The ongoing recall now includes the 1995-2002 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer, 1995-2003 Ford Windstar, 1995-1997 and 2001-2003 Ford Ranger, 2000-2003 Ford Excursion with diesel engine, 1992-2003 Ford Econoline vans, 1993-1997 F35 motor homes and 1999-2003 Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks with diesel engines.

The cruise control deactivation switches were made by Texas Instruments and can overheat, creating a fire hazard even after the vehicle has been switched off. Warning signs of failure can include malfunctioning cruise control and brakes, unusual activation of brake lights and difficulty shifting out of "park." That sounds pretty scary and Ford is suggesting that vehicles included in the recall that haven't been fixed yet shouldn't be parked in garages or near homes. Two deaths have been linked to the fires, as well as several home fires.

Ford's fix is to have dealers install a fused wiring harness that will eliminate the risk of fire, but not replace the faulty switch itself. Concerned owners can call 888-222-2751 for more information.

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

By Porsche owners, the owners at that time driving a Porsche to drive in the fast-track driving, suddenly saw smoke out of the front cover of the engine, the car stops quickly and get off after a roadside view, then suddenly leapt up from the fire body , gas flame, nearly 5 meters high, not be able to control the fire too, from time to time, the tire explosion.

Track not far from the Rally Team FCACA quickly fire personnel, but the fire was too fierce fire fight when the whole cab was destroyed, but fortunately this is the only track on a car, did not result in major incidents.

Although the car next to an emergency fire-fighting personnel, but the fire but too fast and the ultimate Porsche only a hollow shell. However, the owner of the car is pointing at the car said, "can see a large fire."

[via BBS 163]

Nelson Piquet drives the Brabham BT52

Fire will be a recurring pattern of this gallery. The flames pictured here belch forth from the Brabham BT52, a Gordon Murray-designed, Nelson Piquet-driven car which took the 1983 world championship. It was powered by the BMW M10 engine, a lovely exercice in engineering insanity.

BMW M10 Engine

Probably no other engine had a 26-year career during which it progressed from 75 HP in the BMW 1500 Neue Klasse of 1961 to 1500 HP in the Brabham BT52 Formula One race car. The basis of this twentyfold increase in power was an incredible little 1.5-liter Baron Alex von Falkenhausen design, turbocharged to the ionosphere for F1.

Legend has it that BMW’s motorsports engineers chose for their F1 units engine blocks which had already accumulated 60,000+ miles on them—and that they urinated on them in the factory.

Photo Credit: BMW Historisches Archiv

Nelson Piquet and Gordon Murray

Piquet was the man who drove the BMW-powered Brabham racers. Gordon Murray? He designed them. After Formula One, he would go on to create the sublime BMW-powered McLaren F1, which was the last road car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans—in 1995.

Photo Credit: joosten

Andrea de Cesaris

More fire! This is the Brabham BMW of 1987 at Silverstone, driven by unlucky Andrea de Cesaris, who started in 208 Formula One grands prix without a single win. The fire you see was the result of a broken fuel line, which ended de Cesaris’s race.

Photo Credit: Chris Cole/Allsport

Fire! Fire! Fire!

Before we ban Beavis from Jalopnik’s editorial systems, one more photo of a flame-happy Brabham. Most likely driven by Nelson Piquet.

The Brabham BT52 from above

The arrow shape of Nelson Piquet’s 1983 championship winner was dictated by the sudden banning of ground effects at the end of the 1982 season.

Because regulations for 1983 specified flat underbodies, the wide sidepods of ground effects cars suddenly became wings and had to be sheared off.

Gordon Murray was the most efficient shearer of them all: he designed the arrow-shaped BT52 over a scarce three months.

Suitcase signed by Piquet and Murray

For 1984, Gordon Murray developed the BT52 into the BT53. It was no worse a design, but BMW’s mad turbocharged M10’s couldn’t reliably finish races. Piquet won only two races in the season and had to retire from an incredible 9 of 16 total.

