Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEERING - COLUMN LOCKING - ANTI-THEFT DEVICE | |||||
| 17225 | 09/01/2003 | 10004082 | Steering column lock discontinued. *tt | 11/18/2003 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEERING | |||
| 05/05/2012 | 143173 | ||
| On or about may 5th of 2012 the front passenger coil spring fractured. which then punctured a 6 month old tire. then not more than 50 days later, on aproximately june 20th of 2012 the drivers side front coil spring fractured and punctured the drivers tire which was aproximately 7 months old. if this were to happen on the road on either occasion it could have easily led to one or more fatality | |||
| 02/01/2010 | 140586 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. the contact stated that when it rained, water made its way into the vehicle from the instrument panel and flooded the front passenger side. furthermore, the defroster did not work. the steering wheel vibrated and, interior light was always illuminated and the door locks did not engage automatically. the contact called the dealership and was advised to take the vehicle in for repair at his expense. the current and failure mileages were 140,586. | |||
| 03/03/2010 | 75000 | 1 | |
| 2003 ford taurus steering wheel vibrates when applying brakes on the freeway. *tr | |||
| 02/10/2010 | 43473 | 1 | |
| On my wife's 2003 ford taurus, the front spring broke and caused multiple damages to the vehicle. first of all the tire was completely blown out due to the spring breaking and secondly, a sway link was damaged to the point of repair along with another part that i need to ask the mechanic the name of. this same model car had a recall in the years of 1999 and 2001 for just this reason. the mechanic sees this constantly from this model car. the recall was for a boot to be applied to the vehicle in order to prevent the spring from penetrating the tire while driving. fortunately, i was driving the car out of my driveway and down the alley, therefore no accident happened. i have contacted ford directly and they say that there is no recall on my vehicle for this and referred me to you. the car has 43,473 miles on it. of course it is out of warranty but this is uncalled for. i can understand the spring breaking on an automobile, but to completely shred the tire and cause all of this is their responsibility for not addressing a concern that had occurred on an earlier model and correcting it. they need to be held responsible for the damage that has been caused to my vehicle and they should be happy that this did not cause an accident. ford motor company needs to address this issue on this car. i sincerely thank you for your time and concern. *tr | |||
| 10/08/2008 | 54366 | 1 | |
| Driving on a straight away at about 55 mph., the car suddenly pulled to the left. the driver could not regain control of the vehicle, which resulted in a rollover accident. driver and passenger did not hear anything prior to the sudden pull. the car spun around and hit the gravel on the side of the road then continued to roll down the hill. at least 2 rollovers. air bags did not deploy. i'm concerned there might have been a problem with suspension or coil springs suddenly blowing out a tire. i will be contacting a mechanic on monday and schedule an inspection. car is totaled. insurance does not cover vehicle, but fortunately covers medical and liability. fortunately the driver and passenger, at this point, appear to have walked away relatively unharmed. *tr | |||
| STEERING - COLUMN | |||
| 09/25/1973 | 23000 | 1 | |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. the vehicle burst into flames while parked and was destroyed. a police report was filed. the contact's insurance company informed him that the fire originated from the steering column or under the dashboard. he has pictures, if needed. the purchase date, vin, and engine size were unknown. the current and failure mileages were 23,000. | |||
| STEERING - WHEEL AND HANDLE BAR | |||
| 12/04/2007 | 66936 | ||
| I heard from an acquaintance that there were several issues posted on the nhtsa website regarding the failure of coil springs on the ford taurus. i too experienced the complete loss of control of my 2003 taurus while driving in heavy traffic due to coil spring failure. with the initial jolt and subsequent dragging of the car to bring it to a safe area to bring the car to a stop, i actually thought i had hit a person or large object. when i got out of my car i found the the front end of the car sitting on top of my tire. my mechanic actually took pictures of the car as he could not believe the amount of damage that had occurred. i had to replace the struts, springs, sway bar links, lower ball joint and axle shaft. all of this at 61k miles!! for a cost of $1300.00. in closing, my 2003 ford taurus has been involved in 2 serious malfunctions posted to the nhtsa website which could have easily resulted in serious injury or death to myself or fellow motorists if i was not able to react quickly and control the car with a complete collapse of the front end or complete loss of power with the transmission failure (ref #fbn24-10467). both of these issues occurred within 4 months (5k miles) of each other (66k - 71k) and cost in excess of $4,000.0 to repair. given the number of coil spring complaints received by the nhtsa and the open investigation (nhtsa action number: ea08018) , i would think either ford or the national highway transportation safety administration take responsibility and issue a notification of these serious issues with this car (and the other year/models listed in nhsta action # ea08018)) and the steps to remediate those issues before the issue causes serious injury or death. | |||
