Ford Everest Goes Up in Flames in Journalist's Hands, Ranger Reports Follow

by Mark Stevenson

Published: December 6th, 2015

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]

#Australia #EngineFire #Fire #FordEverest #FordRanger

Mark Stevenson

More by Mark Stevenson

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 51 comments

Shaker on Dec 07, 2015

"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.

Like Reply
- Redmondjp on Dec 07, 2015
  
  No bad ground required. In Ford's stupidity, they had unswitched +12V going to the cruise control brake pressure switch. When the diaphragm in the switch leaked, water-contaminated brake fluid came into contact with the +12V and provided a path to ground. If they had used switched power to that switch instead, at least it would have prevented vehicle fires while the vehicle wasn't being operated.
  
  Like
Rogbaggs on Apr 20, 2016

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.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Off-road fluff on vehicles that should not be off road needs to die.
Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Saw this posted on social media; “Just bought a 2023 Tundra with the 14" screen. Let my son borrow it for the afternoon, he connected his phone to listen to his iTunes.The next day my insurance company raised my rates and added my son to my policy. The email said that a private company showed that my son drove the vehicle. He already had his own vehicle that he was insuring.My insurance company demanded he give all his insurance info and some private info for proof. He declined for privacy reasons and my insurance cancelled my policy.These new vehicles with their tech are on condition that we give up our privacy to enter their world. It's not worth it people.”
TheEndlessEnigma Poor planning here, dropping a Vinfast dealer in Pensacola FL is just not going to work. I love Pensacola and that part of the Gulf Coast, but that area is by no means an EV adoption demographic.