Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| INTERIOR LIGHTING | |||
| 02/01/2009 | |||
| I have a 1998 ford windstar. it first started with my cruise cotroll switch catching on fire and causeing wires under my hood to burn... now for the last year i have been having problems with my passenger slinding door..the sensor on the dash would show that the door was ajar(not closed) i could take the battery cable off for a while and the door light would go off. now i have had to remove all the bulbs in the lights inside the van to keep my battery from running down this morning i get up and my battery is dead and acid from the battery is all over the post and cable wires. i talk to my mechinic he says this is due to some problem in the electrical system he said he has had to work on several windstars for the same problemsome kind of sensor fault defect | |||
| 01/10/2006 | 1 | ||
| Interior light as well as beeping noise ringing nonstop while all doors are shut correctly. dash light also stays on computer issue with system. *tr | |||
| 01/10/2008 | 220000 | 1 | 07/10/1998 |
| Two weeks ago our 1998 ford windstar minivan, with 220,000 miles on it, caught fire under the hood while parked, and was totally destroyed. we had been carefully following the maintenance schedule from ford motor company. during the week before the fire, we had problems with the interior lights not always turning off when we exited the van. *tr | |||
| 06/05/2004 | 87026 | 1 | |
| The door open/close indicator light remained on. *ak sometimes the light remained on for about an hour after the car was parked and turned off. this is an intermittent problem that has been occurring for about a year. *nm | |||
| 04/22/2004 | 1 | 02/02/1998 | |
| Continual problems with interior lights and locks because of the door ajar monitor. all doors are closed and door alarm monitor remains on which causes the interior lights to remain on at all times. have to remove #29 fuse just to get interior and dome lights to shut off, even after ignition is off and key removed. otherwise battery will die as lights do not go off as they are supposed to. driving with dome light continuously on is a very big safety hazard, especially at night. however removing this fuse also results in loss of electric window function which should also be a safety hazard. this has been happening for at least four years. everytime i take it to the dealer, it would stop for a short while and then subsequently act up again. i am the sole owner of this vehicle and purchased it new in 1998. i feel these parts should have been made correctly to begin with and/or should have been recalled to be repaired. i will never buy another ford vehicle because of this safety hazard.*ak | |||
| 01/01/2004 | 1 | 12/18/2003 | |
| Have a 1998 ford windstar van and the problem is that my interior lights and sensor showing that your door is open does not turn off. even all the door are closed. sometimes the interior lights go off but the beeping noise does not stop.*ak | |||
| 05/30/2003 | 05/30/1998 | ||
| Continual problems with interior lights and locks because of the door ajar monitor. have to use passenger side door to enter because drivers door normally sets it off, and have to unplug battery to let system reset, so battery does not go dead which normally takes a couple of days. locks will lock and unlock on their own while driving. door ajar will also activate with the other doors on its own while you are driving. this has been happening for at least two years. everytime i wanted to take it to the dealer, it would stop and the dealer said they could do nothing unless it was happening at the time. *ak | |||
| 10/30/2002 | 1 | ||
| Door ajar light stays on all the time. chimes stay on when car is started until the speed reaches around 15 mph. but as soon as i slow down and stop, the chimes come on again. *jb | |||
| 01/01/2000 | 50000 | 20 | 01/01/1997 |
| Interior dome light stays on until 15-20mph is reached. dash light indicator says door is open. isolated problem to sliding door on passenger side. problem is intermittent. take to ford dealerships on 3 seperate ocassions and all 3 times the problem mysteriously went away. also when this happens the rear wiper doesn't work all the time. | |||
| 09/01/2000 | 2 | 01/01/1998 | |
| Light that indicates door is open stays illuminated. light gets so hot that it may cause a fire. *ak the switches have been replaced. the ford company is aware of the problem and doesn't want to fix unless consumer pays out of pocket. the sliding door was replaced. *jg | |||
| 12/01/2000 | 04/01/2000 | ||
| The interior courtesy lamps do not go out when doors are closed. door ajar light comes on. ford is well aware of this problem and its a safety issue as driver cannot see during night driving unless fuse is pulled. interior lights cannot be shut off with the dimmer switch!!.. dealers play dumb when you discuss this issue. three neighbors have same problem. this is an accident waiting to happen!!!!!!!!*ak | |||
| 1 | 11/01/1998 | ||
| Consumer is experiencing an electrical malfunction with the door ajar light. *yd | |||
| 08/01/2000 | |||
| Accelerator went down on its own while in reverse, no brakes to stop, resulting in a accident. steering vibrates, recommend rotating the tires. interior seats slightly twisted, door locks works sometime, interior lights work sometimes. | |||
| 01/01/2000 | |||
| Without prior warning door warning light comes on panel, and light will stay on. interior light will go off, but the sound of the chime will not stop. dealerlership is aware of problem. *aik | |||
| 1 | 11/01/1998 | ||
| Consumer is experiencing an electrical malfunction with the door ajar light. *yd | |||
| 02/04/2002 | |||
| Seat belt alarm,light, and courtesy light would remain on while driving. dealer was not notified at this time.*ak | |||
