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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...

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
9 / 1
Average Mileage:
88,616 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 engine problems

engine problem

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2003 Ford Taurus Owner Comments (Page 5 of 5)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #2

May 042004

Taurus 6-cyl

  • 12,800 miles

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

The consumer experienced unexpected acceleration. The driver stated while sitting at a stop light he lifted his foot off the brake the and vehicle suddenly accelerated. The vehicle hit another vehicle in the rear. This same instance recurred another time and on the time, the vehicle was in the park position. Ford suggested that nothing was wrong with the vehicle.

- Ronkonkoma, NY, USA

problem #1

Apr 282003

(reported on)

Taurus

  • miles
While going down a hill the vehicle shifted from over drive to drive, the vehicle gained speed and appeared to be in a "free wheeling" mode. The dealer stated the problem was the idle air control. Mr scc

- Coulee Dam, WA, USA

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