Faulty ignition switch on highway

[Bugsiegel]

Anyone having trouble with their ignition?

My vanity light has been coming on while driving on the highway and sometimes streets for a while. I notice it at night which is when I do most of my highway driving. I though it was a short under the carpet because I move my feet around when the cruse control is on and the light would sometimes go on as if the doors were opened.

Last night the whole car shut down at 60 mph.

The light came on and then it went off. I tried to get it to repeat again and I did by tapping my feet around but I still wasn't sure what the cause was.. I tried to repeat it again and the whole car went out. Radio and all. No head lights, no engine, no dash lights, no vanity lights, no radio,on the highway 60 mph.....All I had was my steering wheel unlocked.

I pulled to the shoulder and restarted and drove home. Pulled into my driveway and and found that the key in the engine on position is very sensitive. My keys are on a neck strap so when I bounced my feet around I was also slightly moving the hanging strap. It's that sensitive. Up to now it's just been triggering the vanity lights as if the door was open or as I now know, as if the key was turned back to acc position. But last night it actually killed the ignition completely for the first time.

I'm assuming even the airbags won't work once the ignition shuts down, right? How dangerous is that!!

I think I'm going to take a video of this one and sent it into Ford America. What do you guys think? I'm hoping they will call down to a dealer and have a dealer contact me, I don't want to get jerked around by a local dealer who wants to charge me 90 dollars for diagnostic and then go from there.

Am I the only one. I searched but didn't find anything.

 

[scott degroot]

While problems can and do occur from time to time I have no knowledge of any kind of ignition switch issue with any of Fords products. I think you have an isolated incident and I wouldn't wait around for Ford tell you that they are not going to pay to get it fixed being that the vehicle is well out of warranty. You know you have an issue that has the potential to cause serious injury, or worse, to you or other people, I suggest that you get it taken care of as soon as possible. How many keys do you have on this neck strap?

 

[Todd Z]

Like l1 said I too have seen people with tons of keys on their ring wear out switches too.



Also laws of torque play in this. 5 keys on a 6 inch long strap add a lot more force then you think..



Todd Z

 

[Vic Sorlie]

+1 on L1tech's advice - and his question too. You need to get this fixed, but you're going to have to pay.

 

[Gavin Allan]

I had to whip my dad for putting a huge bolt on the key chain to the farm tractor. That thing must have weighed 4-5 lbs.!



That is one of the few advantages of the pushbutton starting that I can see. Nothing to wear out, and it saves time finding the keys/fob.

 

[Bugsiegel]

I keep two keys on the ring. Garage key and house key. Nothing else because I don't like the weight or the bulk in my pocket.

It appears that the key is not fully turning back after the truck is started. If I manually turn it back to it's rest position then it's not jiggle sensitive. If it doesn't return all the way to the rest position then that is when it's sensitive to jiggle.

 

[swshawaii]

Unlikely the cause, but are you lubricating the switch properly, or at all? Lock Ease, Tri Flow, WD40, etc.

 

[Taylor Corn]

Get the ignition switch replaced at cost, not worth the danger.

 

[Rory Day]

Use Tri Flow it is the best. Do NOT use WD-40 on anything you want to lubricate, it is a solvent and will remove any existing lubricant making it worse.

 

[kevinbakon]

I had the same issue with my ignition switch. Although I never had the truck shut off on me, my interior lights kept coming on while driving, at what seemed to be completely random times. Originally I thought it was the door not closing properly. After months of dealing with the lights and no luck troubleshooting the doors, I noticed the light come on when I accidentally bumped the keys with my knee. After I was able to intentionally recreate the symptom, I replaced the ignition switch and haven't had a problem since. For me, the added weight of the keys on my fob (not very many at all), where just enough to weigh down the sensitive switch, enough to randomly jostle the mechanism into a faulty position. I don't believe you have an isolated incident and I'm surprised there aren't more members chiming in with similar stories.

I don't remember how much the part was (not very much), but I quickly and easily replaced it myself. When I compared the old to the new parts, the problem was apparent. The original one had very noticeable play (wiggle room), between the internal and external cylinders.