I was driving on the highway when all of a sudden it felt like I had a blowout. I began to slow down and pull over and front driver side tire broke. I skidded to a stop on the side of the road. I got out of the car, looked at the wheel, and it was facing toward the sky. Lucky for me this happened on a Sunday morning with very limited traffic, or it could have be fatal. I had the car towed to a shop, and they said the ball joint and axle broke, the front tires were ruined, and the driver's side wheel needed to be replaced. The total cost of repairs was about $1500. The shop replaced the ball joint and axle, and were now in the process of finding a wheel for me. I am not sure if the old part was available or not. Someone informed me that there was a recall on these ball joints, so I called the dealership to ask them about my car, and they informed me that a dealership had corrected the recalled ball joint on February 20, 2002. However, it was not easy to believe that if they had fixed it correctly only five years ago that it would have broken in such a manner.

- Fort Mitchell, KY, USA