The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. The contact stated while driving 45 mph, the contact heard an abnormal popping sound coming from underneath the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehcile began to shake back and forth violently which caused the contact to pull the vehicle over to side of the road. The contact had the vehicle towed back to his residence. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact who is a certified mechanic diagnosed the vehicle with a fractured ball joint. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 148,000.

- Brooking, OR, USA

On two occasions my car suspension had failed. I am just lucky I was not on the highway or I could have been fatally wounded. I can not believe I never received any notices about the suspension recall. The first instance I was driving in my driveway and the car completely dropped down on the tires and could not move the vehicle. The second instance I was driving and the suspension fell on a regular road not a fast highway. It had cost me $250 to have it towed both times because it could not be moved by driving. In addition the second failure cost me $175 because the front tires were ruined. For the repair work on both instances cost me $125 each time totaling another $250. So because of someone's failure to tighten nuts it cost me $675, and not to mention the risk of losing my life. Terrifying to say the least.

- Germansville, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While driving approximately 15 mph, the steering wheel veered out of direction. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The wheel bearing, hub assembly, and lower ball joints were replaced. The failure recurred. The contact was made aware of NHTSA campaign number: 00V359001 (suspension); however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 113,000.

- Las Vegas , NV, USA

Front lower ball joints after inspetion are cracked and lose.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal crunching noise coming from the front driver and passenger side of the vehicle. The contact discovered the ball joints were not attached to the control arm. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the control arm needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not included in the recall for his vehicle model. The failure mileage was 69,000.

- Danville, IA, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 15 mph, the vehicle was making an abnormal popping noise or bumping noise. The failure recurred on multiple occasions. The contact believed that the failure was related to NHTSA campaign number: 00V359001 (suspension). The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The technician diagnosed that the ball joint failed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 138,000. The VIN was not available.

- Lawrenceville, GA, USA

I was driving down the road around 11pm to pick up my husband, and the left driver side R/R ds lower ball joint in front of the car collapsed to the ground. I had traffic coming from behind and from a cross street in front of me. Luckily, I was able to signal everyone by horn, arm waving and double blinkers before I was hit by anyone. I was able to prevent the accident.

- Upper Darby, PA, USA

I got this car in July & shortly thereafter I started hearing a pop here & there in the front end. And its gradually getting worse. I was told to check to see if there may be a recall for the ball or U joints. I need to know if this car is included in a recall or not. And if so how do I go about getting it fixed.

- Clarksville, AR, USA

I was told today while I was getting the oil changed on my vehicle that the front lower ball joints were very loose, and that I was lucky that my front tired hadn't fallen off yet. After speaking with the manager he referred me to Ford because of the recall on the suspension that he knew about. He though that my car should qualify considering the severity of the condition that they were in. After speaking with several people at Ford I was informed that even though I was having the same problem as described in the recall that my car 's VIN number did not qualify. I don't understand that at all. My car is the same year, make, and model, with the same dangerous situation.

- Austin, TX, USA

We own a 2001 Lincoln L.S.. while making a right hand turn in a curve last night I heard a loud cracking sound come from the drivers side front suspension. Instantly the drivers side front end dropped causing me to lose control of the steering. Snatched the steering wheel hard to the left out of my hands causing me to cross opposing traffic into a ditch sliding into the front of a concrete pipe leading under the street. While applying the brakes in the grass car smashed into the edge of the concrete pipe. Had car brought to our home. Jacked up drivers side front this morning and found the lower ball joint had came out of the lower control arm it is busted as well as the tire, rim, front steel cross member that mounts the lower control arm is bent. Wiped out the oil pan causing all the oil to leak out also damaging the rear lower control arm mount which is aluminum. Plus busting the front bumper cover/ lower air dam. Driving lights. Cannot find if our car was recalled and fixed per your recall concerning improperly tightened lower ball joints. Unable to find any information from Ford Motor Company North America. Now we are without a car to get to work. Now we have no idea how to proceed. Luckily there were no on coming cars avoiding a head on crash. This is my wife's car which my children ride in. Looked at passenger side lower ball joint and it looks to be coming out of the lower control arm as well. Car is in drive way with both front tires removed sitting on jack stands.

- Camden, SC, USA

I am a 66 yr old widow, owner of a 2001 Ls purchased June 2001, a recall fix was to have been done before my purchase in March of 2001 to correct a problem with ball joints. I read online that many of these vehicles have the damage that was suppose to be corrected for when they get to about 67000 miles, I am at 67000 miles, took my car in for inspection and need an 1800 dollar fix to correct the issue that was suppose to be avoided by the recall. Ford said, too long ago, no warranty beyond the norm for recall fixes. I can not believe with the amount of evidence that these cars all require a fix at 67000 miles that Ford isn't forced to address this dangerous condition. I also don't know if it's safe to drive a while longer, I just don't know how they got away with a recall that did not provide the fix.

