NHTSA Complaint #10377617 — 2007 FORD F-150

DRIVING ALONG, HEARD A BANG, SMELLED VERY STRONG SMELL OF FUEL, TRUCK STARTED BACKFIRING AND VIBRATING SO MUCH IT WAS HARD TO CONTROL, FORWARD MOTION SLOWED RAPIDLY, VIBRATION, ATTEMPTED TO PULL THE TRUCK OVER ACROSS 4 LANE OF TRAFFIC, OPENED WINDOWS AS THE SMELL OF FUEL WAS CHOKING EVERYONE IN THE CAB. STOPPED TRUCK, ENGINE RUNNING VERY ROUGH AND HAD STRANGE NOISE, UNABLE TO LOCATE. EVENTUALLY FOUND RIGHT REAR MOST SPARK PLUG BLEW OUT OF HEAD (LEAVING METAL THREADED PART AND BASE IN HEAD), CONTACTED DEALER "BIG FORD, VANCOUVER, WA" AND "COURTESY FORD, PORTLAND, OREGON" BOTH CLAIM THE "FLEX FUEL ENGINES HAVE A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THE SPARK PLUGS SEPARATING, STICKING IN THE HEAD, AND/OR EXPLODING OUT OF THE HEAD" THE ALSO STATED THE FORD WAS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM BUT NO RECALL WAS TAKING PLACE AS THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH COMPLAINTS AS OF YET (THE TRUCK ENGINE IS DAMAGED, STILL SMELLS LIKE FUEL INSIDE THE CAB, PLUGS, COIL, AND INJECTOR HAVE BEEN CHANGED, DEALER WOULD NOT HONER "BUMPER TO BUMPER WARRANTY" THIS ISSUE WILL EVENTUALLY CAUSE A GREAT NUMBER OF DEATHS AND OR INJURIES AND THE FUEL ISSUE COULD LIKELY CAUSE AN EXPLOSION (EVEN IN MY VEHICLE AFTER THE REPAIRS)(DEALERS WANTED BETWEEN $2,000.00 AND $6,000.00 TO EXTRACT THE SPARK PLUG BASES AND STATED REPEATEDLY IT WAS A COMMON ISSUE AND IT WAS "NOT COVERED UNDER WARRENTLY"