The contact owns a 1996 Ford Explorer. While placing fuel in the vehicle, the contact noticed smoke underneath the hood. He opened the hood and noticed that the vehicle was on fire. The fire was doused with a fire extinguisher. The contact examined the damage and noticed that the wiring harness for the cruise control had melted, as well as the master cylinder. There were no warning signs prior to the failure. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealer. The current and failure mileages were 127,000.

- Lutz, FL, USA

While driving consumer heard a loud bang, applied brakes, and pedal went to floor, and no braking action. Used emergency brake to slow vehicle down. Dealer found 2 bolts that hold brake master cylinder to booster had sheared off.

- Loganville, GA, USA

During routine brake inspection, master cylinders were found to be leaking. Brake pads were found to be in good condition. This concerns me as '95 Explorer were recalled for problems with master cylinders, not to mention the numerous other problems with this vehicle.

- Lincoln, NE, USA

Accelerator pedal is too close to brake pedal one inch away. The master cylinder developed a leak allowing the brake peddle to travel past the accelerator pedal, because the accelerator pedal is so close the incidence of hitting both pedals becomes greater as it was with my vehicle. We had come to an almost complete stop then the 1996 Explorer accelerated into the vehicle in front of us. Simple fix bend the accelerator arm away from the brake peddle. On 98 Explorer's the accelerator pedal is three inches away indicating Ford discovered the problem, fixed in later models, but failed to notify 96 Explorer owners or their dealers.

- West Sacramento, CA, USA

The defective brake master cylinder went bad, causing no braking ability which almost resulted in an accident.

- Lacey, WA, USA