Law firm claims Ford defect
Engines in question in 17 million vehicles

By Harry Stoffer
Automotive News / September 26, 2005

A California law firm is asking federal safety officials to investigate as many as 17 million Ford Motor Co. vehicles for what it says is a costly and dangerous engine defect.

The petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says spark plugs can blow out of the engines because cylinder heads have too few threads and contain a metallurgical weakness.

The petition says the engines, 4.6-liter and 5.4-liter V-8s and a V-10, are in 1997-2004 E-series vans, F-series pickups, SUVs, Mustangs and Crown Victorias.

The petition was submitted in late August. Its existence was made public on NHTSA's website Monday.

Anyone can file a defect petition, and agency officials say they need to evaluate this one to determine whether to accept or reject it.

The petition, filed by attorney Donald Ricketts of Santa Clarita, Calif., claims spark plugs have shot out of Ford engines thousands of times. And it says the defect is a safety hazard, both because the plugs become projectiles and because they can start fires. Plus, engines often must be replaced, the petition says.

The petition asks that Ford be fined $15 million for failing to disclose the defect.

 

no way.... A FORD?!?!?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

btw, I live in Santa Clarita.

- Nizhu

 

wow, that is a lot of cars to check to see if their is a problem

 

So at what point is Ford finally going to come forward and admit that they really don't know what they're doing?

 

The 4.6 and 5.4 are Ford's bread and butter for everything from Mustangs to F series pickups. That's a big kick in the pants for them, hope they get it all straightened out and no one (else?) gets hurt or killed.

James

 

thats a heap of cars! So how many recalls is that within one month for Ford???

 

ford cant catch a break i really liked the expo. but i dont think i would ever buy a ford

 

The Romeo modular and Triton engines are pretty much bullet proof. And a law firm is putting this claim forward?! How many cases did THEY have to deal with? This sounds a bit suspecious to me...

 

From exploding gas tanks to engine fires, and now it's shooting spark plugs like a machine gun in an action movie. I wonder what's next?

 

at least Ford had the sagaciousness to keep their mouths shut about their quality problems....*COUGH*GM*COUGH*

 

FoMoCo is again in deep shat

 

This case, like so many others, is way overblown. Unlike the Pinto cases back in the 1970's, The exploding gas tanks on the Crown Victoria only involved rear impacts at high speeds...where ANY car would be at risk....and the tanks have been redesigned since then and modifications made to the existing ones. And while no doubt some of the spark plug cases are real, more than likely many are just carelessless on the manner of installing them. Anti-seize compound should be used, and the plugs generally turned about 3/4 of a rotation after contact between the bottom of the plug and the seat opening.

I am a firm believer in 30,000 mile plug changes myself. Some plugs themselves can go longer, but often what happens is that with 100,000-mile plugs is that stay in the engine so long that the long exposure to the high engine heat tends to burn the threads into the upper part of the block and make them almost impossible to remove. ( Ask almost any technician.....more than likely they have encountered this more than once) Then, if the metal deteriorates enough, the threads can weaken to the point where the compression force COULD cause them to shoot out with force like the recall says. IMO, changing the plugs properly at 30,000 mile intervals and using anti-seize compound will go a long way towards preventing this.

 

Thank you! Just becuase cops use it, people beleive it should withstand a crash with a 767.

 

> Law firm claims Ford defect

Where's the evidence? How many people have signed this 'petition'?

> The petition, filed by attorney Donald Ricketts of Santa Clarita, Calif., claims
> spark plugs have shot out of Ford engines thousands of times.

Again, where's the evidence?

> The petition asks that Ford be fined $15 million for failing to disclose the defect.

So after the Law Firm takes it's $10 million the petition signers can divvy up the rest.

I smell B.S.

 

...winning for each vehicle owner...29 cents!!