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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...

2.8

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
52,000 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.

2003 Ford Taurus electrical problems

electrical problem

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2003 Ford Taurus Owner Comments

problem #1

Nov 102007

Taurus 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 52,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I am the original owner of a 2003 Ford. The car has 52,000 miles and no problems until now. The car engine light came on one evening so, the next day I brought it to be serviced. It was hooked up to the electronic computer analyzer only to find out that the computer board was no good. The mechanic installs the new computer board. Two weeks later I go to start the car and the RPM is accelerating like I'm driving 60mph while in park! the battery light stayed on the whole time. When I tried to put the car in neutral or drive the rpms gradually go down and the car shuts off. Finally, I had to had aaa tow me back to the garage who serviced the car. The alternator was no good. After the new alternator was installed the mechanic said it still did not run properly which, lead him back to the computer board. There is problem with the computer board again. I've had 3 Ford in the past and none of them ever had a problem with the computer board.

- West Hempstead, NY, USA

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