Wiring problems of the 2004 Ford Escape

Complaint received via e-mail. "my wife and I purchased a 2004 Escape last year, and we have just lost the vehicle to a fire. Unfortunately, my entire 5,000 sq. Ft. Barn is totally destroyed as well, and I nearly lost my home. She parks her Escape in an opening in our detached barn to keep it out of the weather. On the morning of 3/5/05 (4:45 am), I woke to a glow in the window, finding that my barn was totally engulfed in flames. When I first discovered the fire, the flames were contained to the area of the barn where her Escape was parked. The fire spread quickly, and we lost the structure and the Escape. Local fire investigators are looking at the Escape as the cause of fire. They believe the wiring may have ignited while sitting idle (not running). I found many instances on the internet where some Ford models have caught fire while sitting idle, but I haven't found any reference to the Escape. Can you advise if you have history of such fires with the Escape? I appreciate any information you can provide. My insurance company will begin an investigation tomorrow, and I am trying to collect as much information on spontaneous fires on Ford products, especially the Escape.

I purchased a 2004 Ford Escape XLT on 12/8/03. On the way home from the dealership, the vehicle pulled strongly to the left, and an appointment was made to have the vehicle serviced. On 12/17/03, the left rear power window had an electrical short and would not close. It went into service and the electrical short was repaired. On 12/19/03 we brought the vehicle in to service for the pulling to the left. They tried an alignment on the vehicle, and it still pulled to the left. The service people told my wife to drive it for 400-600 miles to see if it corrects itself. On 12/22/03 I brought the vehicle back to the Ford service department to have them correct the problem; as I did not feel that continuing to drive it was a proper solution. The service tried the alignment again, tried to rotate the tires, changing the tires, but nothing corrected the vehicle from pulling to the left. They contacted Ford who advised that the trouble may be the steering rack. On 12/26/2003 I brought the vehicle back to the service dept, and they put on a new steering rack, but the vehicle still pulled to the left. The informed that they have no idea why the new 2004 with now 600 miles on it still pulls to the left. The informed that they will have a Ford engineer come out to see the vehicle to see if they can figure out what the issue is. I have spoken to the Ford salesman that sold me the vehicle and the sales manager on my concerns on buying a new vehicle with these issues right from the start. They informed that there is nothing they can do until the Ford engineer comes to check the vehicle out. Our concern now is that the vehicle pulls to the left for unknown reason that the Ford service experts cannot figure out, these problems are occuring when the vehicle had only 42 miles on it.

2004 Ford Escape with gear selector and airbag warning light issues. Consumer states that mechanic determined that there was a faulty wiring harness for the front seat belts. He gave the ok to replace the wiring harness. The gear selection at the base of the steering column did not light up at night.