NHTSA Complaint #10168571 — 1999 FORD EXPLORER

I WAS AT MY OFFICE WORKING WHEN MY 5 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER CAME TO ME SAYING "MOMMY IT'S AN EMERGENCY, YOUR TRUCK IS SMOKING!" (I HAD BEEN AT THE OFFICE WORKING FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF AFTER PICKING MY CHILDREN UP FROM SCHOOL.) I OPENED THE BACK DOOR TO SEE WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT AND SAW MY TRUCK ENGULFED IN FLAMES. I RAN BACK INSIDE THE TO CALL 911. A MAN HAD COME INSIDE THE OFFICE TO TELL US A TRUCK WAS ON FIRE, HE WAS ALREADY ON THE PHONE WITH 911. I MOVED MY CHILDREN TO THE FRONT OF THE OFFICE, YELLED FOR EVERYONE PARKED BY MY TRUCK TO MOVE THEIR VEHICLES, AND WENT OUTSIDE IN A PANIC. BY THE TIME THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, POLICE DEPARTMENT AND AMR ARRIVED, THE FIRE HAD SPREAD TO THE DRIVER'S SIDE OF THE INTERIOR, THE GRILL (FRONT OF THE TRUCK) WAS MELTED, THE ENTIRE HOOD AND FRONT LEFT SIDE OF THE TRUCK WERE BURNED, THE ENGINE WAS MELTED, AND THE FRONT LEFT TIRE HAD EXPLODED AND PARTIALLY MELTED. *JB