2020 Expedition up in flames

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Aspen03

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An old school friend of my wife and her family were driving back from FL on vacation when cruising on the interstate. The entire thing went up in flames and there's nothing left but an almost completely melted body and the wheels.

It started out as all of the warning lights came on and they immediately pulled over, within a few seconds realized there was a fire in the engine bay and got everyone and everything they could out. Within approx 5min the entire thing was engulfed in flames on the shoulder.

Everyone was fortunately able to get out unharmed. Ford has been dismally unsupportive however, they got nothing but a shoulder shrug from Ford and said file a claim on your insurance and good luck. It only had 2200mi on it and was purchased brand new...

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5280tunage

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Holy shit, that's not a good thing. I have kids in little car seats, guess I better practice some drills just in case.
 
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Aspen03

Aspen03

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That’s really unfortunate and I’m glad everyone is ok. That’s how every manufacturer would respond to that not just Ford.

That seems odd to me, an engine bay fire before the first oil change would raise a red flag in my eyes. At least to where you'd think you might want to investigate a potential cause, $70k vehicles spontaneously combusting isn't a good thing imo. I've driven some real shitboxes in my life and never experienced anything close to this. I've even had a fuel line leak all over a motor and not catch fire.
 

JamaicaJoe

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I wonder what caused this. Warning lights sounds like electrical, but just as easily it could be the fuel injection rail leaking. These new engines are running at all extremes of fuel and manifold pressure.

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Aspen03

Aspen03

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Holy shit, that's not a good thing. I have kids in little car seats, guess I better practice some drills just in case.

We have 4 kids and get it. This is one of many reasons why we essentiall have the exact same car seats for all of them. All are a Britax model and have the same/similar retention system and buckles for the kids. No question as how to release or remove a seat even with your eyes closed we've done it so many times. Before we had 2 full sized suvs we played musical seats and often had to swap from vehicle to vehicle so we've both had loads of practice. I could remove all 3 in less than a minute for sure.
 
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Aspen03

Aspen03

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I wonder what caused this. Warning lights sounds like electrical, but just as easily it could be the fuel injection rail leaking. These new engines are running at all extremes of fuel and manifold pressure.

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I immediately thought electrical but that could also quickly occur once a fire started with all the underwood wiring, I'm guessing just a few seconds of flames would cause a nice headache for the pcm. Fuel would be an obvious place to start as well with as much going on. This is why I'm stunned that Ford is just kinda Meh on the whole thing. Neither of those scenarios seems normal to me and being that drivetrain is in quite a few vehicles it should at least raise an eyebrow for general concern.
 

5280tunage

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My concern is quality control with this. We've all been talking about issues like fit and finish, mechanical issues. Etc. To me, this could have been an issue similar to the recent explorer recall, where an automated tool failed and the folks doing manual work didn't bother to do it right. I would think an investigation would totally be warranted.
 

JamaicaJoe

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My concern is quality control with this. We've all been talking about issues like fit and finish, mechanical issues. Etc. To me, this could have been an issue similar to the recent explorer recall, where an automated tool failed and the folks doing manual work didn't bother to do it right. I would think an investigation would totally be warranted.
You would think so, but the last thing Ford wants to have is a recall. The sad thing here will be getting full invoice value from the insurance. I would fight hard for that and the insurance can go after Ford for the defect.

Kai and Hyundai are having engine con rod failures on the turbo 4 resulting in fires. My wife wants to trade in her low miles 2007 SantaFe with normally aspirated V6 for the new Turbo 4 and I am having a battle trying to change her mind.

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18MaxLimited

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That seems odd to me, an engine bay fire before the first oil change would raise a red flag in my eyes. At least to where you'd think you might want to investigate a potential cause, $70k vehicles spontaneously combusting isn't a good thing imo. I've driven some real shitboxes in my life and never experienced anything close to this. I've even had a fuel line leak all over a motor and not catch fire.

Not to defend Ford against raising more concern or investigation. A $70k vehicle is not expensive for newer cars these days - particularly for the size and included features in what you're getting. Hold your horses. Although unfortunate, this is the first and isolated incident in a 3 year run. Not including shared platform of the F150, the highest selling vehicle on the planet, Ford's production numbers are in your favor.

Also just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's giving to be perfect without risk...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.au...51/mclaren-senna-720s-570gt-fire-risk-recall/

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a...ine-fires-including-ultra-rare-veneno-models/

And not just exotics. Mass GM recall recently:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nitalemonlaw.com/gm-recall-millions-brake-fire-concerns/amp/
 
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