Upon opening the folding third row seat, the bottom latch failed to engage with the seat. Further inspection showed that the entire latch panel had rusted away from the body of the car and was sitting in the wheel well. There is now a hole in the side of the van and the third row seat is unusable. At 7 years old, this level of rust is very premature.

- Quincy, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Ford Freestar. While the vehicle was parked the contact lowered the third row seating to the floor when he noticed the safety latch attached to the rear wheel wells was corroded from the inside out and were fractured. The contact stated the third row seat could not be used because it would be unsafe in the event of a rear end collision. The dealer was made aware of the failure and refused to inspect the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 92,300. Updated 12/20/11 updated 01/19/12

- Niantic, CT, USA

Letter from senator grassley on behalf of constituent problem with the locking mechanism for rear seat of his 2004 Ford Freestar the locking mechanism for the rear seat rusted from the inside.

- Davenport, IA, USA

Bought van in June 2007 nothing but problems since. Replaced battery within 2 months of purchase. Replace O2 sensors 3 times and need done again. Replaced transmission, radiator, egr valve, brakes 4 times, tie rod 2 times, calibers 2 times, rotors 3 times, fuel line, you name it, we have had to fix it. Nothing but problems. We have spent close to 8K since Feb 2008 on this vehicle and we can not get Ford to help us at all. Now the axles need replaced as well as sensors again. The dvd player quit working after 4 months, driver side heated seats quit working after 4 months. Back passenger door sometimes won't open or unlock and sometimes it won't close when you try to close it. This vehicle has put my family in serious harm and we almost got into major accident do to most of the issues ie transmission stalled on interstate and had no warning at all. Worst vehicle of all times. I can not trade in becasue I owe over 11K on this piece of crap. Ford needs to refund me all of my money and suffering as well. I have thought about suing them for damages and selling this crap to us especially with 3 small children and having to travel to see family due to husband being a marine and always being deployed. Almost missed seeing my grandpa for the last time before he did back in Sept because of the transmission. This vehicle needs to be off of the roads forever. All of them. Everyone that we know that has these vehicles have the same problems as us.

- Ft. Meade, MD, USA