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...
9.1
really awful
Typical Repair Cost:
$1,930
Average Mileage:
93,200 miles
Total Complaints:
340 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
replace transmission (157 reports)
not sure (81 reports)
replace torque converter (37 reports)
sitting in drive way trying to figure something out (33 reports)
rebuilt the transmission replacing only failed parts (20 reports)
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - The more of us that call or go online and file a complait about this issue with Ford Taurus Transmissions The better chance we have of getting this taken care of by the responsible manufacturer. Also even if you already fixed your car if a Recall is issued then Ford will have to reimburse you for the cost Just Save All Reciepts. Also I not sure If we all stand to gether
There are so many other owners of 2003 Ford Tauruses who have reported the same problem on this site: failed transmission with no warning! Most people know that teachers don't make a lot of money. Imagine how much less we make when we retire.Therefore, I won't be able to get my car repaired any time soon. Someone told me that F.O.R.D. was an acronym for "fix or repair daily." I didn't believe it because I took great care of this car, and I was surprised when the transmission went out. I guess I should have believed them.
Was driving fine, had just changed filter and fluid three weeks prior. Tried to pull off from stop light and nothing. felt like i was in netural. No forward no reverse. Neighbor said same thing happened to his daughters Taurus and he changed the torque converter and now it drives fine. Ford transmissions suck.
I'LL GO INTO DETAIL ABOUT MY 2003 TAURUS ON ANOTHER DAY, BUT FOR NOW...GO TO AOL NEWS ABOUT FORD TAURUS POLICE VEHICLES. I POSTED THE TAURUS 2003 TRANSMISSION NIGHTMARE I EXPERIENCED. AND YOU SHOULD TOO. IT'S A HIGH PROFILE SPOT...MANY EYES ARE READING.
My friend was driving the car from Amarillo to Canyon when the transmission failed and she almost wrecked on the Highway in between. I just bought the car from Gene Messer Ford Dealer in November of 2011 and this is the second thing go wrong in as few months. It is a nice car but it is a peace of junk.
Same as everyone else, pulled out of work lot (have to cross 4 lanes of traffic-rush hour) got out of drive luckily made it out of two lanes into the midde lane car just quit. No warning at all, driving along car just reved and would not move. Called Ford but since 2003 too old, even though only 52520 miles on the vehicle. Ford said if enough people complain keep receipts you might get reimbursed. My letter will go to Ford about this, National Transportation Highway, and our local troubleshooters, hopefully word gets out and people will send in the complaints. Next car will not be a Ford
- Donna L.,
Cincinnati, OH, US
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My mom went to pick up my daughter from school,no problem.Then she went to the grocery store,no problem.Drove home,parked car outside my house,no problem.The next day she went to pick up my daughter from school,big f----ing problem!Car will go into drive and reverse,but will not go anywhere! Its a 2003 Ford Taurus with 57,000 miles on it,surely it is not the transmission.After reading all these complaints,it sounds way to familiar.My wife had a 91 Ford Thunderbird back in the day and the transmission crapped out on it too! I am starting to put 2 x 2 together.Ford makes terrible transmissions that can go out on you at the worst times and places,with no warning what so ever! Ford did not need the bail-out but I sure could use one! Does this car even have a transmission warning light? FORD BLOWS!!!! NEVER BUY A FORD!!!!
I've been driving a friend of mine's ford Taurus for about 2 months now because my own car broke down a while back. So anyways, about a week ago I had driven to pick my son up from the boys and girls club after work. It had driven fine all the way there and just fine through the parking lot on our way out. But as soon as we pulled onto the road and I hit the accelerator to start speeding up the car acted as if it was in neutral and wouldn't speed up. I coasted over to the side of the road and put the car in park then tried to put it back in drive. It would not engage into any gear whatsoever, not reverse, nothing. The shifter would move up and down easily but would not catch into any gear. The motor was still running fine and the heater was blowing, radio working etc. just could not get the car to move. Fortunately, a guy stopped and helped me push the car back into the parking lot (since we hadn't even gotten all the way past the boys and girls club) it rolled with no trouble when we pushed it. Got it into a parking space and turned it off for a while then restarted it, which it started fine, tried the gears again but still nothing. As of now the car hasn't been towed to a shop yet so I'm not sure what the answer to the problem will be. At first I thought I was bad luck or something because my own car had just recently broke down too but now that all see all of these stories of similar incidents I see that this was bound to happen sooner or later with this car. Its just really unfortunate and ridiculous that Ford hasn't made a recall with all the complaints that have been filed.