Photo Credit: joosten

Nelson Piquet leads Ayrton Senna in the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix

Here’s the Brabham BT53 in action in Dallas. Both Piquet and Senna would retire from the race, which was won by Keke Rosberg.

Photo Credit: twm1340/Flickr

Jacques Villeneuve at the 2006 French Grand Prix

BMW was out of Formula One for many years, only to acquire the Sauber team of Switzerland and return as a factory outfit. Over their four years in F1, they have experimented with a number of weird and wonderful aerodynamics elements, including the Twin Towers seen here, which were designed to flick air to the car’s rear.

Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve drove the cars to 8th and 11th place, respectively. The towers were banned after the race as officials had postulated it would interfere with the drivers’ vision.

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Robert Kubica’s crash at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix

In their second year in F1, BMW would be involved in perhaps the most dramatic crash in modern times. On lap 26, Robert Kubica’s car clipped Jarno Trulli’s Toyota and became airborne at 150 MPH. Most of the car disintegrated to a fine powder of carbon fiber as it tumbled down the track, subjecting the Pole to 75 g’s of deceleration but saving his life.

BMW’s other driver Nick Heidfeld finished second in the race which marked Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 win.

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Another view of Robert Kubica’s 2007 crash

This is how Kubica’s BMW came to rest after his big crash. You can see that he is still in the car, with his feet poking out. In a testament to the gigantic strength of the carbon fiber monocoque, he suffered nothing worse than a sprained ankle.

Photo Credit: DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images

Robert Kubica wins the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix

What a way to return to the scene of his 150 MPH crash a year later: this is BMW team principal Mario Theissen hugging Robert Kubica after he took his and BMW’s first grand prix win at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.

Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

BMW team principal Mario Theissen

Theissen is seen here celebrating BMW’s only grand prix win at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. Perhaps the photo’s slightly pornographic allusions also go to show how right the late and great LJK Setright was when he called the spraying of champagne the “vulgarian display of disrespect for this princely drink” in his 2002 book Drive On!

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Nick Heidfeld at St. Moritz, Switzerland

BMW Sauber has shown a curious taste for Formula One stunts in 2007. They were all performed by Nick Heidfeld, seen here on the frozen surface of Lake St. Moritz, Switzerland, on February 4, 2007.

Photo Credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Nick Heidfeld drives his BMW F1 car on the Nürburgring Nordschleife

No Formula One car had set foot on the old Nordschleife since Niki Lauda’s infernal 1976 crash at Bergwerk corner. After 31 years, Heidfeld returned to the scene of countless grands prix in his 2007 racing car to run three laps. In a raised car on the bumpy track, not going flat out, he managed a time of 8:34.

More fire! More fire!

This has become the defining image of BMW in what has turned out to be their last season in Formula One. The man in the car is Robert Kubica and the picture was taken during qualifying at this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which Jenson Button won.

Photo Credit: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

According to English Russia, this symbol of ostentatious wealth - American cars are exponentially more expensive there thanks to taxes and import costs - was set on fire by Ukrainians unimpressed with the Vette's giant-slaying performance. [via English Russia]

A Ford dealership in Athens, Greece is destroyed over the weekend during the country's outbreak of rioting. We wouldn't blame you for thinking this was a way for US-based dealers to get out of their floorplan loans. Hat tip to 57SweptSide!

[AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis via MyWay]

[iReport]

Just 1,100 grams between the racing driver and a blazing inferno Stuntman Lutz Duda tries out the uvex Racing Suit

Petrol is highly combustible and full of energy – when used in an engine which means that racing cars weighing hundreds of kilos can accelerate to speeds in excess of 300 km/h in a matter of seconds. However, on the flip side, the experts including the uvex carRacing team, who specialise in racing equipment, know that in the case of an accident, the same energy in petrol can unleash itself against the driver, causing a blazing inferno within a fraction of a second. A single litre of petrol is enough to generate 9.61 kilowatt-hours of energy - which is equivalent to five ovens set at maximum! Emergency rescue teams can get to a burning vehicle very quickly on the racetrack, but the driver still has to rely on the protective properties of the fireproof equipment they are wearing until the fire has been safely extinguished. The uvex Racing Suit rs 3 not only has FIA certification – it also weighs a mere 1.1 kilos, which is close to half the weight of most comparable racing suits. Even at this low weight, the Racing Suit rs 3 manufactured by the highly experienced Fürth-based company, uvex, boasts impressive protective properties, as demonstrated in the 'hot stunt' performed by uvex carRacing at the IKmedia Experience Days in June.

