Bought the Windstar from the original owner (my sister), who had taken it into Ford in 2010 for the rear axle recall quick-fix/patch-up. When I took the van in 2017, the axle patches (driver's side) were rusty, flaking metal, and difficult to determine the structural integrity of.

However, 3 years later the rear wheels have a severe lean inward at the top, the vehicle rubs the wheel well at the top of the tires, the tire has rub marks where it contacts the wheel well and makes grinding noises when making right hand turns, and on closer inspection, the axle is actually badly cracked at the repair patches, and is no longer safely drivable until it is repaired.

Used to be a real Ford devotee. Not anymore. Brought the car to the dealer (Malouf) when we received the original recall and they "checked" the axle and found no issue. Yet, the axle broke IN THE EXACT MANNER DESCRIBED IN THE RECALL.

Called Ford, they don't care, they say that because the dealer inspected it and deemed it "no problem"; they are off the hook. BS. The part failed just as the recall said it would. The dealer did shoddy work and now I have to fight because of crappy engineering and even worse service!

Last Ford I buy . . . time to go Japanese

My Windstar Rear Axle broke while driving it. Ford did a recall on these vehicles because they incorrectly designed the rear axle in a U shape profile that will accumulate snow/salt, axle is made of steel instead of aluminum like in other cars. The accumulation of salt will corrode the steel and a catastrophic fracture will occur. Ford installed rear axle "reinforcement brackets" under Recall 10S13 in my vehicle back in 2010 (apparently because a person died after a crash when his axle broke and lost control), but these reinforcement brackets did not prevent the failure in my vehicle even when those were "correctly" installed, based in a review of the brackets made by a dealer in 2016 (because Ford sent another letter asking to bring the vehicle for inspection of the "reinforcement" brackets, i guess because of the complains keep accumulating).

If you have a Windstar involved on this recall, it makes sense to have the rear axle replaced, the reinforcement brackets only will prevent the axle to break sooner. I guess in this way your vehicle goes out of warranty and they don't have to pay for its original mistake in the design of this axle!

I received a safety recall notice in February 2016 for rear axle reinforcement brackets that were installed during a previous safety recall. I took the van to the local Ford dealer where they informed me that the brackets were installed correctly, but the rear axle cracked anyway because the brackets that were "installed correctly" did not do their job. The local ford dealership did take pictures and sent the to the Ford company. Ford however claims that they are not responsible for the faulty axle but would fix it for $300. My complaint is that why should I have to pay $300 for a part that was they already knew was faulty. The rear axle reinforcement brackets were put there to keep the rear axle from breaking. Why is Ford not responsible when their parts didn't do their job!