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:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
70,176 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.
Happened while the vehicle was parked in garage; heard a loud sound and suspected the coil spring suspension, since I knew about this problem from previous owner complaints from this website. Left coil spring broke and tore a big gash on tire and went flat. Called Ford dealer in dearborn, mi and they told it was covered as a recall; towed my car out there and they changed their story and told this VIN was not covered and 2001 model year was. What a joke. Promptly, I towed it out of there (did not want to give them anymore business) and got it replaced outside. Cant believe Ford does not want to acknowledge this problem even though it is a extremely dangerous situation especially while driving at high speeds and can happen to any of the coils. Very bad quality steel used in coil spring and problem seems to be prevalent in salt-belt states. Even the tow-truck driver was casual about it saying he is seeing it too often (especially with cars with high miles). Ford has lost a possible future customer and switching over to a quality oem from now on. Bye bye Ford.
While attempting to make a sharp left turn onto a side street, the vehicle went into a deep embankment rather than turning. The front driver side tire was turned left and the front passenger side tire was straight when the vehicle came to a halt. The conclusion was a broken tie rod. The vehicle remained upright as it careened down the hill. The crash resulted in minor injuries to the driver. The vehicle was totaled.
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Taurus. The contact was driving approximately 20 mph when the bolt snapped off of the wheel causing the contact to drive the vehicle to the side of the road, the contact also noticed that the vehicle was hard to maneuver after the bolt came off. A metal company tested the bolt and informed the contact that the bolt was made of decomposing metal. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer but to a personal mechanic for service. The approximate failure mileage was 155,108 and the approximate current mileage is 157,108 the consumer stated while driving he suddenly lost steering capabilities. Updated evoq 06/09/10. Updated 08/23/11.
This happen to my car and now I see five others: 2002 Ford Taurus front suspension complaints 1 complaint number: 10311880 incident date: February 4, 2010 date added to file: February 18, 2010 description of the complaint: Left front coil spring broke and ruptured left front tire, also broke left side swaybar end link detailsdiscuss it in forum 2 complaint number: 10311202 incident date: February 14, 2002 date added to file: February 17, 2010 description of the complaint: Left front spring broken with puncture of tire detailsdiscuss it in forum 3 complaint number: 10310960 incident date: December 9, 2007 date added to file: February 16, 2010 description of the complaint: My 2002 Taurus was sitting in the driveway when my husband heard a loud bang. The coil spring on the drivers side broke and put a hole the tire. The cost to get the springs replaced and a new tire was over $600 detailsdiscuss it in forum 4 complaint number: 10308675 incident date: February 10, 2009 date added to file: February 11, 2010 description of the complaint: Car was parked and put into reverse to back up in drive when tire exploded. Upon examination the drivers side suspension spring had exploded into 2 pieces and ripped into tire. Detailsdiscuss it in forum 5 complaint number: 10308774 incident date: February 10, 2010 date added to file: February 11, 2010 description of the complaint: I was driving my Ford Taurus 2002 and the front left coil spring broke resulting in the broken coil spring puncturing my tire causing it to go immediately flat. This rendered my car immobile, required towing, and replacement of both front coil springs and mounts that hold the coil springs. (cost: $695) so far, this has only happened once, and I really hope it never happens again. I have a portion of the coil spring that broke off from the rest of the coil spring. The remaining spring was kept by the auto repair shop. The portion.
2002 Ford Taurus last month I had to replace both of the rear springs last week I had to replace the rack/pinion today as I just started to drive forward in my driveway, the front right spring broke and pierced the front right tire. I was going so slow in the driveway that the sharp edge of the broken spring started slicing into the tire as if a person were peeling an apple. It scraped into the tire until it pierced through the sidewall. Thank heavens this did not happen at 70mph I have read about the prior recall involving these same parts on the 2001 and earlier Ford Taurus models and on 2003 and earlier Ford Focus models which use the same parts. How in good faith could you believe that these parts were going to just disappear from the face of the earth. Ford continued to use these parts until they were gone and just rolled the dice that they would not be caught by your Agency. You must help the thousands of people out there driving various models of Ford with these same parts this appears to be a very, very common problem with the Ford springs. The events that lead up to the rear springs being defective were a thump when the R/R spring broke and the car dropped a little bit. While the mechanic was replacing it, I had him check the L/R spring at which time he found that one on the verge of cracking. The rack and pinion was leaking and upon further inspection it too was found to be bad. And as I explained above, I was driving out of my driveway at approx 2 mph as I was only going about 20' as I had to stop and pick up my wife who had walked to the mailbox. The rear springs are not available as it was last month. The rack and pinion is going to be returned for the core deposit unless you ask me to keep it. The front springs will be available as I will be changing out the L/F spring also. Please help all of us and possibly prevent a tragic accident.
- Darien, IL, USA
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When brakes are applied the front end and steering wheel shake. Replaced rotors and brake pads and front end alignment. One month later front end and steering wheel shake when brakes are applied. Replaced parts again, at least 7 times in the past year and a half.
20 year old daughter leaving walmart parking lot got a flat tire. On removing tire discovered tire had a huge gash on the inside of tire on further inspection found out strut was broken had to get it towed to mechanic for repairs.
Owner of Ford Taurus 2002 sel, defective right front spring broke and punctured tire in 2 places. Locking up front right tire at low speed. Could have been a catastrophic accident at higher speed. Ford presently has recalls on 2000 and 2001 springs but none on 2002. Want compensation for damages to my vehicle. Wayne N. wallace. Updated (6/24/2008): Mrs. Wallace clarified that there was no crash involved. Mr. Wallace just had new tires put on two days prior to the spring failure. He drove home from the tire place, parked the vehicle on the driveway. The car sat for two days. When Mr. Wallace went to the car, he discovered a flat tire. The car was put on a hoist and the mechanic found the right front coil spring was broken.
The 2002 Ford Taurus began to shake during braking or over speeds of 20 mph. The shaking became worse until three of the five lug studs on the front driver side wheel snapped off. This caused the vehicle to become undrivable. The hub had to be completely removed and the five studs had to be replaced.
Sept 18, 2001 we purchased a new 2002 Ford Taurus. In one day radiator hose popped off. Thirty days after the firs repair the hose popped off again. The dealer wanted to replace the engine to correct the problem. On 10-29-01 the car started to make a hiss noise and smoke would come from the front end when it was parked or turned off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer dirks motors. They asked if the could replace the engine again and we said no. We left the car and they told us they would let us know but we did not hear nothing from them, when we would call to ask them what was going to happen they did not know at all. On 11-5-01 the car was returned to us and with leaving the service center and not being less then 20 miles from akron, Iowa the car got hot and started to smoke and I called dirks service center on my cell phone and told them I was bring it back and this time I wanted the car replaced no questions.. but the car was taking back and they looked over it and they did not call us at all while it was in service, we called everyday to see if they knew what was wrong with it and the funny thing about it was the car was at dirks motor Inc from 11-5-01 to 11-16-01 and they could not find nothing wrong. On 11-16-01 this would have been the 4th time this car had been serviced and it was getting old.. on 12-27-02 the car started the hissing noise and short cuts on and the cd player stopped working and that was it.. I called the Ford company at 1-800-392-3673. While talking with the call center they called dirks service center and edu'd them to have the cd player replaced and look at the engine. This car has been service for the same issue more then 3 to 4 times.. we wanted the car replaced.... we rec'd a call back from Ford call center (natalie) and she edu'd to me they were going to order a new cd player and have the car looked at to see about getting the car replaced. Steve irwin afitchboy1@iw.net P# (605) 761-0268
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- F Hills, MI, USA