Detroit News, "Texan's death rekindles Ford switch issue; Family of retiree files suit blaming component linked with engine fires"

          Al Gavegan Sr.'s death in a house fire last summer left family and friends in San Antonio searching for answers -- and they say the evidence leads straight to Ford Motor Co. and a faulty electrical switch.
          The retired government contractor was well-known as the guy who operated the time clock at high school football games and taught kids with special needs. On birthdays, he asked friends to forgo gifts in favor of teddy bears he could donate to sick children at a local hospital. Hundreds attended his funeral after the 76-year-old died Aug. 14 in a blaze that started when a late-night fire spread from his 1994 Mercury Marquis parked in his attached garage, investigators found.
          A police report listed the fire's probable cause as "an electrical malfunction in the engine compartment of the vehicle." Gavegan's family soon discovered that his Grand Marquis was one of 16 million Ford vehicles built with an electrical switch that has been linked to nearly 550 fires and about 1,500 complaints.
          Since 1999, Ford has recalled 6.85 million vehicles with the switches, making it one of the largest auto safety recalls in U.S. history. On Monday, Ford again expanded the recall of vehicles with the speed control switches in question. The latest recall included 155,000 2003 model SUVs and pickup trucks. But millions of vehicles with the switch, including Gavegan's Grand Marquis, have not been recalled.
          Despite five recalls and an exhaustive federal safety investigation, Ford has been unable to put an end to switch issue. Ford faces more than 20 lawsuits around the country -- including a wrongful death lawsuit to be filed today by the Gavegan family in Bexar County Court in Texas.
          Ford said its decision not to recall all 16 million vehicles with the switches is based on a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation and its own research that show only certain vehicles with the switches are at risk of catching fire. Ford, which initially denied that the switches were defective, says an "interaction" between faulty switches and their placement in certain vehicles is to blame, not the switches alone.
          The switch is used to deactivate a vehicle's cruise control when a driver taps a brake pedal. Most of the suits allege fires began well after the vehicles were turned off.
          Ford stopped using the $21 Texas Instruments switch in 2002 after a decade of use. In 1999, the company recalled the 1992 and 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis models to replace the switch, but not the 1994 model that Gavegan drove. Ford says a specific batch of switches were to blame.
          Mark Chalos, a Nashville lawyer representing the Gavegan family, contends there was no significant engineering difference between the 1993 and 1994 Grand Marquis. "These companies have known for years about the fire dangers of these switches. They have chosen not to recall affected vehicles," Chalos said Monday.
          The Gavegans' suit also names Texas Instruments Inc. The company sold the division that made the switches in 2006 to Sensata Technologies. Of the 6.85 million vehicles recalled, Ford has fixed 45 percent.
          A key reason the switches are a fire hazard is that they have electricity running through them after vehicles are shut off. The fix dealers install is a fused wiring harness to prevent a fire from starting.