Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHEELS | |||
| 02/29/2012 | 198000 | ||
| Had changed brake pads a week earlier. driving 55mph and the car crashed down on it's axle as the tire and wheel passed by us going down highway, in 37 north. studs had all broken off. the disc brake is ruined from skidding on it. traffic was moderately heavy. we skidded to a stop on a bridge and feel lucky not to have crashed into anyone. | |||
| 12/04/2000 | 1 | ||
| While making a right hand turn, front left wheel came off, vehicle dropped to the left side causing body damage and possible left front suspension damage, claim 45-8019-328. *jg | |||
| 10/08/2001 | 1 | ||
| While driving, the entire wheel/tire fell off of the vehicle, it is unknown if it was the tire or wheel that failed, one person was injured, claim 13-7497-974. *slc | |||
| 09/21/2001 | 1 | ||
| While driving, consumer heard a noise coming from the front passenger side wheel, the front passenger side wheel then came off, claim 46-0491-262. *slc | |||
| 03/01/2002 | 2 | 01/01/1996 | |
| My aluminum wheels have corroded at the tire bead seat severely. this produces tire pressure loss constantly. the wheels are not corroded at the face but at the area where the tire seals. my local tire store in michigan says they see this same issue regularly. i am a ford engineer and have complained about this defect to the wheel engineers and they say there is no such problem. the tire store also added that aluminum wheels combined with michelin tires are the worst. two of my wheels have this problem now with the original tires. this is a safety problem as they keep loosing air. i have to add air once a week.pls call me- i can show them to you. i dismounted the rears and the corrosion is severe. i take care of my cars-there is no excuse for this level of corrosion. thanks. *ak (tiresize: 215x70x15) | |||
| 09/15/2000 | 10/01/1998 | ||
| I saw that it happened with other owners so it must be a manufacturer's fault. no safety defect mentioned in summary. *ak | |||
| 09/03/1998 | 3 | 11/01/1996 | |
| The problem is the weld on the wheel. the first one broke apart at the weld. the second one developed a pinhole at the weld. the third one also developed a pinhole at the weld. all were original ford wheels. in all my years of driving i have never had one wheel break at the weld until i bought this van. now i have had three in approximately 2 years. these vans are designed for carrying children so to me this is a safety issue. ford however refuses to look into it because they have not had enough complaints theyalso refuse to reimburse me for the replacement wheels. thank you for your time ,i hope you will look in to this. *ak | |||
| While driving inner tie rod broke, causing the front passenger's side wheel to fall off, resulting in driver's side air bag deploying. consumer was knocked unconscious. please provide details. *ak | |||
| 01/02/1999 | 1 | 04/01/1996 | |
| Driving west bound on i-94 just part menomonie, wi, the left rear wheel fell off around 7:30 pm on 1/2/99. about 40 miles before that, the abs light came on. the brake pedal would go to the floor, but you did have minimal braking power by pumping the brakes up. the tow truck operator and my brother (who came to pick us up), thought it was a froozen wheel bearing. the patrol officer who took the rest of the family to the perkins while i waited for the tow truck found the wheel with the drum attached to it (all lug nuts were tight). within the first couple of months of ownership of the car, the right rear wheel bearing had frooze and locked the car up. we have also had to add about 4 ounces of brake fluid each year to the system due to the brake light coming on. we have also complained that when going down a hill and braking hard that the steering wheel would shimmy pretty bad. some other backgound on the wheel falling off is that we left gulf shores, alabama at 2:00 pm on 1/1/99. we drove i-65 up to i-90 in indiana. and then took i-94 heading for st. paul, minnesota. due to the bad weather those days (1/1/99 and 1/2/99), we had to drive through rain, freezing, rain, snow, and high winds. as stated, the wheel fell off around 7:30 pm on 1/2/99 about 3 miles past (west of) menomonie, wi. i had to wait until about 8:50 pm for the tow truck due to other cars being in the ditch. they couldn't tow it to stillwater, minnesota (where i leave, about 50 miles away) since they were busy that night. northtown ford called on 1/8/99 and stated that it would cost around $1,800 to $2,000 to fix. i've asked for the cause(s) of this failures, but they have been unable to tell me. please contact me if more information is needed and let me know what my next steps should be. thanks. | |||
| Abs light continues to go on / the right wheel is making a humming noise. | |||
| 01/04/1998 | 1 | 09/21/1996 | |
