NHTSA Complaint #10135919 — 1995 FORD ECONOLINE

ORIGINALLY IN DEC 2004 WHILE RETURNING FROM A TRIP TO ST LOUIS, MO I STARTED HAVING TROUBLE WITH MY ABS LIGHT, MY SPEEDOMETER HAND INTERMITTENTLY GOING BACK TO ZERO AND THE VEHICLE COMING OUT OF CRUISE CONTROL. IT WAS ORIGINALLY THOUGHT TO BE AN ABS BRAKE PROBLEM SO THE SPEED SENSOR AND THE ABS MODULE WERE REPLACED. THE NEXT TIME I WENT OUT ON THE ROAD FOR THE 4TH OF JULY 2005 WEEKEND, WE GOT AS FAR AS CHARLESTON, SC AND HAD TO PUT THE RV IN THE SHOP BECAUSE THE CRUISE CONTROL AND SPEEDOMETER WERE BOTH MALFUNCTIONING; THE VEHICLE WOULD COME OUT OF CRUISE AND THE SPEEDOMETER WOULD INTERMITTENTLY GO FROM THE CORRECT SPEED TO ZERO. ALSO THE TRANSMISSION SEEMED TO BE DOWNSHIFTING AND UPSHIFTING AT WILL. AFTER THAT WE BROUGHT THE VEHICLE BACK TO THE HOUSE AND PARKED IT ON THE DRIVEWAY. A COUPLE WEEKS LATER I WENT OUT TO MOVE THE VEHICLE AND GIVE IT A WASH JOB AND CLEAN IT UP A BIT. IT WOULD NOT START UPON EXAMINATION I FOUND THAT THE POWER DISTRIBUTION BOX HAD SOME MELTED RELAYS IN IT AND THE BOX ITSELF WAS MELTED MIN A COUPLE OF PLACES. WE HAD TO HAVE A DIFFERENT WIRING HARNESS INSTALLED TO GET THE VEHICLE RUNNING AGAIN. WE FELT THAT SOME OF THE GROUND WIRES HAD CAUSED A SHORT AND THAT WAS WHAT HAD MELTED THE POWER DISTRIBUTION BOX. LATER WE SAW THAT THE POWER DISTRIBUTION BOX IS LOCATED JUST BELOW THE RESERVOIR FOR THE VEHICLE BRAKE FLUID. THE LAST ITEM THAT BECAME FUNCTIONAL WAS THE CRUISE CONTROL AFTER REPLACEMENT OF THE FUSE FOR THE HORN WHICH IS LOCATED IN THE POWER DISTRIBUTION BOX. THEN I SAW WHERE FORD WAS DOING A RECALL ON THEIR CRUISE CONTROL SWITCHES FOR SEVERAL VEHICLES AND SINCE THE ECONOLINE VAN IS ONE OF THE VEHICLES THAT USES THAT CRUISE CONTROL SWITCH, I FEEL THAT THE ECONOLINE VAN SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE CRUISE CONTROL SWITCH RECALL. MY RV IS ON A FORD ECONOLINE E350 VAN WITH A 460 CID V8 ENGINE AND AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION WITH OVERDRIVE. VIN #[XXX][XXX]. *NM UPDATED 07/19/2012 *JS INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)