CarComplaints.com Notes: Most people need a car where the coil springs don't puncture or shred tires while driving. The Taurus fails in that respect.
The 1999-2003 Ford Taurus has a huge problem with coil springs breaking, which can puncture or even shred tires while driving.
The US government spent THREE YEARS (2008-2011) investigating the 2002-2003 Taurus coil springs. Although Taurus/Sable from earlier years were recalled, ultimately the NHTSA did not force a recall. They determined that because there had been no deaths & very few bad crashes & injuries, the broken coil springs defect was no big deal & not a safety defect. Tell that to all the owners who had close calls...
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
89,395 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
2002 Ford Taurus ses with 40,000 miles. Vehicle was parked. Started to back up and front driver's side tire blew out. Upon changing tire, realized inside of tire had been sliced. Cause was the coil spring bursted and punctured the tire. Upon researching this problem, noticed that Ford had issued a recall for this problem on 1999-2001 Taurus's. did not include the 2002 model year. Contacted Ford and they refused to accept responsibility. Stated the 2002 is not under recall. This is an obvious safety issue.
While driving to work in the morning, my wife heard a "clunk' noise and a thump. She went back and picked up a piece of metal which turned out to be the bottom coil of the front right coil spring. Fortunately the tire did not get damaged. The spring was confirmed broken while in the shop for other repairs on 1/19/2009. By looking at the broken piece, you can see where the fracture propagated from. There appears to be a defect in the steel. I have worked in automotive for over 32 years with metals, so I know what I am looking at. This needs to be recalled as were earlier models!!
Slowly backing up and heard a loud noise and immediately the front drivers side tire went flat. Had to have car towed to the youngblood Ford dealership (madison, ga) I was told the front drivers side coil spring broke loose and it destroyed the drivers side sway bar and also destroyed the tire. I saw that the 1999 through 2001 Ford Taurus had a recall for this same problem. It is evident this problem was not resolved on my 2002 Ford Taurus.
- Greensboro , GA, USA
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Wife's 2002 Ford Taurus was parked in driveway when left front coil spring broke. I initially thought it was just a flat tire, but I couldn't fill it as fast as the air was leaking out. Found that the air leak was from the broken coil spring sticking into and rupturing the inner sidewall of tire. One partial coil of broken spring fell free upon removal of wheel. The remainder of the very sharp broken coil spring was, as previously mentioned, what penetrated the tire, ruining it. The broken coil spring also broke the left stabilizer bar link, which is made of plastic.
I own a 2002 Ford Taurus. I live in a suburb of akron, Ohio, on a state route highway. Upon accelerating to exit my driveway, my right front coil spring broke in two puncturing my brand new tire. Luckily I was able to pull over before the steering locked. I have spoken to both a Ford dealership and to Ford's customer relations center. They stated that Ford is still collecting data as to whether to extend the 1999 - 2001 recall of the defective front suspension coil springs to include the 2002 Taurus. According to Ford they are aware of the problem existing in model years after 2001 Taurus & Sable. Ford has extended the warranty coverage of the front coil springs up to 10 years of service and/or 150,000 miles. But it is VIN number specific. This is clearly a defective part. For the spring to break / fracture at the base and for the spring to unscrew from the spring seat, puncturing the sidewall of the tire. Causing immediate & sudden loss of tire pressure and control of the vehicle. Ford states that this is not a defect or safety issue. What if I had not been able to control my car" did I need to have been injured or worse for Ford to take notice? that this problem still exists! as a side note; when I finally retired my 1991 Oldsmobile cutlass in late 2007 with over 250,000 miles it still had it's original springs" and they were still in good condition. Now I am faced with a repair bill that is $1,200. Which is the over inflated cost at the dealership and inferior plastic parts that are not covered by a lifetime warranty.
My son was backing his 2002 Ford Taurus with 56,000 miles from the driveway when the front driver side coil spring ruptured and impaled the front driver side tire. I have not yet received an assessment of or an estimate to repair the damages.
Driver's side front spring on 2002 Ford Taurus snapped puncturing tire and damaging "wishbone". vehicle was parked in garage at the time. Vehicle has 158,000 miles on odometer. Both springs tire(s) and two struts replaced by Ford dealer.