| Right front wheel came loose upon failure of pin connecting control arm to ball joint. loss of steering and control of vehicle resulted. | |||
| WHEELS - CAP/COVER/HUB | |||
| 10/20/2000 | 7 | 08/01/1998 | |
| While driving 65 mph with cruise control on vehicle sped up. while getting ready to exit off the highway vehicle stayed under cruise control module. as consumer attempted to slow down, vehicle was moving 65 mph without any control from consumer. in order to make vehicle stop consumer had to press brake pedal with both feet, and shift vehicle into neutral. eventually, vehicle was able to slow down, and consumer turned vehicle off, dealer replaced 2 lock tabs because one had slipped on the cruise causing it to stay on. trip speedometer was replaced, it would not go past 799 miles. at 30 mph and over, the over drive light will flash. left front wheel cover was replaced due to it making ticking noises at lower speeds. sliding door squeaked, dealer lubed the sliding door. front rotors replaced and rear drums turned, a clicking noise was heard. *ak *slc | |||
| WHEELS - LUGS/NUTS/BOLTS | |||
| 02/15/2004 | 58000 | 1 | |
| 1996, windstar experienced numerous broken wheel studs on the left front and right front wheels. two studs broke on right front wheel on february 15, 2004. *ak | |||
| 08/01/2003 | 129000 | 2 | |
| Consumer stated the lug nuts on the front passenger side wheel were sheared off. consumer stated while driving on the highway at about 50 mph, the vehicle started to shimmy violently almost out of control. *ph | |||
| 05/01/2003 | 1 | ||
| While driving 10 mph the front right tire fell off the vehicle. *nlm | |||
| 01/02/2000 | |||
| Lugs: nuts have repeatedly broken off while consumer has driven vehicle. contacted dealer, and the dealer has already replaced lugs: bolts four times, but they will continue to break. *ak | |||
| 02/24/2002 | 3 | ||
| Right front wheel bolts broke off while driving. had them replaced 3 times problem still reoccurred. *ak *tt | |||
| 02/02/2001 | 1 | ||
| Insured claims the lug nuts sheared off on the right front wheel for no apparent reason, claim 17-9168-422. *jg | |||
| 04/27/2001 | 1 | ||
| Insured states that all five lug bolts broke off in the area where the back of the wheel and the brake rotor meets, claim 17-9180-936. *jg | |||
| 06/19/2001 | 1 | ||
| Insured called in noticing frequency of losses to other vehicles, while in motion, the front wheel starts to wobble, studs sheer and come off the vehicle, claim 55-s367-002. *jg | |||
| 03/15/2001 | 1 | 01/01/1998 | |
| Studs on rt. front wheel sheared off while making a left hand turn at low speed, separating wheel from vehicle.*ak | |||
| 12/29/1999 | 3 | 02/01/2000 | |
| Front passenger's wheel lugs: nuts kept getting cut off which may have caused wheel to fall off. lugs: nuts been replaced 3 times. *ak | |||
| 11/10/2000 | 2 | 08/01/1996 | |
| The front right wheel sheared off the lugs and caused the wheel to just about fall off while we were driving the car. the dealer replced the lugs (only the broken ones and not all of them). just over one year later, the exact same thing happened; that is, the right front wheel sheered off the lugs and caused the wheel to almost fall off. a few months prior to the second incident, all 4 tires were changed by an independent tire place. that tire place swears up and down that they properly torqued the bolts and that their standard inspection calls for a second inspection to confirm this. i tend to believe that they did this. i think there is a known defect in the wheel design by which the lug nuts are known to back off during use, causing the wobbly wheel to shear off the other lugs. i have seen this condition reported by others on this site. | |||
| 03/10/2000 | 1 | ||
| We were driving at approx. 45 mph when the front passenger wheel came off and rolled into on coming traffic. my the front passenger side was smashed as the vehicle skidded to a stop. fortunately no one was injured. the repair technician said that it appeared the bolts had somehow sheared off. we had not had any recent repairs to the wheels and had not changed tires since november 1999. my husband and 2 young children were in the car when the accident occurred. the police drove by and when they saw that no one was injured did not stop to take a report. the accident was reported to our insurance company and we were required to pay our $500.00 deductible. we contacted ford motor, however, they denied any similar complaints. this accident occured in march.*ak | |||
| 07/28/2000 | 1 | ||
| While driving the lug nuts on the vehicle broke causing the right front wheel to fall off of the vehicle, loss of control resulted in the vehicle striking the guardrail. (ohio traffic crash report) *mjs | |||
| 07/05/2000 | |||
