Ford Escape Catches on Fire Despite Owner Receiving Recall Fix
The driver of a Ford Escape in DeLand, Florida experienced her vehicle exploding and catching on fire, despite a recall fix that was meant to prevent such a scenario, WFTV Channel 9 reports.
Just a few months before Kedena Douglas’ 2020 Ford Escape caught on fire in her driveway, a recall was issued on her car due to a potential crack in the fuel injector that can cause underhood fires. The recall covered 2021-2023 Bronco Sports and 2020-2023 Escapes, affecting over half a million vehicles total.
Though Douglas had her SUV serviced at a local Ford dealership as soon as she learned of the recall, this past November she noticed smoke coming from her engine after parking at her home, shortly followed by a fire. The DeLand Fire Department responded promptly, afterward determining the fire was ignited by “failure of equipment or heat source.”
Now, Ford is facing a class-action lawsuit that alleges the recall fix did not fix the problem causing the fuel injector to crack, but only drains the fuel from the car after the crack is there.
It is not known whether the cracked fuel injector was the cause behind Douglas’ incident, and Ford is confident that its recall fix was effective in preventing the problem. Michael Brooks with the Center for Auto Safety feels that isn’t a satisfactory answer, though.
“It’s somewhat unacceptable, you know, they did everything right, they went and got the recall repair when they were supposed to. And supposedly their vehicle is fixed,” said Brooks. “For all we know, it is a bad recall repair or it could be another defect.”
In the meantime, Douglas struggles with losing her car–which is worth less than what she owed on it, resulting in the finance company, Ford Credit, receiving the insurance money–as well as damage to her home. When she attempted to contact Ford, she was transferred to different people and received no resolution.
“I think they should give me back a car because I was paying on that car for two years,” explained Douglas. “That’s a total loss right there for me.”
