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2008 FORD EDGE — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY

fire · 1926259 · 2023-09-08

Vehicle

Make
FORD
Model
EDGE
Year
2008
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Component
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
0
Fire
Yes
Crash
No
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

Purchased a duralast battery from AutoZone store #1299 in Hialeah in August 3rd and installed it. The staff was insistent that this battery was a direct replacement part for my lead acid battery. The car drove normally for approximately a month, and on the morning of September 6th started normally with no warning lights. After being driven less than a quarter mile, in slow-moving traffic, the car suddenly lost all power and large amounts of smoke came from under the hood accompanied by a burning smell. This happened in an intersection during 830 AM traffic on a weekday and I was unable to immediately exit the vehicle. This could have been a fatal incident for myself or potentially others. It was towed to a mechanic who started disassembling it to determine the damages. As per the mechanic, there is evidence of an electrical fire - the cables connected to the battery have melted and the alternator (which was TESTED AND INSTALLED BRAND NEW LESS THAN 2 YEARS AGO) are damaged. The mechanics have also stated that the fans and cooling system have been affected, but not to what extent as they are still mid-teardown. When they attempted to put a load on the battery, it began to overheat dangerously, and they state that it is the likely culprit of the fire. I attempted to return the battery to the store I had purchased it at, where the staff were verbally abusive and insisting that it was impossible for a battery to cause an electrical fire and they'd never heard of such a thi

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
11543512
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown