Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM | |||
| 07/04/2010 | 55000 | ||
| There has not been an incident or crash, but the abs, trac off, and brake! light all come on at once. anti-lock brakes and traction control do not function when this happens. it has occured intermittently for about a year, but happens almost constantly now. the lights would go off after restart, but now come on almost immediately, and stay on in spite of a restart in cold or hot weather. the ford dealership says their diagnostic code indicates a need to replace the abs module at a cost of nearly $1300.00 with labor on my 2001 ford windstar lx minivan which now only has 60,000 original miles. i googled this problem and found a site at www.fordwindstarrecall.info that discussed my problem. | |||
| 09/18/2010 | 93000 | ||
| Abs and brake lights come on intermittently on my 2001 windstar se sport. i know of one other windstar in our town who has the exact same problem. | |||
| 06/18/2010 | 120000 | ||
| My 2001 has a brake light, abs traction control lights and electric circuit board problem. the windshield wipers come on the door chime comes on when i turn the key off. the abs and traction control light and brake lights comes on and off while i am driving all the time. the check engine light came on simultaneously with the brake light and i lost brake power. no fluid leaked out and the transmission works fine. i almost crashed into three cars while driving with the brake failure. | |||
| 07/10/2010 | 109000 | ||
| Ford windstar 2001 van. periodically the check tranction control warning message along with the abs warning light and brake light was coming on. now it seems to be occurring more frequently within the past month or two. | |||
| 06/18/2010 | 120000 | ||
| My 2001 has a brake light, abs traction control lights and electric circuit board problem. the windshield wipers come on the door chime comes on when i turn the key off. the abs and traction control light and brake lights comes on and off while i am driving all the time. the check engine light came on simultaneously with the brake light and i lost brake power. no fluid leaked out and the transmission works fine. i almost crashed into three cars while driving with the brake failure. | |||
| 07/10/2010 | 109000 | ||
| Ford windstar 2001 van. periodically the check tranction control warning message along with the abs warning light and brake light was coming on. now it seems to be occurring more frequently within the past month or two. | |||
| 06/18/2010 | 120000 | ||
| My 2001 has a brake light, abs traction control lights and electric circuit board problem. the windshield wipers come on the door chime comes on when i turn the key off. the abs and traction control light and brake lights comes on and off while i am driving all the time. the check engine light came on simultaneously with the brake light and i lost brake power. no fluid leaked out and the transmission works fine. i almost crashed into three cars while driving with the brake failure. | |||
| 07/10/2010 | 109000 | ||
| Ford windstar 2001 van. periodically the check tranction control warning message along with the abs warning light and brake light was coming on. now it seems to be occurring more frequently within the past month or two. | |||
| 03/04/2010 | 95000 | 1 | |
| Abs lights illuminate on dashboard during which time antilock brake system and traction control does not operate at all. this occurs approximately 10-15 minutes after vehicle has been started and lasts the entire time the vehicle is being operated. this problem appears in warm weather around 95% of the time and about 30% of the time when temperatures are below freezing. appears to be the antilock brake control module overheating but i cannot confirm that. have had the speed control deactivation switch replaced under recall. dealer inspected brake system at the same time and said the control module will have to be replaced at a cost of over $1,000. i am hesitant to spend the money as i am not sure if the new control module will have the same defect. i was hoping the previous recall would solve this problem but it did not. wonder if the two issues are related. *tr | |||
| 02/20/2010 | 158300 | 1 | |
| 2001 ford windstar- abs /traction control lights on in dash. lights have been on and off for the past 2 years, we took the van in for the recall about a month ago and yesterday the abs/traction control lights are on and stay on now so thy are disabled. *tr | |||
| 12/27/2009 | 71985 | 1 | |
| My wife's 2001 ford windstar brake, abs and trac off (traction control) lights would come on a few minutes after she would drive the car. this was more prevalent during warmer weather than in the late fall or winter. basically something was malfunctioning which caused the abs braking and traction control system from working. i had recently brought her windstar to rye ford for a brake switch recall (probably related to this) and had this problem looked at. let me say that i purchased this vehicle for her and my family for the safety features that were now failing. the diagnosis was a bad abs module and a hydraulic valve. the cost for the parts from ford were $700 for the ca control, $1,000 for the valve asy modulator and $385 for the 166cmf (not sure what that is). labor came to $385 for a total of $2,110.00 dollars! in doing research i found this problem to be pretty common for the windstar. it has been documented by other ford windstar owners one of which has researched and figured out the cause of this malfunction. please go to:http://www.fordwindstarrecall.info/ and go to problem #2.. basically the module malfunctions because a metal plate expands when it warms up (which explains why this problem occurs during the warmer months) and touches the circuitry. there are pictures and evidence of this malfunction on the site. i believe ford is well aware of this issue and has ignored it because it is a big money maker for them. the part cost must be a huge profit for them which is why they ignore this issue. in addition many people i am sure purchased this vehicle as i did for the safety features of the abs and traction control. when ford puts out a vehicle with knowingly inferior parts that would compromise the operation and ultimately the safety to the driver and passengers then ford should be made to correct this situation at their expense and not at the expense of their customers. *tr | |||
| 05/01/2007 | 70000 | 1 | |
| We purchased a 2001 windstar. after owning the pre-owned minivan for a few short months we started noticing that the abs, brake, and trac control lights would come one after we started driving. additionally when the lights are on we do not have abs braking or traction control available. i believe the abs braking system does not work as designed. it seems to happen less frequently during the winter about 60% of the time driving the vehicle. during the other 8 or 9 months the lights are on about 99% of the time. i believe that the website www.fordwindstarrecall.info in problem 2 accurately describes the problem i am having. i believe ford should recall this vehicle to fix this problem. thank you. *tr | |||
| 08/16/2009 | 96685 | 1 | |
| Three months ago, i bought a 2001 ford windstar lx and about a week after the abs and the brake light started to turn on and off sporadically and i noticed that every time i pushed the brake pedal the pedal won't come back up as usual, i changed brake pads, checked the brake fluid level which was low but then everytime i use my van there's like a plastic or fluid burning smell that comes from underneath my van on the passenger side, my cruise control is not working and, i'm afraid something bad could happened in the future, i took my van to a brake shop and they told me there was a recall on the abs system on these vans, i checked fords website entered my vans vin # but there is no recall so looking in the internet i found a website that suggested that i should report that to nhtsa because there is an investigation already open and filling these report might help that investigation ending in a voluntary recall by ford. *tr | |||
| 03/06/2009 | 103000 | 1 | |
| Outrageous ,i have been researching the possible problem of an abs/brake light ,that keeps coming on in my 2001 ford wind star lx van. statement is 1999- 2003 ford windstar vans could have this and the problems that could occur. my oh my .. i have 3 children that ride in that van daily, i'm a low income parent. why would one take this chance with humans. i bought the van in march of 2009. 2 days later abs/ brake light came on. at the time i was told that i have an eagle warranty ..that might i add not even the ford dealer ship would except. i don't take chances where my children are involved. *tr | |||