Ford Windstar Reviews

It goes through a tank of gas in two days. It gets about 5 miles to a gallon of gas. I fear for my safety and my grandchildren's safety while I drive it. Also, I fear that the rear axle might corrode and break. Ford looked at it and said, it looks okay right now. Okay that's right now, but what about in the near future. Is Dahl Ford going to keep checking it off and on for free? I think not. This is the worst van in the world. Ford needs to buy these vehicles back and save our lives.

I have spent so much money trying to correct these things and nothing helps. I am completely broke, and I have a van that is a piece of crap! I can't go on like this. I have ran my van upon to empty lots, trying to make it stop. I have been almost rear ended in traffic, when it just stops running! This 1998 Ford Windstar van has broke me in repairs that did not help!

Luckily, this happened when it did. I guess God was watching over me and my children. If this had happened just 30 minutes prior, my 2-year old daughter, 8-year old son and myself probably would not be here today. We had just been on the expressway, where we were traveling approximately 60-65 miles per hour. Even if we would have survived, it would have been a terrible accident, guaranteed! When the tow truck got there, the driver said he had never seen anything like this before. I had it towed to a Ford dealer where they said the exact same thing. I purchased the vehicle in November 2009 and it only had one previous owner and approximately 124000 miles. He was a friend of the family that took very good care of the vehicle.

As a matter of fact the van looked practically new except for a few scratches in the paint and a few small rust spots on the on the lower part of the front doors. I have read many similar complaints and do not understand why Ford is not addressing this potentially fatal problem. My family and I were blessed but I fear that many others may not be as lucky. I will never own a Ford again since they apparently do not take responsibility for their products. I am a single mother and currently am out of a vehicle. I cannot afford to repair the damages, which I was quoted a minimum of $2000 to replace subframe and other damages that resulted, such as broken belts, steering column, airbags, and any other items that were damaged when the engine fell.

We have since gotten rid of the car because it had another problem that no mechanic could figure out how to fix, but we had to pay twice to replace the rear axle and was wondering if we are due compensation as it was a recall issue.

I have pictures of the broken axle. I asked to have the broken axle back, and I have it in the car. The cost to fix was $1250. This pales in comparison to what might have happened if we had been traveling at 65mph, because the wheels basically fell off the car. I have contacted the attorneys handling class action lawsuit recently filed in PA. This should have been a recall. Realizing that things do go wrong with aging cars, wheels falling off is not something that should happen. 140,000 miles on a car is high, but not outside of the use period. Oil was changed at 141,000 miles and tires rotated-car was looked over by the mechanic and was fine at the time.

As it turns out the Federal Government launched a formal investigation just weeks ago, yet Northport Ford insists this is a problem unique to my vehicle. The truth is that there are hundreds and thousands of complaints online. Someone is going to die if people are not warned to have their axles checked. It was one of the scariest incidents I have ever been involved in. I needed to have the car towed which cost almost $150 and I am awaiting word from the shop on the cost of the repair, but I have been warned this could cost up to $4000. Additionally, I need to rent a car which will cost about $50-$75 a day but the worst damage was how terrified I was during and even now after this happened. Losing control of a car on a parkway is something I never want to experience again.

And was always told that they road test the van. The van sat in their parking lot for an extended time period. And then I was told that they cannot find the problem. We do not put many kilometer/miles on a vehicle, we have 130,000 km now, and our neighbors are just ticked. We have been on the Web looking for a fix, and the one that we had tried is as follows: Tried turning the key 8 times to the off-and-on position quickly and leaving the key in the on position, then using the remote control to activate the door locks up and down. Note! This did not fix the problem; it still blows at any time. We also brushed and cleaned the terminals on the sliding door, hoping this would fix the problem. It did not.

Question: Are there any recalls on this problem? I have been checking the Web and I found that a lot of other people have been having the same problem, also relating to other Ford vehicles. I cannot believe that the Ford dealerships have not heard of this problem.

Mr. **, my family, and I have almost been killed now three times from you're supposed "five-star" safety rating vehicle, the Ford Windstar! In 1999, we purchased our first and only new vehicle, a Ford Windstar LX from Larson Ford. We were absolutely thrilled with our decision to purchase a new vehicle and finally be able to feel safe and secure. We chose the Ford Windstar because of the "five-star" safety rating.

Our first problem occurred when, after only 68,000 miles, the transmission went on the car, as I was driving through an intersection with my two young sons; and we almost had an accident. At first, your company was reluctant to do anything about it, but they finally allowed me to purchase an extended warranty that would cover the transmission replacement. That work was done, only to find a month later that a faulty "new" transmission was installed. We had to bring it in for a third transmission to be installed.

In November 2009, while traveling to a friend's funeral service, my wife had noticed some "creaking" noise by the passenger rear wheel. Luckily, while only trying to back into a parking spot to check it out, I heard a loud "bang"! My rear axle had broken, and my back wheel was "snapped." My mechanic told me it had rotted. What kind of car design allows for its axles to rot after only 10 years! We could have been killed, but I took it as a freak incident and had the axle repaired for $900.00.

