Has anyone been in an accident due to the lights going out while driving?

Recalls are the result of the Federal Government recognizing a problem. There are voluntary recalls but very rarely on a 10 year-old car. Yours is a common failure. The LCM or Lighting Control Module failed. Someone posted that Ford has a campaign (not a recall but a voluntary program) to replace failed LCM modules but I've never seen it for myself. We have over 800 Crown Victoria Police Interceptors in our fleet and have seen this concern many, many times. Not one Deputy has been injured or involved in an accident as a result. One could argue that you failed to check the operation of your older car's headlights.

We have a 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis. I was not in an accident, thank God for that, but had trouble with my headlights suddenly going off while driving home from my night job. My lighting control module failed first in 2010. We paid, not a cheap repair, to have it fixed. Then in 2012 the same thing happened. We couldn't afford another repair bill. Our friend ran a wire from the headlights to the steering column and put a manual switch on the steering column. We turned our tail lights on with the regular light switch and the headlights with the switch our friend installed. We just recently received a letter from Ford about a recall on this part. I first took our car to the Ford dealership in Shawnee and ended up being treated very rudely by the service department man. I then took it to the Ford dealership in Chandler (OK) where the service manager was very polite. But--Ford is out of the modules now--so we can't drive our car after dark until more parts are available. (Our friend "undid" the temporary fix) The part we don't like about the recall letter is they say it is a "one time repair". What if it fails again? We have gotten the run around so to speak from Ford. Some customer service individuals say they will refund our expenses from the 2010 repair and pay to have a Ford dealership put in a new module now, since it quit working again. Other customer service individuals say we have to choose--either have it repaired or be reimbursed for our 2010 repair expense. The above answer mentions checking the operation of your older car's headlights. I don't know how a person would do that. If the headlights come on and are functioning fine, then as you are driving down the road they suddenly go off. How are you supposed to know that in advance?

I received a recall notice from Ford Motors for the LCM which I had replaced three years ago at my expense. I took the notice to a local Ford dealer where they made a copy of the bill I had saved from an independent garage. The dealer sent the copy to Ford and I received my check for $798 about two weeks later. I was astounded as Ford had been very rude when I reported the problem, and refused to fix the problem. Now everyone is having trouble with vents that do not work properly (nothing comes out of the center dash vents most of the time).

So am I understanding that you CAN GET THIS FIXED IF YOU PAY? I was told that there were NO LCM'S available. I am very discouraged with FORD, I have had a number of their products...but this is the last one!

Ford sent me a reimbursement check for my previous expense having this problem fixed. But the LCM quit working again. They said I would have to pay to get it fixed. The man at the Shawnee OK Ford dealership acted like I was crazy to think they would pay to put on another LCM and reimburse me for my previous repair bill.--If the new one quit working then obviously there was still a problem with that Ford part. I went to another Ford dealership but was told there were no LCM's available. I finally sold the car to a salvage yard because it needed a new engine(after 350,000 miles) and obviously I couldn't drive it without lights. I will not buy another Ford product. I am driving a 1988 Buick LaSabre that belonged to my deceased mother in law. The headlights work great.

I repaired my LCM and recently turned the receipts in to Jones Ford in Shallotte, NC. I have waited 1month for the refund. I have appeared in person, twice, and have been told that the refund should come in "next Wednesday." I was also told that I needed a credit card with no explanation why. I was also told that I still should have a new LCM installed. The dealership did tell me that I would be contacted shortly about receiving the refund. The service manager was very uncooperative with my right to receive the refund and somewhat curt.