Cruise Control problems of the 2001 Ford Excursion

Cruise control cutout switch mounted on master cylinder is full of brake fluid including the electrical connector. The VIN number doesn't link to a recall. Perhaps the previous owner had switch replaced under recall or perhaps this VIN wasn't in the original recall. In any event a fire hazard is present.

: the contact stated while driving 40 mph the smell of smoke was present but no other indicators. The vehicle was moved off the road where a fire was noticed coming from under the hood. The fire was immediately extinguished. The fire department responded and filed a report. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was determined the cruise control switch caused the fire and needed to be replaced.

Concerning my 2001 Ford Excursion - VIN number 1fmnu42s11eb99611, (not part of recent recalls by Ford!). After short trip, (25 miles) drove to late evening of the 16th of July. Parked my 2001 Ford Excursion directly in front of home in center of the circular drive approx 4 ft from front door. Turned off vehicle & went inside house to bed. After about 50 mins, (12:15 am July 17th) startled by loud sound outside. I opened the front door of home and saw Excursion ablaze on driveway where I had parked it. I woke up family, (wife and 3 young children) sent them next door, called 911. Quickly ran outside drove my Cadillac away from the Excursion. Flames leapt 16 to 20 feet in air. Neighbor and I grabbed water hoses and able to contain till the fire dept arrived 15 minutes later. My family traumatized! thank goodness was not parked in the driveway. The fire also caused extensive damage to my driveway. There is now a large black area of melted material fused into the cement. Outside of home looks okay. . Not sure if any internal structures damaged from heat of fire or smoke. Also damaged and destroyed surrounding plants and shrubs. This was a real struggle to keep fire contained. Some smoke inhalation and continued cough since incident. Nationwide insurance said cause of the fire was the cruise control switch!!. An independent forensic fire investigator from advanced investigative concepts, (aic-fire ) investigated cause of fire examining evidence on July 19, 2005. Determined origin and cause. From their report they stated that, "the fire originated at the brake master cylinder located in the rear driver's side portion of the engine compartment. The fire was caused by a defective cruise control deactivation switch. " I am very concerned this could happen to somebody else especially given that I have not seen anything released by Ford concerning a recall for the Excursion. Please diligently pursue Ford to recall the Excursions to get this rectified.

Failure of cruise control to cancel from the steering wheel or from the brake. The cruise control was activated at approximately 65-70 mph. After applying the foot brake the vehicle failed to disengage the cruise control. I was fortunate enough to be able to reduce the speed even as the rpm continued to stay at 2000rpm, although it took a much greater distance than normal. I brought the vehicle to a stop and the engine continued to rev at 2000rpm. The cancel button on the steering wheel would not disengage the engine rpm at 2000, and neither would the brake pedal. I pulled to the right side of the road and and placed the transmission in park, and the engine continued to rev at 2000rpm. I applied more fuel and was able to rev the engine between 2000 and 3000rpm only. The cancel button on the steering wheel continued to be inoperable. Finally, at one point, I released my foot from the brake pedal and the rpm then dropped to the normal idle range. I then opened the hood and inspected the engine compartment but was unable to see anything significant to have caused this to have occurred. I consider myself quite lucky to have been in the particular driving situation where I had ample room to bring the vehicle to a stop without having been involved in an accident or to have involved others in an accident. My suspicions are that the code that monitors the switches was somehow confused. I have taken the vehicle to covert Ford where it has been since 11/14/2000. Yesterday, I am told, a fmc technical rep has looked over the vehicle. To date no one else , I am told, has been able to replicate the problem. This is the second time reporting this problem. The initial report was identified by NHTSA as "odi-735-005" but the report does not appear on your databases.

The cruise control was activated at aproximately 65-70mph. After applying the foot brake the vehicle failed to disengage the cruise control. I was fortunate enough to be able to reduce the speed even as the rpm continued to stay at 2000 rpm, although it took a much greater distance than normal. I brought the vehicle to a stop and the engine continued to rev at 2000 rpm. The cancel button on the steering wheel would not disengage and neither would the brake. I pulled to the side of the road and placed the transmission in park, and the engine continued to rev at 2000 rpm. I applied more fuel and was able to rev the engine between 2000 and 3000 rpm only. The cancel button on the steering wheel continued to be inoperable. Finally at one point I released my foot from the brake pedal and the rpm then dropped to the normal idle range. I then opened the hood and inspected the engine compartment but was unable to see anything significant to have caused this to have occurred. I consider myself quite lucky to have been in the particular driving situation where I had ample room to bring the vehicle to a stop without having been involved in an accident or to have involved others in an accident. Having worked with computers for most of my life I suspect that the code was somehow fouled up that may or may not be involved in monitoring the status of the cancel switches. . . Just a hunch. Have there been any other reports of such an incident on Ford Excursion or Ford f250 from which this model is derived?.