My Ford Focus Fire
This page is dedicated to my story of my 2002 Ford Focus that was destroyed by fire on July 13th, 2007.
Pic of my Ford on fire:
So here is what happened:
I was driving with my cruise control on and I was going up a hill. Once I got near the top I started to lose speed. I turned off the cruise control and started going down the hill and I was still losing speed. I put my foot on the accelerator and I was still losing speed.
My boyfriend was in his vehicle ahead of us and I walkie talkie over to him saying that there was a problem with my vehicle.
I pulled over onto the side of the road and opened the hood of the car. There was a small fire and Chris closed the hood and we ran. Within minutes the car was engulfed in flames.
My car was in good condition. It was well maintained and I have most of my records. Although my last servicing done at Cabot Ford in St. John’s, Newfoundland, went up with the car.
I am not happy with Ford. I will never buy a Ford again.
UPDATE (08 Aug 2007): Phil Edmunston was on 570 News on August 7th. I called into the show and gave him a brief overview of what happened. He told me unless I can prove that it was Ford’s fault there isn’t much I can do. As long as insurance knows it wasn’t my fault.
So I’m not sure how I can prove it was Ford’s fault and insurance knows that it wasn’t my fault, so I don’t know if there is much I can do.
14 Comments for this entry
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About Carol Levesque
I am a Web Developer from Ontario, Canada.
July 31st, 2007 on 9:29 pm
Get yourself a good lawyer and go for broke
June 28th, 2009 on 6:06 am
Few questions/ possibilities:
“How” did the car slow down? Was it “sputtering”/ choppy engine sound?
- This could be sign of engine overheating as a result of loss of oil (usually from blown gaskets) or a failure in the electrical system.
Did your pedal have any tension in it or was it loose?
- I ask because i have heard of ONE case where the electrical system “destroyed” itself when it wouldn’t disengage the cruise control. The motor that actuates the throttle was stuck wide open while the electrical signal was forcing it to disengage resulting in that actuator overheating and shorting out (imagine sparks and hot melted plastics and alloys).
Did your RPM’s fluctuate wildly?
- Could be a sign of many things, but i was thinking some kind of fuel delivery system failure, or an exposed spark plug wire. If you had an exposed plug wire you would’ve noticed goofy engine performance prior to the incident. Engine would’ve been “missing” on a cylinder and the exposed wiring could’ve started a fire on the heat/ sound matting on the underside of the Foci hood.
Did you happen to see your engine temp gauge before you left the vehicle?
- If it was super low = no engine coolant and engine overheated to a terminal point (your fault, Ford would say) If it was super high, same thing except there was enough coolant still in the system to flow past the temp gauge and let you know it was way too hot lol.
Where in the engine bay was the fire originating from/ where did you see it?
- This could help us determine electrical vs trash vs oil
Was the smoke (when you initially opened the hood)white or black?
- Same as above, oil burns black; plastics smoke white or grey, electrical fires burn whatever color of thing caught fire first.
First few possibilities I thought of:
1. Battery failure resulting in a spark that caught the heat matting on the underside of your hood on fire.
- Ford could blame this on whatever company the battery was made by (if it wasn’t OEM). If it WAS a ford part; they could blame it on the battery not being properly taken care of; you’re probably outta luck if the battery WAS the problem. I have heard of ONE other fire starting from a battery failure in Foci. Ford blamed a faulty alternator relay (controls how much charge the alternator pushes) and said that was caused from moisture in the fuse box, IE- owner or weather’s fault, NOT Ford’s.
2. Paper/ plastic debris from road caught in your engine bay near exhaust manifold, causing a fire.
- Not Ford’s fault, could happen to any car, more of a road hazard thing, insurance takes care of you.
IF we could find out what caused the fire; we could see if you had that part serviced properly in the past. If you DID have it serviced (IE- records from the company you had it serviced by) then you could say that you are NOT at fault and Ford’s equipment failed to perform after a certified service tech had done the recommended service on said part. Nothing much, short of that though.
Ultimately; there isn’t a known problem that Ford has announced that causes engine fires in the Foci. I have NOT seen many cases of this happening, the focus is known to be a B+ in reliability and safety. No serious part recalls or manufacturer repairs (that would lead to an engine fire) are known on ANY of the Foci.
My guess, either battery failure (can happen to any car really) or some trash with a flammable liquid (think that cardboard you lay down to stop oil from getting on your garage floor) got stuck up near your headers and flamed up enough to catch something else in the engine on fire.
I know this response is very delayed; I hope you got everything worked out with the “focus problem”. I hope my responses give you some comfort in knowing that the problem you experienced is most likely NOT your fault, and not the fault of the company you decided to buy from. It was more likely one of those “road hazards” much like a rock hitting your windshield, a deer running in front of your car, or picking up a nail in your tire. Your case just happens to be of the more rare and damaging variety.
July 18th, 2009 on 11:48 am
Wow….The similarity with your story and mine, I had the same problem with my Ford Focus 2007, on the way home from work, lost power and experienced a knocking then clicking noise. Had the car towed to Shannan Ford Newmarket, Ontario, Supplied them with all my maintenance receipts, they told me that because there was no oil in the car it’s not covered under warranty. The sticker was still on my window that showed that my next oil change was at 72,000 km….I was at 74,000 km. I mentioned that there was no warning, no oil light came on. But Ford Canada just told me that because the dealer said so they would not cover it under my 100,000 km drive-train warranty.