The fire built specifically for the purpose is blazing with meter-high flames as stuntman Lutz Duda steps out in front of the assembled journalists in his black uvex Racing Suit rs 3 and an fp 2 H.A.N.S carbon helmet. The roaring flames are reflected in the helmet's visor! "There's a huge difference between simply reading the word 'fireproof' or 'flame-retardant' somewhere and actually finding yourself confronted with a wall of fire," explains Simon Sirries, Key Account Manager with uvex carRacing. "The heat given off by a blaze is immense, even from several meters away." While people standing nearby take a step back, Lutz Duda bravely walks into the flames. In addition to the racing suit and helmet, he is protected by suitable underwear, shoes and gloves made by uvex – a perfect modular system that complies with all the latest FIA norms and, what's more, offers perfect body climate and wearer comfort. With bated breath, the onlookers start to count the seconds until Lutz Duda steps back out of the flames. Instead, he sits down in the very heart of the fire, before standing up and walking calmly from the inferno - entirely unscathed. "It was certainly fairly warm in the fire", says the stuntman afterwards in summary. Unlike the shiny, silver fireproof suits worn by firefighters, racing equipment isn't metallic and therefore does not reflect the heat as well, but the racing suit, which is coated with NOMEX® fibres, does its job brilliantly. In an emergency, it is able to protect a racing driver from burns for at least 35 seconds, even at a temperature of 850 degrees. uvex has acquired decades of experience in this field through its development of industrial safety wear, for example for blast furnaces and other dangerous scenarios.

The most depressing part of this whole story comes from an analyst at J.D. Power & Associates who claims it shouldn't hurt Journey sales because owners are so used to minor recalls that they're immune to them. "Quality is job... it's a job for someone... it's a new day." [AutoNews subs. req.]

The organization decided the best way to serve the duty and keep operational firetrucks ready for emergencies at the same time would be to set out to purchase and refurbish a classic pumper truck. Seagraves were the predecessor the the later dominant Mack offerings, but at the time the Detroit Fire Department owned about 80% of the Safety Sedans ever made. The example we see here was one of the early Seagraves in the DFD fleet of 87 total.The original chassis has been replaced with a modern one from Mack, and Chrysler was generous enough to contribute a new Detroit Diesel power plant. Nearly four years of labor and dedication have gone into getting the truck to this point and the craftsmanship is unbelieveable. We're sure when it's finished, the hours of hard work from countless volunteers will be well worth the effort. If you'd like to contribute the effort or just want to know a bit more, you can go directly the Detroit Firemens Fund website.

Actually, the kid in the story was pouring gas into a carburetor of a farm vehicle (maybe a Holden SS V-Series Ute?) when the vehicle burst into flame, causing him third degree burns on one side of his body. We like his outlook though.

"And the smell will stay with me too. It is never going to stop me playing around with cars, but obviously I will be respecting the petrol side of it a lot more."

LMP1
1)Piro
2)Capello
3)Graf

LMP2
1) Dumas
2) Dyson
3) Leitzinger

GT1
1) O'Connell
2) Gavin

GT2:
1) Melo
2) Long
3) Dumbreck

"I borrowed a friends car yesterday so I could get some work done on mine. On my way home from the mall I decided to charge my cell phone. The moment I plugged in my charger a zap and some smoke came from behind the stereo, within 25 seconds flambes and melting plastic engulfed the entire dash I pulled over and bailed out with just enough time to grab my new sneaks and my rented dvd. The best part was having the tires explode and the gas tank rupture when I had the owner on the phone. By the time the fire trucks arrived the car was toast. On the brite side there is one less Taurus in the road. So anyway that was my monday night."

