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:
4 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
73,219 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.
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. The vehicle's front drivers side coil spring exploded while driving. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who performed the repair. The failure caused the vehicle to surge to the left. The contact feels that this is a huge safety risk because someone could have been injured. The current and failure mileages were 40,462.
I own 2002 Ford tarus. While backing car out of driveway heard a odd sound coming from the front of the car. As I was stopping the car the right front tire exploded. I really was not sure what had happened since I was only going about 2 mph. I got out of the car to see what had happened, as I walked around the front of the car, saw that the right front tire was flat. I was not really sure what to make of the situation, so I began to prep the car for a tire change. As I was loosening the tire something just did not seem right. When I pulled the tire off I was in shock. It was the same thing that happened to this car about seven months ago. The coil spring on the right front broke, and took out a one month old tire in the process. I had the spring on the left side replaced about seven months ago. My blood ran hot! I have two small children, they were in the car with me, both times. As of right now the car is still under a extended warranty and is being repaired. These cars are not safe for a monkey to drive, after all that is who builds them. I have checked out this problem with these cars and lets just say that this isn't the first time this has happened. It happened in 1999,2000, and in 2001. But Ford still claimed that there was no problem with the 2002 models. This was not something that just needs checked out, this is not a windshield wiper issue, or a trunk lid issue, this is a going down the road and then your dead issue. I will never own another Ford product as long as I live. We are approaching the year 2010 and Ford cant even build a car that you can back out of driveway with. Good luck in the future, your going to need it.
On April 25 2007 started the 2002 Ford Taurus passenger sedan vechicle in garage aqnd immediately heard a horrendous explosion noise. Immediately following the front left tire deflated. I thought that the explosive type noise was excessively high. Also, thought T I had a bad tire that blew out. I called aaa to change my tire that evening, and aaa mechanic realized he could not get the tire off the car and looked under with flashlight to see why. He said that he reason he could not get the tire off the car was becasue the spring broke and was embedded into the front tire. He handed me the top of the spring that was broken. Upon the ordeal fo getting car out ofgarage and to Ford muzi dealership/service department, I was informed by the several of the flatbed drivers that this was a problem with Ford Taurus and they had seen this happen before. I was further informed by the drivers that Ford had recalled other years of this model. One he driver said he had one instance of a 2002 model on the highway also., I consulted with the service department manager who told me that it was a problem with the Ford Taurus and that other years were recalled for this problem but not the 2002. Upon review of the nhts information the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Ford Taurus sedans have been recalled for the exact same thing that has just happened to my car. This is indeed a very serious safety problem with this 2002 Ford Taurus and most definely could have caused my death as well as others if this happened on the highway, or anywhere else.with fast speeds I am sure this car would have turned over instantaneously as it happended so fast, a matter of less than 1-2 minutes for the tire to delfate. I hope that your safety department will address this issue promptly because I am sure that this can and will happened to other owners of this 2002 Ford Taurus passenger sedan
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. While driving 15 mph, the contact heard a loud noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. She noticed that the rear passenger side tire was flat. Upon further investigation, she noticed the rear coil spring had punctured the tire. The mechanic replaced both rear coil springs. Approximately eleven months later, the front driver side coil spring failed and punctured the tire. The dealer replaced both front coil springs. There is a recall for front coil springs on the 2001 Ford Taurus (recall # 04V332000). The contact feels that her vehicle should be included in the recall. The current mileage is 84,000 and failure mileage was 69,000. Updated 07/06/07.
- Maumee, OH, USA
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I entered the vehicle (2002 Ford Taurus), turned the ignition, put it into reverse, moved back approximately 6 inches, and heard a loud popping sound. I realized the front driver side tire had blown out. After calling a tow truck to take the tire off (lug nuts were screwed on much too tight to be taken off by hand), he immediately determined the cause of the flat tire as he removed part of the broken coil spring by hand. It was towed to the local Ford dealership where the estimated cost to repair the damaged spring and stabilizer link was $335.
