CarComplaints.com Notes: Most people need a car that shifts gears & coil springs that don't shred tires. The Taurus fails in that respect.
The 2003 Ford Taurus has major issues with the transmission failing. Typically the 2003 Taurus transmission failure costs $2,000 to fix by about 90k-100k miles. Not good.
Adding insult to injury, the 1999-2003 Taurus also 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:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
38,333 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.
Have a 2003 Ford Taurus ses; 80K miles. Initially, my fan only worked on high. I just dealt w/ it, no big deal, but eventually, my alternator went out... so after I changed that, my fan no longer works at all. I have to replace the blower motor & the resistor for it. In the mean time, due to the fan not working, I almost was in an accident due to the defrost not being able to do it's job, and because there was no heat, I got a cold and missed some work. I am filing this complaint due to the number of people I have found that have had the same problem w/ their Ford Taurus. This seems to be a recurring problem, if that's the case, there should be a recall on the part for a resolution. Bad choice on Ford part. Next time, I'll buy Honda.
Blower motor resistor failed on heating and air conditioning system where it would work on high only. Part replaced and it is now working, apparently, this is a common problem with the 2003 Ford Taurus.
Water leaking on floorboard on the passenger side front, I have taken it in to the dealer 4 times since I purchased this car, the last time was Jan 2004 and I have to take it infor the 5th time on Thursday for the same problem. They replaced the blower moter and charged me $50 dollars for my quality care deductable, and im still having the same problem.
- Hebron, IN, USA
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Continuous water leak on passenger side which fills up floorboard and has effected the fan motor on the heating and air system...fan has quit blowing. This is a factory defect and that was mentioned to the dealer several times but they state it was not written down so they would not honor the warranty.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Norton, MA, USA