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Ford Spring Problems May Not Be Limited to Windstars

Save up to $379 on Your Auto Insurance. Compare Quotes from Top Providers Now! Find the Best Deal and Apply! - Adv. WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2001 -- The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has upgraded its investigation of 926,000 Ford Windstar minivans after reports that a spring in the suspension system can break and puncture a tire.

NHTSA should talk with Alan of Rochester, NY, who writes:
"1995 Windstar, 1/27/01, 52,000 miles. Front spring broke on smooth road at 55 mph, sending the spring into the rim. Thought I blew a tire."

NHTSA and Ford say they have 199 similar complaints of a front suspension coil spring suddently breaking, collapsing the front suspension. They may also want to check out other Ford trucks.

Ron of Yale, MI, wrote to us about his F150 pickup:

"Our Ford F150 pickup truck collapsed under its own weight while parked inside of our garage. We later learned that the left front-end torsion bar needed to be replaced. ... Ford was not helpful, nor did they even seem interested in the fact that luckily, the vehicle was PARKED at the time of the failure. Had either of us been in the vehicle at the time of failure, surely one or both of us would have been represented to Ford via an attorney. This vehicle is a 4x4 and sits rather high. Had the failure occurred while driving, the vehicle would have rolled and probably injured us severely.

"The tow truck person who came to pick up our F150 said that he knew just what the problem was ... We were also advised that Yale Ford had repaired an Expedition that had suffered the same failure."

So far, Ford and NHTSA are apparently limiting their probe to the 926,000 Windstar minivans build between 1995 and 1998. Both Ford and NHTSA say they know of no deaths or injuries so far.

More complaints from Ford owners:

Kelly of Bradford, Canada, writes:
Pulling out of our driveway, the left suspension spring broke puncturing one tire (a four month old tire). At first Ford refused to admit that this was an unusual breakdown. We had the car towed to their service bay and waited two days for them to fix it. They told us the spring would have to come from the States and we would have to wait 3 more days. They refused to give us a rental even though we were about to start our summer holiday and had planned a driving trip to Nova Scotia to see our greatgrandparents.

By day number five we were given a rental car, since the part was now on an indefinite back order. They told us however, that we couldn't drive out of province or country. We argued and they too quickly agreed to help us and finally gave us a van. We immediately knew that we must be dealing with a bigger Windstar problem. It cost our dealership over $1000 to rent a van for us. It took 32 days till we had our van back. The towing company that helped us said that this was the 3rd Windstar spring that week!

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