Brake Master Cylinder problems of the 1999 Ford F-150

This whole episode happened when I was driving on the freeway in my 1999 Ford F-150. I did start to notice that when I applied the brakes to slow down to match traffic speeds, the truck would veer to the left. The brakes did take in a funny way and thank god there was no complete brake failure. After 30 miles, I got off the freeway to turn around and when I came to a stop sign, I could not stop at all. The brakes did not work even after I pressed the brake pedal all the way to the floor. I also smelled burning rubber coming from near the engine. The parking brake did work and I limped into the nearest gas station. I called aaa to get it towed to the firestone tire shop near my house that has done all my tire and auto repair needs for over 15 years. When they test drove it after the 2 hour tow, the brakes started working again. Robert/firestone took the wheels off and after examining the rotors/pads advised that the front right pads had locked and were pressing unevenly on the rotor. He also planned to replace the brake fluid hose that he thought was worn out and possibly leaking. I also went over to the Ford dealer and checked with them to see if they had any recalls or advice. No recalls or service notice was uncovered. All I was told was to check the master cylinder as it could be leaking internally. That is all I got from Ford. I am very lucky that I did not have a complete brake failure on the freeway possibly causing an accident/injury. We determined that we needed to replace the abs module. Ford does not make it any more and we had to search the salvage yards to get this part as it is nit made naymore by the original manufacture. Very frustrating experience. Will never buy a Ford truck again. .

Front brakes:: gradual unknown braking degradation over time until it got to the point I had to pump the brakes like as if a brake line was sucking air or the master cylinder was going bad, in order to stop. Upon investigating I found that both dust shields on the front brakes were extremely rusted and the rust pieces were falling between the front inboard brake pads and rear rotor surfaces causing extreme contamination of the backside of both rotors to the point that less than 50% contact surface was left. Since the inboard brake pads do more stopping than the outside brake pads it's a very dangerous situation. To add to the danger the front braking system does about 75% of a vehicles total braking. And, if it happens on a long down hill grade with allot of braking, it can cause the front brake fluid to boil inside the calipers giving someone one hell-of-a wild ride. In fact, one day I had to hit the brakes without having time to pump them and just about hit a kid on a bike that darted out from between 2 cars. That's when I decided I had better do something about the problem. I suspect Ford has been loving it because non-mechanical people will never know or find out and Ford will just rip people off for a major brake overhaul in the tune of $600. 00 and throw everything away so nobody will ever know. This is an extremely dangerous situation because it's such a gradual degradation of braking. The fix is to replace both dust shields (Ford p/n= 2l3z - 2k004 - aa) "the primary cause" of the problem. I took many pictures with my digital camera of all the components and can e-mail them to NHTSA . I also have all the front brake components; 2 rotors, 4 brake pads, 2 dust shields. The rotors are very heavy but I would be happy to pack everything up and send it to NHTSA if you pay the shipping.

The contact owns a 1999 Ford f150. The vehicle was parked for several hours when the contact noticed smoke coming from the hood. A few seconds later, the vehicle caught fire. He was able to extinguish the flames and noticed that the fire originated from the master cylinder area. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. A report was filed with the manufacturer and they stated that he would receive a letter. The current and failure mileages were 170,000.

Fire originated in lr quadrant of engine compartment. Vehicle had been parked and engine not running for 10-12 hours prior to fire. Fire originated at master brake cylinder.

Fire originated in lr quadrant of engine compartment. Occurred while parked and not running. Origin is at master brake cylinder.

Master cylinder failed with no warning. Pedal descended to the floor when brakes were applied. Please describe details.