Tranny failed on highway traveling around 68-70 mph, I coasted to the break down lane and waited for 1 1/2 hrs for AAA to tow me. No warning, no nothing. This is a major issue Ford has, I could have been killed! Please let me know if there is going to be a class action law suit, count me in! I have no Idea what tranny job is going to cost, but I will let you know.
This is quite upsetting as I have found 211 reports on the same issue with my car. I called Ford today at 800-392-3673 to find out if there is a recall based on the high number of failures on this car. There is not. However they told me that there may be in the future if enough documented complaints are reported. SOOO if any of you have not reported your transmission problem to Ford DO IT! Even if you already had your vehicle repaired, if you kept the receipt you can be reimbursed if they finally recall this transmission.
My car has roughly 80,000miles My husband was on the way home and just as he got off the main road and coming up the hill to our house it lost gear. It will go into park, any other gear it revs like its in neutral. There was NO warning this was about to fail. Upon first glance it appears to have TOO MUCH transmission fluid. We have never put any in it. It doesnt leak, or up to this point was not malfunctioning. Levels would be checked when I had my oil checked and there never was a problem. So the initial diagnosis is the pump has failed and is not pulling the fluid through the transmission and that is giving the appearance it has too much fluid in it.
Estimate repair cost at this point are $1,500 to $2000+ not something I would like to spend on a $6,000 car!
MY WIFE WAS COMING HOME FROM WORK AT 11PM AND STOPPED AT A STOPLIGHT WHEN SHE WENT TO TAKE OFF THE CAR IDLED HIGH AND WOULD NOT GO BACK IN ANY GEAR.HAD IT TOWED TO TRANSMISSION REPAIR SHOP AND WAS TOLD TRANSMISSION WAS BAD AND WOULD COST ABOUT 1440 -2700 TO REPAIR.I HAD JUST GOT BACK MY 1999 FORD WINDSTAR OUT THE BODY REPAIR SHOP THE SAME DAY AND HAD TO PAY 186 DOLLARS FOR CAR RENTAL.JUST LIKE A LOT OF THESE COMPLAINTS THERE WAS NO WARNING AT ALL.LIKE A LOT OF OTHERS ON HERE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO COME UP WITH THE MONEY TO REPAIR IT.IF ANY ONE STARTS A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PLEASE LET ME KNOW ,I WILL WANT IN ON IT.I THINK FORD SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THESE REPAIRS.
Same symptom as most everyone, wifey was a stop sign pressed the gas and nothing,no noise at all,like it was in neutral. when i first bought the car with 14k on it i noticed it really was wound up when you would shift it from park to drive. The wheel hub assembly has been chirping on the drivers side for about 2k miles so i thought maybe it damaged the CV joint. I had the bearings already so i ordered a CV from Gearheads.com and began the procedure. right off it was a pain when i found out that every effing nut had factory locktight from the factory,couldnt get the lower ball joint off with the OTC tool so I had to buy a Taurus adapter for the tool, Cha-Ching,make sure you disconnect the ABS sensor because it aint coming out seperate from the spindle, Cha-ching!
so i get in the new ball joint,CV after spending a good two hours cleaning up old locktight and cleaning up the spindle and breaks in general, I start the spindle/CV nut to have it place for when i lower the car and the wheel begins to rotate,i'm thinking are you effing kidding me! my tranny's shot! all the time/parts and tools for this! If that aint bad enough i have a 03 taurus ticking tranny time bomb wagon too. I'm not sure how to prevent this, most people will tell you not to change out tranny fluid just add when it's needed. what i'm going to do for that wagon is instead of adding fluid to the tranny i'm going to add Ford friction modifier for rear differentials,this should help the clutches and the convertor.