| Consumer was traveling on highway doing about 65mph. vehicle started to shimmer. consumer pulled over to inspect vehicle to see if the tires had any flats. all tires were fine. when consumer got back in to take off, vehicle wouldn't move, it just rocked back & forth. right front tire came off. consumer found out that lugs: nuts sheared in half. half of all five were on the road & the others were on the wheel axle. dealer said they might have been tightened too much. a tork wrench was used to prevent over or under tightening. *ak | |||
| 06/15/1998 | |||
| Consumer was pulling away from a stop sign at approximately 10 mph when suddenly the passenger's side front wheel came off due to lugs:nuts:bolts coming off. no accident & no injury. dealer notified and refused to repair without cost to the consumer. *ak | |||
| 10/27/1996 | 1 | 10/24/1996 | |
| Front wheel lug nut broke off causing extreme vibration. | |||
| WHEELS - MULTI PIECE | |||
| 05/18/1997 | |||
| While driving 20 mph lugs: nuts sheared off, causing tire to disconnect, vehicle fell to the ground, could result in an accident. *ak | |||
| WHEELS - RIM | |||
| 10/08/2004 | 4 | 06/30/2002 | |
| The original wheels on my 1996 windstar have developed air leaks at the welds. the first time this happened, i went to a salvage yard for a replacement, and they said windstar wheels are scarce because this seems to be a common problem. i have replaced all four wheels within the past two years. i believe the oem wheels are defective. (in 34 years of driving, i've never had this problem with even one wheel on any car. 4 out of 4 wheels with the same problem on this van tells me something is wrong with the product.) our driving is on good roads, so it cannot be attributed to rough use. the only consequence so far is that tire pressure is slowly lost, leading to low pressure. our only expense so far is that we have had to replace all the wheels, one at a time. this problem causes inconvenience and expense at the very least, and could result in wheel failure, injury and death if not addressed.*ak | |||
| 08/04/2004 | 132500 | 1 | |
| Consumer stated that all four rims had cracks in them. consumer took vehicle to the dealer, where it was determined that the rims were defective. *ak | |||
| 05/28/2003 | 1 | ||
| The rims inside of the wheel had a hole that developed cracks inside of the wheel which caused it to deteriorate. *tt | |||
| 04/22/2003 | 1 | ||
| The driver side rim cracked. *jb | |||
| 06/01/2001 | 1 | ||
| While traveling on the highway the rim of the tire is cutting inside bead of the tire causing a blow out. the dealership is aware of the problem.*jb | |||
| 05/14/2002 | 1 | 03/01/2096 | |
| 1. auto transmission front seal premature failure causing leaks. 2. 5.5 x 15 steel rim cracked due to material defects, causing dangerous steeling responses. both defects have been reported to ford san francisoc region, but ford deny responsibility. | |||
| 07/30/2001 | 2 | 02/01/1996 | |
| In 1999 when turning to the right, we experienced a grinding noise. my husband removed the hubcap and found the steel rim of the wheel to be cracked badly. we contacted the manufacturer and the dealer who both said it was a serious problem, but that the other should pay to have it fixed. because i put my 3 small children in the car, i paid to have it fixed. two years later, we have found two more wheels have cracked. this time, we contacted the dealer and the manufacturer agreed to help pay for the repair. the speedometer was the first problem we came across with this car. at speeds of over 40mph the needle would go sporactically back and forth between about 35 and 110mph. we were told it would be $400 to replace so, we have not yet had it fixed. since the first few months of its occurance, it only moves back and forth 5mph up or down of our speed. please recall the speedometer problem. we have been reading on the internet and it seems many, many other people are having the same problem with the same make of car. thank you.*ak | |||
| 03/12/2000 | 2 | 05/01/1996 | |
| Both of the front rims developed cracks. this was discovered in an inspection to find a clicking noise coming from tire area. ford was contacted(local dealer and national customer services) they do not seem concerned and were unwilling to replace the rims. i feel that 2 (two) rims cracking on one vechicle without any apparent cause may be a sign of faulty rims and a potential hazard to all owners of like rims.*ak | |||
| 05/22/2000 | 0 | ||
| Four rims at a time will leak air without prior warning. also, tires will go flat, even on highway. *ak | |||
| 09/23/1999 | 1 | 02/01/1998 | |
| Wheel rim leaked air. yh | |||
| 3 | |||
| While driving vehicle the tire was flat, took tire for repair and consumer was told that the tire was flat because the wheel rim had split near one of the welds, unwelded and came apart. *ak | |||
| 2 | |||
| 2 rims failed causing slow leak. | |||