fire when heated seat was engaged. The vehicle was in motion on a city street when the seat started to smoke and fire started. There was a ford customer satisfaction recall that I was never informed of: tsb 04b16. The fire caused damage to the leather seat and heating mechanism. Fortunately only a purse was injured and the driver was able to stop the fire from spreading. The attached pictures show the seat damage. The car also smells of smoke. The experience was extremely scary and awful.

Filed Feb 28, 2014 · Electrical, Seats · WA · fire

3/1/14: driver's side heated seat burned through upholstery and caught fabric on fire, while my daughter was driving vehicle. After searching the internet, I found that this has happened to other focus owners. There was a service bulletin (04b16); why no recall?

Filed Feb 10, 2014 · Body, Engine · 165,000 miles · ME · fire

While driving the vehicle stopped running suddenly. My daughter saw steam or smoke coming from the front engine compartment. Within a minute or so the whole front of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The fire was intense, the top of the engine was melted, the interior of the dash was destroyed, and the vehicle was damaged beyond repair. It looks like the most intense fire area was around the fuse panel. I did contact ford through several avenues but they appeared to be disinterested.

Filed Jul 14, 2008 · Brakes · 131,000 miles · MD · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 ford focus. While driving approximately 70 MPH, the tires wobbled and flames erupted from the rear tires. The failure occurred without warning. The fire department was not called to the scene. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and they stated that the failure was related to the tire bearing. The rear brake system was replaced. Recently, the contact experienced an identical failure. The passenger side rear tire detached from the vehicle and smoke erupted. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who replaced the passenger side rear brake system. The current mileage was unknown and the failure mileage was 131,000.

Filed Aug 13, 2007 · Electrical · 32,000 miles · AZ · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle caught fire while parked. He has not contacted the dealer or manufacturer. The fire department arrived at the scene and are currently filing a report. The fire was caused by the electrical system of the driver side battery. The vehicle is no longer able to be driven. The contact researched other vehicles like his and noticed a pattern of fire related failures. The current and failure mileages were 32,000.

Filed Mar 21, 2007 · Electrical · 35,900 miles · MI · fire

I purchased a 2004 svt focus 10/06. In 12/06, the coil pack went bad, they fixed the vehicle under warranty. On 3/9/07 as I was leaving a friends house, the same symptoms happened to me as this past december, then went away very quickly. I made the decision to drive my vehicle home and call the dealership. I never made it home. About a 1/4 mile from my friends house, the vehicle began to shake and shutter very violently. I pulled over quickly and smoke started to come from under the hood. I lifted the hood and the coil pack that had been replaced was glowing red and shooting sparks and began to not only catch itself on fire, but started setting all the cables and other things on fire.at the same time the clutch also exploded and blew through the bellhousing. Which there is a tsb issued by ford on. Also, at this time, the vehicle was still trying to run all on its own, and the keys were in my pocket. I am unsure of the exact cause of the fire, but it was not done by anything that I was doing or had done to the vehicle. It currently has 35,900 miles on it and is still under warranty. Side note, after the whole incident with the coil pack back in december, I just recently decided to pull up the history on my vehicle from ford's database. In december I was brought into the office at the dealership and almost blamed for abuse of the coil because it was so destroyed. Yet, when I looked up my history it says that all that was replaced was a connector on the coil, not the coil itself. So, the coil was never actually replaced, but I was almost being blamed for destroying my coil. I am still fighting to get my vehicle fixed under warranty and being treated very poorly. I am a mechanic by trade and I'm being talked to and treated like a 5 year old anytime I try to get answers. They are still not taking responsiblity for the mechanical/electrical failure of their vehicle that they claimed to fix.

Filed Jul 15, 2005 · Electrical · 27,000 miles · MI · fire

Dt: contact states daughter came home from work on 7-15-05 and she had not had any problems with the car prior to this. The next day on 7-16-05 she noticed the car had caught on fire while it was parked in the driveway. The fire had already gone out. She had the car towed to the dealership, and the mechanic said ford was coming on 7-19-05 to inspect the car. She talked to someone who had just retired from wayne assembly plant and he said they had been having a lot of problems with the fuel line coming off due to increased pressure on the ford focuses. She has never received any recall notices. She does not know where the fire originated. The car is at the clinton michigan ford dealership.

Filed Dec 3, 2004 · Fuel system · TX

Continuous problem with smell of gas in vehicle. Experience bad acceleration and car burning excessive amounts of gas. *bf the vehicle would also coast and stop in the middle of the street. The emission system light had come on. There was an incident when the consumer viewed white smoke coming from out of the muffler. The consumer was informed that the fuel pump was the problem.