- Baltimore, MD, USA

I was driving my car, after driving home from work (approx. 70 miles round-trip). While turning I heard a loud crunch and then felt a hard thud, my vehicle was difficult to steer, felt another crunch. I pulled into a parking stall, after parking my vehicle, another loud crunch, the driver's side wheel had fallen off and was wedged into the wheel well. On March 12th, 2012 my repair facility informed me about the items that need replaced: Upper and lower left front ball joints, front outer tier rod ends, new fuel filter- damaged in the incident, two new tires & an alignment. I realized how lucky I was that this did not occur while driving down the road. I conducted google search on 2001 Lincoln Ls suspension problems, I was stunned on the amount of safety related hits out there (suspension related), I realized that this was not isolated to just my vehicle, there were pages-of-pages of people that experienced similar suspension problems with their 2001 Lincoln. There was a suspension related recall: Lincoln / Ls 2000-2001, Ford Motor Company, date: Nov 01, 2000 NHTSA campaign id number: 00V359001 N/a NHTSA action number: N/a component: Suspension: Front: Control arm: Lower ball joint, number of affected: 82,300 summary: Vehicle description: Passenger vehicles. The front suspension lower ball joints were not tightened to specifications when they were attached to the lower control arms. Consequence: If the ball joint attaching nuts are not adequately tightened, they can loosen and, ultimately, result in fracture of the ball joint stud. If the ball joint fractures, control of the vehicle could be affected, increasing the risk of a crash. Remedy: Dealers will inspect the torque on the two ball joint attaching nuts. Vehicles with loose ball joint attaching nuts will either have the fasteners tightened to specification, or if necessary, the ball joints will be replaced.

- Decatur, IL, USA

We purchased a Lincoln Ls on 2/24/12 and a I was driving the car home I heard a loud noise that sounded as if the wheels were going to fall off especially as I went over bumps. I took the car to midas and they diagnosed that the ball joints were bad, along with the struts, and gasket cover. I did some research and I found that the car had been recalled in 2000 for the ball joints.

- Youngstown, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While driving approximately 25 mph over a roadbump, the contact lost slight control because the vehicle began to abnormally sway from left to right. In addition, the four wheel rims installed on the vehicle were corroded near the hub. The dealer was notified of the failure and they informed the contact that the VIN was not included in the recall associated with NHTSA campaign id number 00V359001 (suspension: Front: Control arm: Lower ball). There was also a manufacturer voluntary recall on the wheel rims but the VIN was ineligible. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 148,000.

- Providence Rhode Island, NY, USA

The contact owns 2001 Lincoln Ls. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated and the vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. The dealer replaced the spark plugs and the failure seemed to be remedied however, the vehicle then began to backfire and drive abnormally rough. In addition, the engine would exhibit abnormal noises and an overpowering oil odor. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the contact was informed that the head gasket and coil springs would need replacing. The failure mileage was 105,000 and the current mileage was 108,000.

- Salsbury, NC, USA

The ball joints to my Lincoln Ls V8 have on the safety recall since 2000. I have register my vehicle with Ford since I purchased it. I have been contacted by Ford since last year. Why hasn't anybody made contact with me. I'm afraid to drive my car long distance, expect to my doctor's appt at the va hospital and my work area since I was released from the hospital in fort lewis, wa. Madigan army medical center ofr injuries that I received in iraq. Please help with this matter, please I need your help. I don't know were else to go from here. I am contacting before a major incident/accident occur? [xxx] P.S. I have bad dreams about this, not knowing the unknown just being over seas again. Help me please.

- Whittier, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. Whenever the contact drove the vehicle and began to decelerate, the front end of the vehicle pulled to the left which was followed by a grinding sound. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic where the contact was informed that the front wheel hub/axle bearing and hub assembly needed to be replaced. There were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 65000. Updated 5/12/10 the left window regulator was replaced. Updated 05/14/10.

- Youngstown, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. The contact stated that the lower ball joints on the vehicle were faulty. The vehicle was driven to a tire store and the mechanic looked up a recall for the vehicle. The contact then called Ford Motor Company to see if the VIN was included in the recall, but it was not. The recall stated that the dealer would inspect the vehicle, but that has yet to happen. An employee at Ford Motor Company stated that the reason the contact has not received a recall notice could possibly be because the recall repair was previously performed on the vehicle. Ford Motor Company was unable to check if the repair had already been performed. The NHTSA campaign id number was unknown. The failure mileage was 65,000.

- Burlington, NC, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While the vehicle was at the dealer for regular maintenance, it was discovered that the ball joints needed to be replaced. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign id number 00V359001 (suspension:front:control arm:lower ball joint), although the failures were identical. The failure and current mileages were less than 120,000.

- Fostoria, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While driving 65 mph, the vehicle yanked to the left as if the contact had lost control. The dealer stated that the ball joints were defective and the control arm and knuckle needed to be replaced. An independent mechanic made the necessary repairs and stated that he was in danger of the wheel actually detaching if the repairs were not made. The failure and current mileages were less than 80,000.

- Cheyenne, WY, USA