I don't know where to start after reading all these other complaints about the same damn problem. Car will not go into gear just revs up when in reverse or drive, and just to think i drove this car to work today and it was fine. Like everyone else no warning or light to notify me of a problem. Now stuck with a worthless piece of crap not sure what else to do.LeviJ in nc
Ford Taurus just stopped working on a busy highway, engine rev's but trans would not engage. Pushed out of intersection. Would not engage in drive or reverse. No warning just stopped working.
I had no warning at all. Parked car, came back and car would not move forward or backward. Had car towed to local repair shop. After evaluation I got the bad news.
I located this web site and found that I am not alone. I agree that Ford should do something about this problem. Other dealers are offering 100,000 mile warranty.
Same thing on our 2003 Ford Taurus. We were driving down the road and the engine revved up like it was in neutral. We pulled over, put in reverse - nothing, put in drive - nothing. We had the car towed to the mechanic. It will cost $2,500.00 to fix. The car only has 53,000 miles on it. :( This is awful. Ford needs to step up to the plate & take responsibility for their defective parts.
this is the second time in 20000 miles. Driving 55 on Hwy 65 heavy traffic and just revved and quit. by the time I got to the side I was doing 20 mph, cars were not helpful. towed to shop waiting on bad news.
Not much to add about what has been said here, except that defect appears to be in pump inside transmission housing, NOT torque converter. Daughter was driving on highway with kids and tranny just stopped working... she coasted to a stop, but don't tell me this isn't a safety issue. Tranny had been maintained and was running smooth as glass until complete failure. My mechanic told me that for every one bad torque converter, there are 10 bad pumps that he has seen in this transmission. EVERYONE knew 2003 has a lemon transmission design and I will be filing my complaint with DC in the morning. I have always been a Ford guy and still am -- they're the only ones who didn't need bailing out and their new line, including Taurus, is nice -- but I wish they would own up to this one.
o my 62 year old handicap mother was driving her 2003 Ford Taurus with 55,000 when the car just died on her. She had the car towed to her mechanic who was in shock to find out the transmission died. He was especially amazed since she was faithful with the maintenance on the car. I called Ford to report it, they "reported it" in their computers and read me some BULL CRAP line about how since there were no recalls she would have to have it diagnosed by a Ford dealer AT HER EXPENSE and the repair would have to be made AT HER EXPENSE. So I guess Ford just accepts their cars die at 55,000 miles? Thanks Ford, it is so nice to see how you take such good care of your customers.
F.O.R.D = FOUND ON ROAD DEAD GOING 65 ON A F*CKING HIGHWAY! Yeah my two KIDS and i were going down the highway going 65 when my car died, pushed on gas peddle and it just reeved up.... know i like cars but not when your in the middle of the highway with cars almost crashing into you going 70mph..... did ford care....of course not, no wonder why ford didn't need a bail out, THEIR PIECES OF SH*T AND DON'T FIX THEIR SH*T, NEXT CAR, IMPORT PRETTY BAD WHEN YOU GOTTA BUT OUT OF COUNTRY TO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
Wife was driving to church and out of the blue, it was like puting the car in netural. Hoping it is just the converter and not the tranny. wil cost $900.00 plus. Shame on Ford for letting this go without a recall.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
There are so many other owners of 2003 Ford Tauruses who have reported the same problem on this site: failed transmission with no warning! Most people know that teachers don't make a lot of money. Imagine how much less we make when we retire.Therefore, I won't be able to get my car repaired any time soon. Someone told me that F.O.R.D. was an acronym for "fix or repair daily." I didn't believe it because I took great care of this car, and I was surprised when the transmission went out. I guess I should have believed them.
- retired teacher, Gwynn Oak, MD, US