Hello!! New to this site. Has anybody had a problem with a F-250 PSD catching on fire? It looks like the electrical plug-in shorted out and burnt my truck up. I plugged it in before I went to bed,at about 2:30 am my phone rang,waking me up to a house full of smoke. Almost burnt my house down. I was able to put it in neutral and let it roll down the driveway away from my house. I was using a brand new extension cord with a circuit breaker attached to the cord. The dash and everything forward of the dash is like burnt toast!!! I loved the truck!! No after market add ons,just a stock truck except for Rhino liner and a grille. Nothing like watching your $40,000 truck burn to a crisp,and the batteries and tires exploding. Quick get the marshmellows!!!!!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 03-Mar-02 AT 03:30 PM (EST)] Gah! That's enough to make you cry!

 

Looks like a liability suit for Ford. "Send lawyers, guns and money" as Warren Zevon says.

 

MAN THAT'S SCARY, I PLUG MINE IN EVERY NIGHT WHEN ITS COLD OUT. WHAT A BUMMER THOUGH, I'D CRY AND CRY IF THAT WERE MINE. SORRY TO HEAR IT.

 

Here's the latest. Went back to my dealer to get another truck and they said it was terrible about my truck catching fire. Ford called and asked me several questions,mostly asking about after market add ons,and the gauge of wire in the extension cord, I think they were hoping to put the blame on me. But in general they were pretty nice about it. My dealer told me about the incentives they have now( 0% interest for 3 yrs,3.9 for 4 yrs,4.9 for 5 yrs). I told them what options I wanted and color. They couldn't find what I wanted in a five state area, so we decided to order the truck but I won't get any of the incentives because Ford can't get the truck built before the incentives expire. Ford said I have to take possesion of the truck before the incentives expire. I called Ford Credit on friday, explained my situation, and they just blew me off. I said I'm not asking for much just a few days extension on the incentives(dealer seems to think we will come up about 4-7 days short of incentives expiration date). She(Ford credit rep) said she was busy and needed to take care of other business and couldn't help! I said well maybe GM can help me and she said go ahead and go to GM. I couldn't believe what I heard. I haven't been rude or nasty to anybody at Ford about this whole thing, I'm just glad I'm alive!!! I could have died in the fire!! But Ford will continue to make about 750,000 of these trucks a year and sell every one of them. And as for me I guess I should just be happy I'm alive to go on with my life. I hope all of you have a better experience with your Fords than I did! Peace.

 

Your problem is you are just too nice of a guy. Where is the truck now? Have your insurance company hire an independant engineer to determine exactly what caused the fire and get an attorney (if they haven't already done so).

 

>>>Hey you shouldnt take this sitting down. Ford made a good motor(psd)and thats why we buy them. Dont let the lady if thats what you want to call her, talk to you that way. Stand up for yourself and your rights. If that truck burned down due to a defect thats not your fault and you should be compenstated for it. Companies like ford would like to see you walk away but do yourself a favor and get a shark (lawyer) STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. This truck of yours is a good truck, some times the people that u have to deal with simple arent.

 

The problem is that all recourse financing, like Ford Credit and GMAC, is provided by bond funds issued on the open market. To issue these bonds, companies make certain representations to the purchasers and file these with the SEC. To finance a vehicle outside of the cutoff date would be a violation of certain security laws which could result in prosecution. In addition it would be a violation of the dealer agreement, as such it would not be recourse financing and again a misrepresentation of the security to the bond holders. Take a deep breath gentlemen, things are always a little more complicated than they seem.

 

The bond issues and SEC rules have got nothing to do with the fact that this man came dangerously close to serious physical harm from a fire that could just as easily burned his house down and destroyed his entire family. I, personally, couldn't care less about what kind of financing he gets on his next truck but Ford needs to stand up and do the right thing here (which we all know their legal department won't let them do) -- that is why he needs a lawyer.

 

Ok, let's say Ford does the "right" thing, and GIVES him a new truck. He will then be legally required to sign over his insurance check back to the insurance company. Otherwise, if his destroyed vehicle had 0% financing and he cannot get it on his replacement vehicle, then that should be part of the claim as he lost that value. The courts have held as recently as last year that insurance settlements on automobiles include all lost values, including the loss of resale for a damaged but repaired vehicle as well as incentive financing.What you have done here is said, it's Ford's fault that the vehicle burned without knowing the real cause. Was there a failure of a circuit breaker? Did the socket on the extension cord melt and fuse together? The fact is we don't know! Until a qualified person determines the cause, we have insurance to pay for it. That is what insurance is for. If he wants to be reimbursed for the loss of opportuunity on the financing, he needs to make that claim. If the insurance company, who have qualified personnel feel it was Ford's fault, why are they not suborgating for it to recover their loss?

Second with regard to the SEC issues, in light of Enron do you think anyone wants to violate SEC rules? Also if they give him 0% after the deadline and fail to give the same deal to every other qualified borrower up to the same date as his, it is a violation of the Fair Credit Act. I don't think if it where any one of us who could possibly face a Federal fine, felony, or even prison we would be so generous so why should they?

Finally it is recourse financing! You have to have collateral! Until the vehicle is produced there is no vehicle and hence no collateral.

 

I never said that Ford was at fault (see post 5). I told him to get his insurance company to hire an engineer (which they will probably do anyway) to find out what the cause of the fire was (it may not be necessary because the fire department may do it for them). As for your comment about suborogation, if they find that Ford was at fault (or the manufacturer of the extension cord), they will indeed suborogate the damages but that could take months or even years (that is one of the reasons we have insurance -- the suborogation process is their problem). Whether he needs a lawyer or not will depend on how much stonewalling he gets from the parties involved, including his own insurance company.
You are probably correct about the bond issues and SEC rules but if you think a manufacturer as big as Ford Motor Company is going to be taken to task by the Feds for offering one customer a sweet heart financing deal as compensation for the trouble he had, in return for keeping him as a customer or, if you think that such a deal is akin to the Enron debacle, you must be living on a different planet than the rest of us.
We are living in strange times when we can see a parallel between a relatively minor indescretion of SEC rules, which admittadly would be illegal (I'm sure if it is a problem Ford could offer him financing from a different account so that the SEC rules are not breached) and the Enron situation, in which no laws were broken -- how does an advanced society justify this? I don't get it! But I can tell you this: nobody on this forum wants to here my political views (or anybody elses) and I'd prefer not to be "asked to leave" this forum for venting them.

 

If he accepted an insurance check, he no longer has a legal interest in the issue. By accepting the check, he has turned over all issues and liabilities to the insurance company. Engaging a lawyer on his own behalf would be a waste of money. Only the insurance company has a standing in court for any claim against anyone liable. Nor can he compel the insurance company to investigate, suborgate or take any other action, since that is entirely the insurance company's purview. If he feels he is not made whole, by the loss of incentive financing or other issues, he needs to reopen his claim. Barring that, he needs to return the check and make a claim against those parties responsible for the fire. The issue here is not does he get the good financing deal, the question is, has he been made whole for his loss?

 

Engaging a lawyer, although sometimes necessary, is almost ALWAYS a waste of money, except from the lawyer's perspective. But that is where the power is -- send lawyers, guns and money -- as Warren Zevon sings in his song.