At 1:15 a.M. on December 27, 2006, I drove my 1997 Crown Victoria for aproximatly 20 miles and parked in my driveway. About an hour and thirty minutes later, I was awaken by a popping sound and the dog barking. I looked out the window to find the car's engine compartment fully engulfed in flames. I then called 911 and ran out to try to extinguish the fire with a garden hose. The heat from the fire burned through the hood on the drivers side in the area of the braking systems master cilinder, then ignited the drivers side tire and all plastic components rendering the hose inefective. By the time the fire truck arrived, the flames had spread to the passenger side of the car and a massive plastic / rubber fire ensued.the firemen doused it with water for about fifteen minutes then used a foaming agent to extinguish what was left of the vehicle. After inspecting the remains, it was obvious that the fire started in the engine compartment because the interior of the car was mostly intact. I had owned this vehicle for a number of years and had it maintained on a regular basis. The only major repair performed on the car was replacing a defective intake manifold (that too should have been recalled, due to the high number of incidents involving that perticular manifold design). After further research into the cause of this fire, I discovered that this was not an isolated incident. It would seem that this is a common problem in several models made by the Ford Motor Company. To research this problem go to www.vehicle-injuries.com and look under "Ford Expedition cruise control switch fires".

- Tinley Park, IL, USA