Now, last month (February 2010), I heard a noise by my front passenger wheel. My mechanic took a look and was dumbfounded to discover that my front frame/axle support by the wheel is rotted and has snapped! What kind of vehicle does Ford "supposedly" take pride in building? A "family" vehicle that will literally become a death trap in 10 short years? I have never seen this in my entire lifetime of owning American cars (and I have had many over 15 years old!).

My mechanic was estimating a $1,300 repair! My brother is a truck mechanic and runs a truck repair shop. He said that he has never seen a vehicle frame rot out and break. Body rot, OK, but not the frame.

I have seven total people in my family. Five kids, my wife and me. All of us are sick to our stomach about what has taken place. We need a car but do not have enough money to buy a used one. I think it is a shame the Ford calls itself and American Made Company. Ford talks about great customer service and the great ethical values they have. It is all just fluff to me since I have been in contact with them. The big corporations really do not care about the average Joe. If you can help me or give me sound advice, please contact me.

When I received the letter from Ford about the recall on the switch and the letter states that they would reimburse anyone that had replaced this switch, I sent them the original receipt with the switch clearly marked on it and they now say that because it was not done by an authorized Ford dealer that my claim was not eligible for the reimbursement. I'm disabled and do not have the funds to take my auto to get repaired when this repair is so easy to do. My 13-year old granddaughter helped me replace the Ford's mistake with the plenum seals and the cruise control deactivation switch.

They will never admit to the mistake with the seals and refused to reimburse the $22.11 for the SCDS switch. Luckily, there was only some brake fluid that had to be cleaned off the electrical control at the top of the transmission. This is where the fires start. This fixed the operation of the cruise control and set my mind at ease.

There is absolutely nothing left of it. The insurance company hasn't settled with us. I did however have full coverage on my vehicle but have to take away the $500 deductible. This being said I'll most likely get about $3-4,000 dollars for my van. I paid $7,995 and after the interest I had paid a total of $11,000 for it. I will never recommend ford Windstars to anyone.

They refuse to test vehicles that have the check engine light lit up. The transmission went at 90,000 km and was rebuilt but now at 130,000 km, the transmission is ready to go again at a replacement cost of around $3000. I went to the Ford dealer and they stand behind this vehicle. I asked them if they could guarantee that they could get the engine light to go off if I let them work on the vehicle. Otherwise, why would I have this work done if the vehicle would still be uninsurable due to the engine light staying on? They then told me "no, they couldn't" and quite frankly, they said they don't want customers like me anyways. I asked what kind of customer is that. The Ford manager replied, "well, someone like you is likely to sue us."

I bought this van to start a painting company. I have spent a lot of money on tools, advertising, car maintenance, insurance, etc., but now I can't even run my company without a properly working vehicle. I think this van is unfixable and Ford isn't taking accountability for its poorly designed product. I am scared and stressed out! The painting season is coming and I don't know what to do. I can't afford to buy another vehicle. I spent $3000 on this vehicle already this year and it still won't work properly and I can't even insure it because of its defect.

I would have never purchased this vehicle if I had known. The consumer reports gave no warnings and only shouted praise for this vehicle. Because there is no way to re-insure this vehicle, the city may come with a tow truck and remove it from the street. So I purchased this van for $5000 and I have put over $3000 into it. I went online and found 80 people who had the same problems with this same vehicle.

I actually broke down on Highway 5 on the way back from visiting a friend who lived just off the Grapevine. I had both of my girls with me, and they were both still in car seats. Not only was it a hassle to get a tow truck that was able to accommodate the car seats, but I also had them tow us from the Coalinga rest stop to Dublin, CA. I had the bill from that at $150.00+ since I also had the AAA 100-mile tow package, or it would have been considerably more. Then, the dealership was saying that they could find nothing wrong with the van, which we know was a lie. My husband told me to have it towed to the Concord Dealership where they put a rebuilt engine in it.

I have had to take so much time off work in dealing with the recalls in the past and not being compensated for rental cars, etc., but to also be knowingly lied to makes me not want to ever own a Ford again. Unfortunately, I still own this one, and I just received another recall letter - this time for the possibility of it catching fire from a faulty speed control deactivation switch that may leak brake fluid. Like I stated, the local dealership is no longer in business, and there is not another one located conveniently nearby. I am not in a position where I can take time off of work, plus the van was hit while it was parked in front of my house; and the insurance company of the person that hit it decided that it was not worth the estimate to repair, so they totaled it.

I am now driving it as a salvaged vehicle. I already requested that Ford send the part (and reimbursement) to the repair shop that I do work with, that I can walk to, but they are not willing to do that. I will most likely have to find a way to pay for that too. Meanwhile, I just did a survey that they sent to me from Ford, because of this situation, and I answered it very negatively, as well as telling them I will not own a Ford again. It is sad to see that this is not an isolated incident. Thank you for letting me vent.