| 06/01/2011 | 89000 | ||
| Front drivers side coil spring broke and punctured the front drivers side tire. | |||
| 01/04/2011 | 116432 | ||
| While exiting my driveway the left front spring coil let go puncturing the tire and rendering the vehicle inoperable. had to have vehicle towed to repair facility for replacement. ford motor company had a recall on this component on some other of its vehicles, but i was informed my vehicle was not in the recall. it seems to be an ongoing problem. when are they going to admit the problem and fix it, when someone has a serious crash or dies? | |||
| 12/16/2010 | 133038 | ||
| Drivers side front coil spring in the strut broke and slashed the adjacent tire. this was noticed when the car was beginning to be backed out of a parking spot. we had to replace both strut assemblies for safety sake, replace the damaged tire as well. we opted to replace the other three tires due to wear. also, the garage recommended we replace the ball joints and lh side tie rod end. the front end was aligned as well. total cost $1871. i am outraged that there is a recall for 1999 thru 2001 taurus cars but nothing covering up to and including 2003's. i also think it is ridiculous that the cutoff to repair this problem occurs when a car exceeds 100000 miles. this is a known design defect and all ford taurus cars should have been recalled and repaired. my daughter was lucky this failure occurred in a parking lot and not when going 65mph! severe injury and death could have been the result and other people may have been involved! i implore nhtsa to force ford to engage in a retroactive recall for all affected taurus cars. it is inexcusable to have a design defect of this magnitude on the public highways. i can understand a broken spring can occur, but the complaints clearly show that the spring then slashes the tire, causing an immediate blowout and potential loss of control of the vehicle. | |||
| 12/09/2010 | 130000 | ||
| The suspension coil spring fractured and punctured the tire next to it, causing the tire to explode. | |||
| 12/16/2010 | 133038 | ||
| Drivers side front coil spring in the strut broke and slashed the adjacent tire. this was noticed when the car was beginning to be backed out of a parking spot. we had to replace both strut assemblies for safety sake, replace the damaged tire as well. we opted to replace the other three tires due to wear. also, the garage recommended we replace the ball joints and lh side tie rod end. the front end was aligned as well. total cost $1871. i am outraged that there is a recall for 1999 thru 2001 taurus cars but nothing covering up to and including 2003's. i also think it is ridiculous that the cutoff to repair this problem occurs when a car exceeds 100000 miles. this is a known design defect and all ford taurus cars should have been recalled and repaired. my daughter was lucky this failure occurred in a parking lot and not when going 65mph! severe injury and death could have been the result and other people may have been involved! i implore nhtsa to force ford to engage in a retroactive recall for all affected taurus cars. it is inexcusable to have a design defect of this magnitude on the public highways. i can understand a broken spring can occur, but the complaints clearly show that the spring then slashes the tire, causing an immediate blowout and potential loss of control of the vehicle. | |||
| 12/09/2010 | 130000 | ||
| The suspension coil spring fractured and punctured the tire next to it, causing the tire to explode. | |||
| 12/16/2010 | 133038 | ||
| Drivers side front coil spring in the strut broke and slashed the adjacent tire. this was noticed when the car was beginning to be backed out of a parking spot. we had to replace both strut assemblies for safety sake, replace the damaged tire as well. we opted to replace the other three tires due to wear. also, the garage recommended we replace the ball joints and lh side tie rod end. the front end was aligned as well. total cost $1871. i am outraged that there is a recall for 1999 thru 2001 taurus cars but nothing covering up to and including 2003's. i also think it is ridiculous that the cutoff to repair this problem occurs when a car exceeds 100000 miles. this is a known design defect and all ford taurus cars should have been recalled and repaired. my daughter was lucky this failure occurred in a parking lot and not when going 65mph! severe injury and death could have been the result and other people may have been involved! i implore nhtsa to force ford to engage in a retroactive recall for all affected taurus cars. it is inexcusable to have a design defect of this magnitude on the public highways. i can understand a broken spring can occur, but the complaints clearly show that the spring then slashes the tire, causing an immediate blowout and potential loss of control of the vehicle. | |||
| 12/09/2010 | 130000 | ||
| The suspension coil spring fractured and punctured the tire next to it, causing the tire to explode. | |||