The bracket that holds the gas peddle assembly fell off of the firewall on my 97 Ford Explorer. The spot weld that holds the bracket to the firewall failed. This caused the vehicle to go to full throttle, which caused the vehicle to spin out on a wet road around a curve at 35mph. As the car was spinning in circles heading for oncoming traffic, I pushed the brake peddle, which did not work because the gas peddle assembly that had fallen off became lodged behind the brake peddle. This almost caused a fatal head-on accident.
After survivor this experienced, I took the vehicle to my local Ford dealer (Lake Elsinore Ford) who claimed they had never seen this problem. Then I Googled it on the internet and found many many people who have had the same problem. I called the Ford factory to complain and request a fix. They took the complaint and then told me they cannot offer any assistance.
I then filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation, the Attorney Generals Office and the FTC. They said they would bet back to me, "in a few months".
Therefore, we have a widespread, serious, dangerous problem with the potential to cause a fatal accident. The manufacturer has not issued any recalls or safety advisories, the dealer has buried their head in the sand and we are all left with a manufacturers defect to repair at the owner's expense. I am unhappy at the manufacturers€™s lack of concern, lack of customer service skills and lack of engineering skills. I own 8 Ford vehicles. I will be replacing them with Toyotas. I have never had any serious problems with Toyota vehicles (trucks) and they have always taken responsibility to repair defects at their expense. I am done with Ford..... after a lifetime of driving Ford vehicles.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
click to see larger images
The bracket that holds the gas peddle assembly fell off of the firewall on my 97 Ford Explorer. The spot weld that holds the bracket to the firewall failed. This caused the vehicle to go to full throttle, which caused the vehicle to spin out on a wet road around a curve at 35mph. As the car was spinning in circles heading for oncoming traffic, I pushed the brake peddle, which did not work because the gas peddle assembly that had fallen off became lodged behind the brake peddle. This almost caused a fatal head-on accident.
After survivor this experienced, I took the vehicle to my local Ford dealer (Lake Elsinore Ford) who claimed they had never seen this problem. Then I Googled it on the internet and found many many people who have had the same problem. I called the Ford factory to complain and request a fix. They took the complaint and then told me they cannot offer any assistance.
I then filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation, the Attorney Generals Office and the FTC. They said they would bet back to me, "in a few months".
Therefore, we have a widespread, serious, dangerous problem with the potential to cause a fatal accident. The manufacturer has not issued any recalls or safety advisories, the dealer has buried their head in the sand and we are all left with a manufacturers defect to repair at the owner's expense. I am unhappy at the manufacturers€™s lack of concern, lack of customer service skills and lack of engineering skills. I own 8 Ford vehicles. I will be replacing them with Toyotas. I have never had any serious problems with Toyota vehicles (trucks) and they have always taken responsibility to repair defects at their expense. I am done with Ford..... after a lifetime of driving Ford vehicles.
- Jim B., Lake Elsinore, CA, US