2000 Ford Taurus: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Feb 5, 2019 · Acceleration, Electrical · 87,270 miles · CA · fire

Part of the engine, top portion closest to the firewall on the passenger side of the vehicle, caught on fire while I was driving on a city street near my residence in lancaster, ca. I noticed the smoke emitting from under the hood when I came to a stop at the stop light.

Filed Jun 30, 2016 · Electrical · 200,000 miles · IA · fire

I contacted ford in 2011 because my car caught fire while I was driving it and exploded. They wrote me a letter asking for receipts for oil changes at a ford dealership. I had bought it used from reynolds ford it had 1 owner. I did have it fixed by people not at ford and oil changes not at ford . I bougth a new car but the fire was scary and my liabilty does not pay for it. I recently saw another car on facebook it looked like my car ia sked what kind of car is that they said a 2000 ford taurus. I bleive that this should of been recalled when I told them what had happened to me. I was lucky I jumped out right away or I would have burned and thank god I had no children with me. I am reporting this to you. Please let all other ford taurus owners know my car had just hit 200,000 miles. I hope no one gets hurt. Ford should have the records of the pictures I sent to them. I was not going very fast on a local street when I noticed smoke coming out of the dash board I oulled over fast undid my seat belt and grab my purse as soon as I did that the motor exploded and was on fire. Witness said that I was very lucky the fireman were there pretty fast and they believed it was an electrical problem. If I can help in any way please let me know at [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Feb 24, 2013 · Body, Engine · 46,000 miles · FL · fire

Friday afternoon I took my 90 year old mother and drove to chick filet to buy a takeout lunch. I drove home to my mother's house and was in the process of backing up the car into her driveway. I stopped the car and looked behind me to check for anyone walking and then heard my mom scream fire!, fire!. As I quickly turned my head back I saw flames jumping out from under the hood of my 2000 ford taurus station wagon. I quickly turn off the car, grabbing the keys as I went, yelled at my mom to get out and then jumped out of the car and raced back to open the trunk so that I could get my mother's walker. As I arrived at my mother's car door I helped her out and pulled off her oxygen canula and told her to walk as fast as she could towards the house. I then grabbed the oxygen tank, purses, and lunch and ran toward the house screaming for someone to call the fire department. A neighbor said they would. I unlocked my mother's door and she pressed her life alert button and called the fire department. I walked out side to wait for the fire department and saw a man near the car looking at it. I yelled at him to get away in case it blew up. He did and in about 30 seconds it blew glass, and other bits all about and was fully engulfed with fire. The fire department took about 7 minutes to get there and the car was completely engulfed and burning up from front to back. We were told that it was a total loss. The scary thing is that there was no warning what so ever to let us know that this was about to happen. No smoke, no smells, nothing. My mother and I could have been burned up if we had not been able to get out in time. My car was well maintained and I had just purchased four new tires for it. We drove our car very carefully and we had owned it for 13 years and had low mileage only 46,000 miles on it. Why did this car catch fire and explode without warning.

Filed Oct 17, 2011 · Electrical, Engine · 120,000 miles · ID · fire

The car burst into flames 30 minutes after it was parked. No one was in the car. The car was not running. The fire was under the hood. When the fire was seen the fire department was called. They arrived shortly and put out the fire. Everything under the hood, and up into the dash was burned and melted. The car was a total loss.

Filed Jan 8, 2011 · Electrical · MI · fire

While I was driving with my 13 year old sister in the passenger seat, on the streets,on christmas eve, going about 40 MPH, I started to smell something as if plastic was burning, I turned into a shopping center nearby, but with it being christmas eve, it was so many cars inside the small structured shopping center that when the car began to smoke, I was uncertain if it was my car smoking or someone next to me. I continued to drive to the next open parking space, this guy quickly ran up to my car and told me to and my sister to get out because as I was driving he saw fire balls coming from the under my car. At this point it was clear that it was my car smoking very badly, I turned off the ignition and the front of the car was quickly engulfed in flames with in seconds. We quickly jumped out leaving the keys in the ignition. We called the fire department and they were able to put out the fire but didn't determine a concrete cause besides an electrical problem. While I was driving no kind of warning lights came on. No check engine light, the thermostat did not read "overheat" or anything. I had liability on my car. It was a 2000 ford taurus, but the insurance company wouldn't pay for anything. If it wasn't for that guy that ran up to my car and told me and my sister to get out it could have been a lot worse because we didn't see any flames until I cut the car off.

