Eight problems related to vehicle speed control have been reported for the 1996 Ford Ranger. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The control clusters on the steering wheel have been at a sufficiently high temperature that the plastic covering over the micro switches has deformed and on occasion it will stick to your fingers. The center button on the left side has disintegrated to the point that the actual micro button is now operated directly through the missing portion of the original covering. One of the micro buttons on the right side is in the same condition and both control clusters have broken loose from the steering wheel. With the problems Ford has had with fires I thought they would offer some assistance in repairing this defect but both the local dealers I have taken it to have indicated no assistance is available, I guess we will wait for the fire that spreads through the garage and takes down the whole house. Dealers that turned me down are blue bonnet in new braunfels, TX and griffith in the kyle, TX area. The control still actually functions if you can hold it all together long enough to activate the micro switches and you don't mind getting sticky black goop on your fingers.
The contact owns a 1996 Ford Ranger. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph, smoke was emitted from under the hood. The vehicle was merged onto the shoulder of the road and as the hood was raised flames started to rise. The contact extinguished the flames and noticed that the wires from the vehicle speed control started the fire. As a result, the wires for the master cylinder switch melted and all of the brake fluid leaked out. The fire department was not notified and there were no injuries. The vehicle was towed home. The dealer was not notified and the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 127,000.
I was driving a Ford Ranger VIN 1ftcr14u0tpa07144 at around 40 miles/hour in a regular street, the truck suddenly start to speed up. It did not stop even when I braked very hard. Finally I put the vehicle in neutral to be able to stop. I almost got kill or very bad injured. I contacted the manufacturer but they do not what to take actions with this problem. Please before some one get kill take the appropriated actions.
Speed decreases when climbing hills, even w/accelerator pedal fully depressed.
Vehicle accelerated uncontrollably, causing accident/injury.
Fast idle.
Whe releasing the accelerator the truck continues to accelerate. Please describe.
Engine idles, rpms run at approximately 1100 at all times. Also, without hitting accelerator vehicle can accelerate up to 40 mph. Has been at dealer for 3 months and they cannot fix it.