Ford Everest Goes Up in Flames in Journalist's Hands, Ranger Reports Follow
An automotive journalist in Australia has found the Ford Everest to be the hottest vehicle on sale in the worst way imaginable. Peter Barnwell of CarsGuide was testing Ford’s latest utility when it suddenly burst into flames and began shooting shrapnel earlier last week.
After news of the Everest fire hit news airwaves in Australia, owners of Ford Rangers contacted News Corp to share their high temperature experiences.
One Ranger owner, Wade Ibrahim, had a similar experience with his Ford Ranger XLT. When he tried to report it to Ford, the automaker simply directed him to his insurer.
“I spoke to Ford and they didn’t want to know about it. They told me to go through my insurance,” Ibrahim said to News Corp Australia.
Another Ranger owner, Peter McCarthy, experienced a fire two weeks ago when his 2012 Ford Ranger XLT went up in flames as it was parked in the driveway.
“My daughter heard the alarm go off first — the car was locked — and then saw it go up in flames,” said McCarthy.
A Ford spokesperson explained it was company policy to refer an owner of a vehicle that’s experienced fire to their insurer. Ford then works with the insurer if it’s determined the fire was caused by the vehicle itself.
As for the Everest pictured, Ford is still investigating that incident.
“We are still completing our investigation of the Everest incident but are not aware of similar reports for the new Everest or Ranger, or previous Ranger. We believe our customers should be comfortable driving their vehicles as normal,” said a Ford spokesperson to News Corp Australia.
The Ford Ranger and Everest share identical engines, electronics and platform. They are built at the same factory in Thailand, but designed and engineered in Australia.
[Photo credit: Peter Barnwell, h/t to Ben]
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"Everest"? More like "Vesuvius", amirite? Most electrical failures involving multiple strange effects (multiple systems acting strangely, self-activation, etc.) are caused by a broken or resistive ground connection to the vehicle chassis, of which there are several in a modern vehicle. Electricity that can't find its proper path to ground will find a way through another path, causing all kinds of weird (or dangerous) effects. I had a Wolfsburg Rabbit back in the day that would eat front wheel bearings in a few thousand miles due to a corroded ground strap between the engine and body - the bearings would arc and pit (esp. when starting the engine), and accelerate normal mechanical wear. (Hypothetically, If bearing grease were all that flammable and had access to oxygen, you could see how fire could be a possible result.) I believe that the Ford fires in the cruise control involved brake fluid, and a bad ground.
I always think it's worth re-visiting an issue like this some time later. It's now more than four months since this fire. There are now many more Ford Everests on the road. They have been on the market for more than six months. As far as I can tell there has only been the one incident of this type. Although one fire is one too many, it's starting to look as if this may have been an isolated incident rather than a design or manufacture problem.