Filed Jun 5, 2010 · Engine · 90,491 miles · TX · fire

On may 13, 2010 at approximately 8:50 a.m. My 2000 ford taurus caught on fire while it was parked in the parking lot of most precious blood catholic church in corpus christi. I was attending morning mass at the time of the fire. If not for the swift action of the secretary who called the fire department, the fire would have spread from the hood to the gas tank and it would have exploded. My car was declared a total loss and I was grateful that I was not in the car at the time of the fire. I have elderly parents who are with me all the time and some times they stay in the car while I run in to get them something from the store. My car was well maintained and only had 90,000 miles on it. My allstate insurance did pay me for the value of the car, however, I now had to buy a new car and I have acquired a monthly payment of $300 for five years, when I had no car payment on my ford. I want to find out why this fire started. The fire report said it was electrical or wire. But, they use that as a default reason on car fires. What can I do about this?? I never have experienced anything like this ever before and I am wondering what I can do about it. Please help.

Filed Mar 2, 2010 · Acceleration · ME

2000 ford taurus with sudden acceleration. *kb the consumer managed to stop the vehicle. Another motorist pulled the consumer out of the vehicle, because the vehicle's brakes were on fire due to them overheating. The fire was put out. The mechanic stated under the circumstances in which the consumer was driving, ice forms in throttle body which would cause the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably.

Filed Jul 11, 2008 · Electrical · 100,000 miles · OH · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. The contact walked to the back of his home where the vehicle was located and noticed that the vehicle was on fire. He was able to extinguish the fire, but no one was injured during the incident. The fire department was called, examined the vehicle, and stated that the fire originated from the dashboard. The contact did not notice any differences in the vehicle beforehand and has not been diagnosed by the dealer. The current and failure mileages were 100,000.

Filed Jan 25, 2008 · Acceleration · 112,865 miles · TX · fire

While driving off the parking lot of our corner convenience store, my son turn on the A/C only to have smoke and flames shoot out from the vents. In an instant panic he looked around and found that they were trying to flag him that flames were shooting from under the car. He immediately crossed the street and was able to get out of the car safely. The flames burned through the top of the hood and thankfully the fire dept was quick and was able to extinguish the fire. Everything under the hood was destroyed and even the front tires wouldn't budge when trying to push the vehicle out of the way afterwards. We had the vehicle towed to our home and still are in possession of it. Though no work has been done on it and in our opinion nothing left to work on, we know that there has to have been something faulty. Several mechanic friends all say the same thing about looking into the cruise control deactivation switch which has been having recalls, however, our make and model is not on the recall list. Still we know it doesn't just happen without a cause we are grateful that our son was not injured and though he was definitely traumatized, we realize it could have been worse as we hear the stories. We now have no car and still owe a balance since it turns out what we thought we were paying for in liability w/ comp and collision turned out to be only liability. The ford company says it can't help us and so we were given to this site for some kind of direction.

Filed Aug 15, 2007 · Fuel system · 189,000 miles · CA · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle felt as if it were running out of gas and would occasionally lose power. The fuel filter was replaced twice, but the failure still occurred. The vehicle caught fire due to the failure and was destroyed. A fire and police report was filed. Each time he called the dealer, the voicemail would answer and then the call would disconnect. The speed was unknown. The failure and current mileages were 189,000. The consumer provided a police report from the incident. Updated 10/24/07

Filed Jul 10, 2006 · Engine · IL · fire

2000 ford taurus caught fire. *kb the consumer stated as soon as he started the vehicle, it caught on fire.

Filed May 18, 2006 · Electrical · 140,000 miles · IL · fire

I recently purchased a car in december of 2005 and have $6000 as a current balance. On 05/03/2006 I was cranking up my car when it ignited and caught fire and was completely destroyed before the fire department could get there. I called the ford customer relation department and explained the situation to them and requested that they replace my car because a 2000 ford taurus should not just ignite on fire from cranking it up, and they denied my request. I would very much like for your assistance on this matter or are companies allowed to sell customers defective cars and nothing be done about it. I only had liability insurance on it so the insurance company could not assist me. I informed the dealer from where I purchased it and they also said they could not help me.