I don't believe this has anything to do with our Contours, but then again Ford has been revealing more and more cars that are affected by this:
CNN link to Ford Cruise Control Switch Fiasco

??

From what I saw on a CNN special last night, the cruise control switch is unecessarily wired to be hot at all times, even when the car is off.

The desactivating switch is locate on the brake pedal. The concers ones are those with the switch locate on the master cylnder.

Nic.

No, Contours don't use the same cruise control brake-pedal decativation as other Ford models currently in the news. However, my 2000 Ford Windstar (while not yet in the recall list) has the same style of switch.

For the curious (I had to go look at mine): The switch is attached to the brake master cylinder, and is at the end of the master cylinder closest to the front of the car. In my Windstar's case, it faces down. It's a simple looking metal cylinder, threaded into the master cylinder. The bottom of the switch has a connector with two wires.

I'm tempted to simply disconnect my switch (which would eliminate this particular fire risk, but also render the cruise control system unsafe to use). However, I haven't heard of any problems with the switch when used in a Windstar. The same basic switch has been in use in various Ford vehicles for over 10 years, so the failure mechanism affecting (it appears) only some models is probably not immediately obvious.