Forty-two-year-old Brian Hudson of County Mayo, Ireland apparently had a few pints and went to nick himself a new exhaust system for his car out of a junkyard. In the middle of the night. In a bout of wrecking-yard frustration, he paused for a cigarette, which he lit by lighting a piece of paper with a lighter he found in a car and then utilizing said burning paper to light his fag (we have no idea why he didn't just use the lighter). He discarded the piece of paper in the car, which then caught fire. Then the police showed up. Hudson ran, 11 cars burned. Remember, kids, you never know what can be flammable in a junkyard! – Davey G. Johnson

Man set 11 cars on fire 'by accident' [Independent, IE]

Related:
Alternative Fuel Ulster: Northern Irish Biodiesel Plant Online [Internal]

On a certain level, there is little as beautiful as Los Angeles burning. Be it actual fire, Ed Ruscha's work or the end of Miracle Mile when the ICBMs are coming over the Hollywood Sign, we find the destruction of the City of Angels to be gorgeous. Very Oedipal, we know. That said, 53 cars – mostly Chryslers and Lincolns – were tragically incinerated Sunday right across the freeway from where Griffith Park went up in flames. Up a few miles from Dodger Stadium and across the river (yeah, we have a river) sits an industrial section of Atwater Village. All of the dealers in Glendale use this part of town as an overflow facility for new cars. The cars are kept outside next to dilapidated warehouses. One of which caught fire and destroyed 53 cars. Embers from the blaze ignited dry palm tress half a mile away. It must have been quite a sight. Thanks to the Mike Meadows for the image. – Jonny Lieberman

Warehouse Fire Destroys Nearly 60 Cars [cbs2.com]; Fire Destroys Dozens of Cars and Vacant Building in Atwater Village [lafd news & information]

Related:
San Diego Arsonists Apparently Unhappy With Toyotas [Internal]

Four cars in the neighborhood of UC San Diego were torched last night. All four vehicles were apparently Toyotas, and two of them, a current model-year Tacoma and Corolla, were completely destroyed. Investigators note that the only accelerant used appears to be gasoline. Man, once disgruntled French auto executives move into the neighborhood, all bets are off, apparently. – Davey G. Johnson

Cars set ablaze in San Diego neighborhood [San Jose Mercury News]

Related:
More French Cars Up in Smoke [Internal]

We have a friend who drives a Passat estate car. She lovers her some Volkswagen and lives in one of those unfortunate subdivisions where you're not allowed to park your car in your own driveway. Now if one parks one's car on one's own property, if it goes up in smoke, no harm done other than some scorch marks on the homeowners'-association-mandated impeccably-maintained concrete. If, on the other hand, a modern Passat is such an eyesore that it must be kept garaged, many thousands of suburbanites are bound to start worrying. Apparently, VW is investigating reports of coil-pack-oriented fires on '00-03 gas-engined Passats — other than the W8 — in conjunction with the NHTSA. 19 fires have resulted so far and, the folks at VeeDub could face a recall involving around 350,000 cars. Ouch. – Davey G. Johnson

Volkswagen investigated after fires [AZCentral via Autoblog]

Related:
Volkswagen to Recall 790,000 Cars. Oof. [Internal]

"Yesterday in Holland a Ferrari 599 just burned spontaniously...They were standing at the traffic-lights and then they saw some flames passengers are oke...The car was in the Dutch Ferrari 60 Relay 2 day's ago also."

Ferrari 599 GTB in de hens [Autogespot.com]

Related:
Fates Smite Vetteamino!; Long Island Corvette Z06 Has One Last Smokey Burnout; Fonctionnement! Fonctionnement! Sauvage dans les Rues! 400 Cars Torched in France [internal]