Auto Insider reports that Ford is still contending with fallout from electrical switch component allegedly involved in over 500 fires and over 1500 complaints.

“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.

Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said the company has been vigilant in recalling vehicles. “We’re continually looking at our products in light of how difficult this particular recall has been.”

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.

Kinley says it is investigating the cause of the Gavegan fire and hasn’t reached any conclusions.”
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