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. While driving at 5 mph the right front coil spring fractured without warning. The driver's side front tire was punctured. The vehicle was repaired and the contact has the repair invoice. The current and failure mileages were 71,000. Update 05/22/07
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. While driving 5 mph, the front coil spring failed and punctured the driver's side front tire. There were no injuries. The vehicle has been repaired. The contact has the coil springs and repair invoices. The failure and current mileage was 70,000.
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 3 mph, the front coil spring failed and punctured the tire. The mechanic was unable to diagnose the cause of failure and the vehicle has not been repaired. There is a recall # 04V332000 for the 2001 Taurus. The contact feels his vehicle should be included in the recall. The current and failure mileages were 54,000.
- the contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. He noticed the front driver's side tire was flat due to a puncture by the coil spring. The dealer inspected the vehicle, but they were unable to determine the reason for the failure. There was a recall for the same make and model recall # 04V332000 concerning the coil spring. However, the 2002 models were not included. The contact felt this vehicle should be included in the recall. The vehicle currently had 50,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. On April 6, 2007 the contact stated that the front coil spring on the driver's side failed and punctured the vehicle's tire. The failure occurred while driving 5 mph on a cold, windy day. There was a safety recall on coil springs from 1999 - 2001. The current and failure mileage were 111,000. Updated 05/04/07.
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. While driving 10 mph the contact heard a loud noise and stopped the vehicle. The contact observed that the front coil spring failed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to the repair shop. The manufacturer stated that this vehicle was excluded from recall # 04V332000 due to the VIN. The current and failure mileage were 40,000. Update 05/21/07
I know there is a recall on Ford Taurus from 1999-2001 for the springs breaking. I have a 2002 Ford Taurus with the same problem. On 03/22/07, the passenger front spring broke at my house. It was covered under warranty. When it broke it slashed the wheel apart & broke a sensor. Then, again on 04/09/07 the driver's side spring broke. It took out a few things when it broke. Since this was the same problem, why don't they recall 2002 as well. What if it broke when I was driving on the highway. It could have resulted in a loss of my life & others. This was a serious problem & I didn't want to see anyone get hurt.
My wife started to back out of the driveway in the 2002 Ford Taurus and heard a bang followed by hissing. She saw the flat tire and called her brother to come help since I was out of town, and after he jacked the car up they saw the spring had broken and punctured the driver's side front tire. The spring was sticking far enough out that we could not put a new tire on, so we put the doughnut spare tire on and called a tow truck. The car was towed to a Ford dealer, where they replaced the two front springs, two front stabilizer links, and a new tire. Total cost was $843.83.
Events leading up to the failure was a approximately 100 mile round trip on the interstate traveling 65 mph, the evening prior to the incident. The failure consisted of the driver's side coil spring breaking and severly damaging the front diver's side tire and sway bar. The incident occurred while the vehicle was parked in a parking lot and not being driven. The make and model of the car was a 2002 Ford Taurus SE. The dealership had to replace both front coil springs, replace the driver side sway bar, replace the tire, and realign the suspension.
I had a left front coil spring to break on my 2002 Ford Taurus while I was backing out of my driveway and sliced the tire all the way around. If this would have happened on the highway there could have been a serious collision, the struts were also bad witch could have caused this to happen. I still have the old parts. I replace the defective parts myself with parts that I got from advanced auto parts. The car only had approximately 63,000 miles on it. It happened sometime in Feb of 2007 and also the power steering hose blew of sometime shortly after we bought the car while my wife was driving, luckily it happened in a parking lot instead of the highway. We bought the car sometime around September 2006.
- the contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. The driver's side front coil springs snapped. The contact noticed the problem when he attempted to move the vehicle. The spring punctured the tire and caused a flat. The mechanic stated that the coil springs were defective. Approximately 2 months later the passenger rear coil spring snapped. The current mileage was 73,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Massillon , OH, USA