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:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
89,395 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.
Driving along without incident and heard a loud popping noise. Saw that my tire was blown and smoking so went to put the spare on. Once car was jacked up to change tire, the front coil spring fell down. Noticed that the coil spring was completely broken and had torn into my tire (thus causing a huge gash in my tire and smoke). Found this to be quite unusual and quite dangerous had I been traveling at a high rate of speed. That being the case, I did some research on the internet and found this to be a big problem for the 2002 Ford Taurus model. Apparently Ford had recalls for models up until 2002 for this exact problem however the 2002 model has yet to be included. Contacted a repair shop and was told repairs would cost at least $600. Parts had to be ordered. Front coil spring had no rust therefore should not have just broken apart. This is an apparent defect and Ford needs to accept responsibility and recall before someone is seriously injured.
2002 Ford Taurus front passenger side spring broke when reversing out of driveway, destroyed tire similar to the 1999 - 2001 models that were recalled.
The right front spring for the strut rusted out and ripped open the right front tire. Car has 70,000miles. Recall to install shield so spring can't rip tire was done for all models up to 2002. I could have been killed. On line report of problems with this car indicate numerous owners having this same problem,
Left front coil spring broke into 3 pcs., punctured tire and shattered composite stabilizer linkage. I was backing up in parking lot to leave work when I heard an explosion, the car dropped to pavement and smoke blew out from around tire and motor. I am checking to see if there is a recall in order to have car picked up by a dealer to have repaired. The car can not be driven. There is no corrosion or wear on the coil spring. The car has 7100 miles on it. I bought it used at a dealership in philadelphia pa 5 years ago.
Entering driveway, right front tire blew out and car "clunked" to ground! had difficult time to get the carjack under car..because it was so low, no realization at that time that springs were gone. Replaced with donut spare, while driving to repair shop next day, car started smoking and smelling like burning rubber. Smoking a lot. Both tires in front burning up. Made it to repair shop, was told both front springs were gone, and both front tires were gone. Had to replace springs and tires in front end = $516.25. Was told I was lucky to make to to repair shop with all the smoke and burning rubber. Was also told I was lucky I wasn't driving on the highway. Was also told this happens often in 2002 Taurus model. I do not know if repair shop kept the old springs. I was too angry to ask. The tires looked like someone took a can-opener to them and sliced them wide open. Very angry.
- Lincoln Park, MI, USA
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While slowly backing out of my driveway. All of a sudden my front driver side tire blew. I just bought new tires a few months ago. While getting it changed, is when we realized the coil/spring had snapped. The machanic said in his 35 yrs of experience, he had never seen such a thing. And told me to look for a recall. After reading the horror stories about the front and back coil/spring snapping. I had all 4 replaced, front end alinement, and a new tire. Costing me 793.65!!!!!!!!
The front driver's side coil spring on my 2002 Ford Taurus ses busted in half and shredded my driver's side tire. There is a recall for 99-01 Taurus's, but not 2002, even though a quick google found pages with hundreds of the same problem reported. It happened backing out of my garage, but at speed could/would have killed somebody!! this recall needs to extended out to the '03 model year.
17 year old daughter was pulling out of parking area and front driver-side tire popped on 2002 Ford Taurus. She called aaa and had to have flat tire changed but was informed had to be towed because the coil busted and punctured her tire. Previously in September 2009, we had new tires put on the car and one of the back springs were broken and had to have it repaired before putting on the tires.
I was backing out of my garage and heard a loud hissing sound and my vehicle stopped moving in reverse and wouldn't move forward, I got out and observed my front left(drivers front) tire going flat. I looked under the vehicle and couldn't see anything, so jacked the Taurus up and saw that the front spring had broken and stuck into my tire(which deflated it quickly) and also had broken my stabilizer link off at the strut, I had to replace my spring, strut, sway bar end link, and front left tire to correct the failure.
