Complain about a product or service

Ford Offers Retrofit to Prevent Fire in Lincoln Limos

Drivers of Regular Models Are On Their Own

September 28, 2005
In a letter to companies that convert Town Cars into limousines, Ford Motor Co. has offered to provide a retrofit that may keep the vehicles from catching fire in rear end collisions.

• Crown Vic Disappears from Ford Dealer Lots • Ford Recalls Police Cruiser for Faulty Wheels • New York Taxi Fire Puts Heat on Ford • Ford Offers Retrofit to Prevent Fire in Lincoln Limos • Jury Awards $43 Million in Flaming Lincoln Case • Jury Finds Ford Not Liable in Crown Vic Fire • Ford Recalls Police Cars, Taxis to Fix Different Fire Problem • Chrysler Rolls Out New Dodge Charger Police Car • Arkansas Refuses to Back Down • Illinois Cops Drop Out of Crown Vic Class Action • Dallas to Add Fire Suppressant to Fords • Philadelphia Joins Ford Suits • Police Car Flunks Ford's Own Test, Dallas DA Charges • Ford Will Shield Police Fuel Tanks • Cleveland Files Flaming Ford Suit • Ford Agrees to Police Car Safety Probe • New Jersey City Sues Ford

The kit, which Ford is offering at no cost, helps protect the vehicle's gas tank from being punctured when rear-ended.

The kit contains the same parts Ford began installing in the Crown Victoria Police Interceptors in October 2003, after several police officers died in fuel-fed fires in the vehicles. The Town Car is built on the same platform as the Crown Victoria and the Mercury Marquis.

The Ford decision to provide the kits comes before a lawsuit against the company in the deaths of three sisters is set to go to trial early next year in Davie County, N.C.

The young women, all sisters, were returning home from a concert in 2003 when a truck barreled into their Town Car and it caught fire. Autopsies showed they burned to death.

Ford has installed the kits on just under 300,000 Crown Victoria police cars already on the road, and an additional 100,000 kits have been installed on the assembly line.

Ford Motor has made the kit available to owners of non-police models for the last couple of years, but it charges for the parts and installation.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |