Early this year, Laura Hernandez nudged her husband, Nestor Oyola, as he slept in their Kissimmee home and asked him to put the Ford Expedition he had bought her the day before into the garage.
          Oyola moved the Expedition and they went to sleep. At 5 the next morning, half an hour after her husband had driven his SUV to work, Hernandez was awakened by barking from Chakuil, their Chihuahua mix.
          "He saved our lives," said Hernandez, who smelled smoke and roused her 15-year-old daughter.
          A fire investigator, hired by their auto insurance company, said the blaze was caused by a cruise-control deactivation switch in the SUV -- a type of switch that Ford installed in millions of its vehicles from 1992 until 2003.
          Several fire investigators hired by major insurance companies and auto engineers consulted by CNN say the switch is causing some Ford vehicles to ignite.