2002 Ford Taurus front left driver side spring failure. Luckily, car was not in use when it happened. It was sitting in the driveway idle for 1 full day (March 12). Tried to use it tonight, moved a few inches, seemed like something was hung up. There was a sound of something rubbing against rubber. Examined suspension being closer to the ground than usual. Found front driver side spring broken near the bottom. It has extended past the bracket which holds it. It is putting extreme pressure onto the tire. If I was to drive it further, it would most definitely puncture the tire and cause more damage to other parts of the vehicle. I do not know the status of the strut. Could have been deadly if it happened while traveling on the highway. Also looks as if at least one of the rear springs has broken. Will be calling Ford dealer to get estimate for repairs. Looks as if it is happening to many of the cars manufactured after the 1998 to 2001 recall, also the 2002 and 2003 model years.
2002 Ford Taurus front left driver side spring failure. Luckily, car was not in use when it happened. It was sitting in the driveway idle for 1 full day (March 12). Tried to use it tonight, moved a few inches, seemed like something was hung up. There was a sound of something rubbing against rubber. Examined suspension being closer to the ground than usual. Found front driver side spring broken near the bottom. It has extended past the bracket which holds it. It is putting extreme pressure onto the tire. If I was to drive it, it would most definitely puncture the tire and cause more damage to other parts of the vehicle. Could have been deadly if it happened while traveling on the highway. Also looks as if at least one of the rear springs has broken. Vehicle has 102,000 miles and used in Wisconsin. Will be calling Ford dealer to get estimate for repairs as I hear there is no recall as of yet. Looks as if it is happening to many of the cars manufactured after the 1998 to 2001 recall, also the 2002 and 2003 model years.
Front suspension spring broke, disabling the car. The sudden break took out front left sway bar support. Car was immediately disabled. This is dangerous. Could cause a car to loose control and possibly flip. Issue was addressed on Ford Taurus models for 2001. The issue has not been addressed for Ford Taurus models for the year 2002 this is my car.
I have a 2002 Ford Taurus. This morning, the left-front coil spring of my Taurus broken and it ripped the tire. All of this happened when it was parked in the garage without driving. Before this, it worked fine with no problems. Also I will have to replace the spring, strut and tire for my car.
I drive a 2002 Ford Taurus. I was backing out of the driveway when my front-left coil spring broke, severely damaging the adjacent tire. I had to replace both front springs, the sway bar link, front tire and have the car towed to the garage. I also had to have a front end alignment after replacing the tire. The repair cost ~$800. The mechanic installed plastic guards alongside the coil springs in case they broke again so the tire wouldn't be shredded. My previous car was a 1996 Taurus and the exact same thing happened to it; luckily in both cases I was not driving at high speed on a busy roadway. I notice that Ford currently has a recall for 1999-2001 Taurus (NHTSA recall # 04V332000), but not the 2002. Anecdotally, from speaking with mechanics and the dealership, this is a chronic problem with the Taurus in general, not just the 99-01 models.
I have a 2002 Ford Taurus SE V6. The left front spring broke and began to rub the tire. I was only doing about 30 mph at the time on a small road and could pull over in about 300 feet. This car also had two rear springs break about 6 months ago. The car has 117,000 miles on it. I had a 1999 Taurus that had a recall that installed a shield around the spring to prevent a spring break from shredding the tire. This is an unsafe design. If I were going highway speeds when this happened, I probably would have been severely injured, possible rollover.
My daughter was backing up her 2002 Ford Taurus from our driveway when the left front tire blewout. Upon further investigation it was found that the coil spring had snapped and punctured the tire. Fortunately my daughter wasn't traveling at high speed when this occurred or it could have resulted in an accident. There have been numerous complaints about this problem with the 2002 Taurus. Previous years were recalled but to my knowledge the 2002 model year hasn't been recalled yet.
On the morning of March 1st, 2010 my wife was backing our 2002 Ford Taurus out of the garage when the tire blew. Upon inspecting the car I noticed that the coil spring was broken and contacted the tire resulting in tire failure. This is the second time that a coil spring has broken and blown a tire. The first time was in 2006. We live in franklin Massachusetts. We bought the car new in 2002 from acton Ford. Ford did not offer to cover the cost of the repairs. Franklin Ford mentioned that it was a campaign and the car was not covered. My wife and I recently sold the car for parts to a Toyota dealer. We are concerned about the safety of people driving these cars that are unaware of the potential dangers. I'm thankful that my family was not driving on the highway when the tire blew. I took pictures of the tire and spring. I have the VIN number as well. Thanks for your time.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lexington, KY, USA