When reversing out of a parking space the front drivers-side coil spring suddenly let go, destroying my new front drivers-side tire. There was a small amount of surface rust on the outside of the coil but the fracture was clean metal. It is at the dealer repair shop right now.
Our Ford Taurus was sitting in a school parking lot after a basketball game, we came out to the car to leave. Our 3 year old daughter climbed into the back seat and we heard a loud pop/crack.. then the front drivers tire went flat... we have found it to be a broken front coil spring! we have 3 children under 5 years and luckily no one was seriously injured but we just replaced brand new tires on the car 3 weeks ago! now we have repair bills, new tires, and loss of work B.C of this.
The driver side front coil spring broke shredding the tire. Upon inspection the passenger side front coil spring was broke. Both of the front coil springs were replaced.
2002 Ford Taurus. My son bought used, driven only 1100 miles in the 6 months he has owned it, mainly to school or work and back. He was backing it out of the garage, front drivers side fell down when the spring broke and spring embedded itself in the tire and tore an 8 inch gash. Very thankful he wad not driving it on the road when this happened. It's in the shop now as I search for recalls. Happened 2 days ago, have not talked to dealer yet but will on Monday (it's Friday now).
I have a 2002 Ford Taurus and the driver's side coil spring broke sitting in my driveway puncturing my tire and requiring approximately $ $1,000 to repair. I had it repaired on the day it happened, a Sunday, and it has been fine since. There is no recall on my 2002 Taurus but there is on the 2001 Taurus. Makes no sense. The problem with the coilsprings is still a problem for later models.
Went to move my 2002 Ford Taurus ses on 12/31/08. Heard a loud noise from the front of the car and went to inspect it. I found both front tires flat. I called aaa to have the car towed and the operator jacked the car up and found that both front coil springs had broken in half and punctured the tires. He thought there might be a recall on this item. I called Ford customer service center and they explained that there was a recall for the 1999-2001 model years but not for 2002. I asked why not, since the problem obviously still exists and I was lucky it happened in my driveway, instead of during my normal 50 mile commute to work. The only thing they said was that I should get it checked by a Ford technician so they can determine the cause of the problem. I said the cause is obvious - they are still using faulty coil springs in their cars and have been for a long time. No satisfaction. From what I have read, this is a commonly occurring problem and I hope that you will take the action necessary to force Ford to fix this recurring problem.
On 5/3/08- while backing my 2002 Ford Taurus out of my driveway, I got a flat tire. Upon investigating this problem, I noticed I could not get a jack under the car in order to change the tire. Upon further investigation, the problem ended up that the driver's side front suspension coil spring fractured and punctured my front driver side tire, ruining it. Being that this is the second Ford Taurus that I have had, I then remembered there was a recall on my (old) 2000 Ford Taurus that involved putting a boot on the coil springs to prevent the coil spring from puncturing the tire, upon failure. (NHTSA campaign id number 04V332000- NHTSA action # PE04044. Although the above incident happened on a 2002 Taurus, I am questioning why this same problem that was supposedly fixed by the Ford Motor Company to respond to the MY1999-2001 problem, happened on a my 2002 vehicle. The problem set me back close to a thousand dollars to repair, but most importantly, I was grateful that the problem happened on the approach of my driveway, not on the freeway that I was heading to. This type of collapse could have had serious consequences, if it happened at freeway speeds. I have contacted the Ford Motor Company customer complaint line concerning the above issue, and all they informed me of, is that this is not covered under the vehicle warranty. I have the defective coil springs, if needed, to investigate this catastrophic failure concern that I have !
I own a 2002 Ford Taurus SE which I purchased 5 yrs. Ago, ON12/30/08 I walked out to my car to find the passenger side front tire flat. I attempted to pull the tire off and have it repaired but was initially unable to get the tire off due to the spring being broken and stuck inside the side wall of the tire. Apparently, and thankfully this happened while it was parked in my driveway. In researching this problem I found that there have been numerous complaints from other people, and Ford Motor Co. Themselves recognized the problem in model years 99-01 but not 2002. I find this odd as I'm sure the same equipment that was used in the 99-01 models can be found in the 2002 models. I intend to have it repaired, as well as replacing the other side as a preventable measure. It would have been nice to have prior knowledge of this problem instead of finding out the hard way. Thankfully my wife, and children who ride in the car often were not driving it when the spring broke. Thank you, R. wise
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lavista, NE, USA