NHTSA Complaint #11441226 — 2017 FORD F-250

On Tues Nov 16, 2021 evening we discovered our Ford f-250 super duty diesel 6.7L on fire. Fire department was dispatched. They extinguished the fire and they determined that it was most likely the engine block heater (It was plugged in because of 0 degree temps that evening). The GFCI breaker was tripped. Upon later research, I found the NHTSA safety recall report 18v-894 dated Dec 18, 2018 found that the vehicle's engine block heater cable is susceptible to moisture accumulation and subsequent fire because of these factors: a female connector angled upwards at 45 degree or greater angle, a low mounting position in the vehicle, and an unshielded or exposed mounting location. On 5/30/2019 we took the vehicle into our local Ford service dealer because of recall #18s45 and they disabled the block heater. On Oct 28, 2019 we responded to recall 19g01and took the vehicle again into the dealer because they reported they had the fix. At that time they replaced the cord on the existing block heater. Consequently, 2 years later, our vehicle succumbed to a catastrophic total loss fire because Ford's recall solution was to simply replace the cord, not to actually address the root cause of the problem, which was the low mounting location and susceptibility to corrosion of the terminals in cold climates. Ford is not cooperating with our requests for them to help us. They advised us that they will no longer be addressing this matter, that they are not going to get involved in helping with our immediate needs (our most immediate need being transportation to and from work), and there is no need to contact them again and they will not be contacting us. Their legal department advised us to consult our insurance company for compensation. By the way, on Aug 17, 2021 we took the vehicle in for its 30,000 mile service, which included full inspection.