| 01/01/2002 | |||
| Dome light will automatically stay on even after doors are closed. contacted dealer. *ak | |||
| 11/01/2001 | |||
| Door ajar light on dash is on constantly when all doors are shut. chime is also going off at all times. when chime is on it is not possible to lock doors. vehicle at dealership at this time. *ak | |||
| 11/26/2001 | |||
| Interior lights in passenger's compartment remain illuminated. consumer stated that battery had to be disconnected. dealer has yet to be contacted. please provide further details. *ak | |||
| 04/18/2001 | 0 | ||
| Ajar bell keeps ringing, dash light is on, and lights up. door is not open, but bell continues to ring. *ak | |||
| 01/01/1997 | |||
| I have basically had everything that could go wrong with this vehicle.. go wrong. it has been in several times for the seal around drivers side door (air flows in). the door ajar indicator continually goes on and the dome light comes on(making it very unsafe to drive at night. especially when trying to back up. the dome light then stays on causing battery to die. i have had problems with the traction control light to blink have had in shop they say they replaced a sensor. as soon as my warranty was up. it happened again(cost me over $400.00) when either window is rolled down about 3 inches(as soona s it hits that point) a buzzing sound will occur. i had a huge gash on the interior of my right tire(no known cause) i believe the van was 3 months old at this time.... had to purchase a new tire. i have had work done several times on the front passenger side. including the bearings replaced.... a sensor ring that had broken in half, tie-rod... i am so disappointed in this vehicle, we bought this because it was convient to tote around 3 children but the fact that i am so afraid to drive it alot of times ins't very convenient at all. i am amazed that it has made it this far (90,000) the back hatch seems to have some electrial problems as whenever it is opened it woll set off the door ajar light and when closed it never goes off.. for some reason it has periods of time that it will stay on for weeks and then when that stops the window buzzing starts. i am not under warranty and am very tired of sinking money into a van that we apid well over 30,000 for. why is something so expensive........... such a money pit????? i feel i get no response from the dealers. they seem to be able to word it in a different way when they fix something and you have to take it back in to be re-fixed.. although it does the same thing??? i guess we will have to do more research on vehicle manufactors when buying our next family vehicle. i have never been so disappointed. please send recall informat | |||
| 2 | 07/01/2000 | ||
| First the interior light stay on and blinds driver at night the dash lights for door open shows all 4 door are open but they are closed. in addition the spare tire hoist will not go up and being that this part is not used but for emergencies and proper storage of an emergency item i feel the part should last for many yrs. | |||
| 50 | 06/01/2000 | ||
| Door open indicator stays on, causes interior light to stay on. every other 1998 ford i know has same problem (7 vehicles). nieghbor has had thier van (98) worked on 4 times in one year. dealer not helpfull. ford has blinders on, acts as if they know nothing about thos problem. all i wanted is ford to say they knew it was a problem, and they were working on a solution. fords integrity is in question with me.*ak | |||
| 05/22/1999 | 2 | 04/24/1999 | |
| Various problem with power lock locking by itself/windshield wipers working intermittently/dome light not operating, and door ajar light staying on. vehicle been in / out of dealer shop on several occasions, and problems still reoccurring. *ak possible electrical problem with failure of power locks, windshield wipers, dome light, door ajar light, door ajar switch, lift gate door ajar switch, battery saver relay inoperable, and washer light illuminating. brakes noisy at times, dealer stated this was due to brake dust. power steering is noisy when turning back and forth, dealer replaced tie rod end. sliding door rattles while driving over bumps, dealer added foam tape to back side of panel, driver door rattles, sliding door hard to open at times, dealer lubed sliding hinges and latch. dealer replaced shocks due to rattling noise when riding over bumps. drivebelt replaced. maf sensor replaced due to hesitation. window guide did not fit tight. *slc | |||
| 08/20/1999 | 300 | 09/01/1997 | |
| The passenger door contact was corroded causing the interior lights to come on and an alart on the dash that the door is open. reported to dealership but never repaired or replaced under waranty. this is a danger to the driver that the door is open and distracks the drivers attention to immediately turn around to visually check. this alert also causes the interior lights to automatically come on when this open door indication is given. this is also a distraction. both the dealership and ford were contacted but nothing was done. i will never buy a ford product again. *ak | |||
| 07/15/1999 | 1 | 05/01/1998 | |
| When i stopped my van, the interior lights would not turn off and the dashboard showed an open door, though all doors were tightly closed. this condition persisted even with the engine running. we had to pull the interior fuse so we could drive at night - a dangerous situation indeed! the san jose (california) mercury newspaper has an action line column where i saw others who have the exact same problem as mine. i took in my car to a ford dealer, but they charged me $85 for not even finding the problem. they said they could not duplicate it. i think ford knows about this but won't issue a recall. please help! *ak | |||