HOUSTON -- Hundreds of thousands of Ford Motor Co. vehicles are included in a safety recall for a part that could cause fires underneath the hoods of several popular pickup trucks and SUVs. An exclusive Local 2 Troubleshooters' investigation first told Houstonians about the problem last week.

VIDEOS Popular Ford Models May Spark Fire When Not In Use How To Disconnect Switch Yourself Dealerships Deal With Consumer Questions SLIDESHOW View Images Of Ford Vehicle Fire Damage ON THE NET Ford Motor Company Vehicle Search: Is Your Car Affected? Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Admin. PHONE NUMBERS Ford: (800) 392-3673 Report Vehicle Fire Not In Recall: (866) 436-7332 NHTSA: (888) 327-4236

Ford's F-150 pickup truck has been the best-selling truck for 27 years straight, according to the company. However, the federal government is now investigating a problem with the vehicles' cruise control deactivation switch.

The recall, issued Thursday morning, affects the following vehicles:

2000 model Ford F-150 truck
2000 model Ford Expeditions
2000 Lincoln Navigators
Some 2001 Ford F-Series Supercrew Trucks
(built through Aug. 7, 2000)

Vehicle VIN Search: Find Out If Your Car Is Affected

So far, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 36 cases involving vehicle fires -- 11 of those cases are from Texas.

The automaker said it would notify nearly 800,000 owners of the recalled vehicles at the beginning of February via postal mail. Owners can also contact the company's Customer Assistance Center at (800) 392-3673.

Owners who have experienced similar vehicle fires should report them to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at (888) 327-4236 or via their Web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

What Consumers Should Do

What should consumers do who have one of the vehicles in question?

Local 2 consumer investigator Emily Akin said fixing the problem should be relatively easy.

Dealers will be alerted to the exact list of vehicles affected Friday morning. However, replacement parts will not be available until April.

So, the speed control deactivation switch must be temporarily disconnected.

Helfman Ford's service manager, Joe Hall, showed Akin how easy the temporary disconnection is.

"All it requires is unplugging (it), then we're going to take tape, and we're going to tape the surface of it up. Then, we're going to take a wire tie and tie it so it doesn't get hurt or damaged until the part is available," Hall said.

When the switch is disconnected, so is the cruise control and the potential for any danger.

Akin said that consumers could disconnect the switch themselves, but they should let an authorized dealer replace the part. But be careful.

"If they want to disconnect it, great. It's a simple thing," Hall said. "But it's connected to the brake cylinder and you could be losing fluid and create a bigger issue by doing it yourself."

So, consumers who drive one of the recalled vehicles can contact a dealer Friday morning to see if their vehicle is affected.

Then, the first week of February, Ford will mail out notices to all the owners of affected vehicles.

Houston Attorneys File Suit Against Ford

Two Houston-area lawyers representing nine clients in three Texas counties have filed suit against the automaker, claiming the speed-control device on the vehicles ignited the fires that destroyed their clients' vehicles and a Galveston family's home.

Investigators determined the 2002 Galveston house fire started inside a 1997 Ford F-150 pickup that was parked under the beachfront home and not running.

"The majority of the fires happened when the car is not in use and the vehicle is turned off. The reason it catches fire is because it's hot-wired like an onboard computer or clock. It has a hot line going to it 24/7," Houston-area attorney Norman Jolly told Local 2.

Jolly said all the cases he's representing are Ford F-Series trucks of different years up to and including 2000 models. He also said the vehicles were not in use when the explosion occurred.

"The left front tire typically explodes. We've heard descriptions a bomb went off in the garage," Norman Jolly said.

Jolly is suing Ford on behalf of the man whose pickup caught on fire because of the switch, which burned his Tiki Island home to the ground.

Ford Expedition owner Marley Garcia told Local 2 he woke up to a popping noise coming from his garage.

"I opened (the door to the garage) and all this smoke came toward my face. I saw the fire. I panicked," Garcia said.

Garcia, whose Expedition was on fire and had already spread to the ceiling of his garage, began pushing the vehicle out of his garage.

"I knew if (the vehicle) burned any more, it would burn my house down and kill me and my family," Ford Expedition owner Marley Garcia told Local 2. "I don't know how I did it. I couldn't see anything either. Everything was just black. I was going by feel."

Jolly told Local 2 that the NHTSA's investigation is currently only investigating problems with the recalled vehicles even though they have received complaints on older model Ford trucks and SUVs.

"It's significant because we can see, clearly, the fire in this 2000 Expedition was starting right there in the switch -- the same switch that's installed on numerous Ford vehicles," Jolly said.

A Ford spokesperson told Local 2 Thursday that the company is investigating fires in older model Fords but has not yet reached a conclusion.

Earlier this month, a company spokesperson told Dallas CBS affiliate KTVT:

"We are at the moment working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cooperating with the investigation, as well as conducting our own internal investigation into the issue. But, at this time, until the investigation is complete, we have no further information. It would be too early to speculate on an outcome until we have completed the investigation and NHTSA has completed its investigation."

On The Net:

Ford Announces Safety Recall