It's hard to believe but the uncoated steel brake lines rusted through causing complete loss of brakes fortunately in a mall parking lot and not on the highway. Pedal went completely to the floor. In speaking with a long time Lincoln mechanic where I purchased the vehicle used in 1998, he said Ford put in stainless steel fuel lines but uncoated steel brake lines and he has seen this failure before. In fact to replace the lines the mechanic says they must lift the body off the frame and the labor cost and parts are in excess of $1000 to repair. I took the vehicle to a local shop and they repaired the worst sections but I'm concerned the remaining sections will eventually fail. A complaint to Ford customer service was useless but I did file with the NHTSA.gov as a safety concern.