I am not to sure what to do. Shannan Ford Newmarket feel it was neglect. I would highly recommend that anyone dealing with Shannan Ford be cautious.
They wanted $8900.00 for a new engine. I will never buy a Ford again….
August 11th, 2009 on 9:55 pm
This is weird. I have a 2005 ford focus, and the other day I was driving and started smelling something burning. I pulled over, popped the hood and saw flames. I got it out with my fire extinguisher, thank god,but when I took it in they said they need to replace the alternator, which had caused the fire. I bought my car used, and the guy I bought it from had said he had already replaced the alternator once. Your fires might also be from that. Did you smell any sort of burning smell before your engines gave out?
August 12th, 2009 on 6:16 pm
I don’t remember smelling anything.
September 27th, 2009 on 9:31 am
Fords Really SUCK!
October 23rd, 2009 on 3:22 pm
ford dose not suck chevy dodge toyota nessin and all the others suck
January 23rd, 2010 on 12:40 am
WOW so im driving my Ford Focus and a man pulls up next to me and says, what i tyhink is tire! So i rolled my window up and asked what? And he screams UR CARS ON FIRE! I pull to the side and take the keys out! hop out and i just watch my only transportation to work in this winter wonderland go up in flames! I would love it if anyone wouold e mail me advice. I believe that the shop or ford had some fault in this. I had just paid nearly $500 bucks to get a new alternator and just days after i get it back from the shop it catches fire, out the blue? thats not right and someone (FORD) needs to step up! email me Rakeen_p@hotmail.com
January 31st, 2010 on 9:25 pm
I used to be the owner of a 2002 Ford Focus. This past Monday morning (January 25th, 2010) my car was completely destroyed by a fire that originated somewhere below the dashboard. Not only was my car destroyed but the side of my house was damaged from the heat of the flames. Our only guess to the cause of the fire is something electrical in the area of the heater core. We narrowed the cause down to the heater core because I had started my car that morning and turned the defroster on with the intention of letting my car warm up before I drove it. I realize many different things could have caused the fire but I feel for you Carol because that is one horrifying experience I will never forget. Better luck with our future vehicles
P.S. I will never purchase a Ford Focus again!!!
February 28th, 2010 on 11:01 am
My 2007 Ford Focus’s engine caught fire also. Car is totalled. Has anyone been helped in getting Ford to pay for the replacement of your car?
March 14th, 2010 on 7:01 pm
Interesting point of view.Thanks for the post. – Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterwards. – Benjamin Franklin 1706 – 1790
March 21st, 2010 on 12:17 am
my sisters ford focus caught on fire today march 20 and burned to smitherines…i have pics..it looks a lot like yours. she was driving home from the mall and was about 3 miles from her house and smoke came from the dash board and within minutes the whole car was engolfed in flames…luckily her and her daughter got out saftley…but ford focus def have a huge issue with their cars…i am going to get this word out for i dont want no one to die in a fire of a car that could have been prevented!!!
May 8th, 2010 on 3:02 pm
I just bought a brand new 2010 Ford Escape. After 14 days of driving it. I opened the door to go to work- after it had been turned off all night- to discover black smoke filled inside the car. I opened all the doors and realized during the night internally in the dashboard something caught on fire.The dashboard is melted in half as if it was attacked by aliens in the night. Ford is saying it’s due to my Garmin that was plugged in- NOT in the dashboard.. but in the back of the console behind the drivers seat– umm.. don’t think so. Because we bought a new car– didn’t purchase the “gap warranty” — we loose the money worth the value of the car when you drive it off the lot. Our insurance has to be involved– our lawyer won’t touch the case.. so unless we want to somehow find lawyers – which we can’t afford- to go to bat against the Ford dynasty lawyers we have to eat thousands of dollars for a Ford issue. I still don’t understand how they can say it’s “under warranty”– and then don’t honor the warranty. How’s that for customer service??
June 11th, 2010 on 9:41 am
The ‘burning smell’ that people noticed with their Focuses (Focii?) was most likely oil leaking from the valve cover gasket getting on the hot manifold or engine block.
An electrical short(like an old, worn out spark plug wire), or a lit cigarette tossed out of some careless a-holes car in front of you (no sh** – I had one land in my lap when I was on a motorcycle)might have been all it took to set it off.
Just a theory – but considering I’ve been driving the living sh** out of my ’02 ZX3 for years without any problem (other than the valve cover vibrating itself loose and leaking oil as mentioned above – easily solved with a new gasket and properly torqued bolts).
Oh – and the universal belt. I almost forgot about that. You want something to make a burning smell (and feasibly start a fire)? Let the *plastic* tensioner wheel bearings fail – and you end up with a melted mess of belt rubber/plastic everywhere.
It was easy enough to fix (cleaning all the crap off took longer than anything else).
I hate the regular Focus, but ZX3′s are awesome.
Fast (even stock), nimble, and **RIDICULOUS* fuel mileage. The SVT (and of course Roush) versions are incredible. They can keep pace with cars that are way more powerful (and expensive).