1997 Ford Ranger driver side rear spring hanger rusted away & broke causing weight of vehicle to be carried by truck bed floor.

- Frankfort, IL, USA

Ford Ranger 1997 rear leaf spring mounts completely rusted away. Heard loud banging noise when driving. Inspected truck and found both driver and passenger rear spring mounts completely rusted away. Front spring mounts almost rusted away -near loss of rear axel and suspension !!! very dangerous failure without any warning. If had occurred at highway speed could have been total loss of rear suspension. Also dropping axel with leaf springs not good for any traffic following vehicle. Major safety problem as no other rust apparent on truck outside or elsewhere under truck. Inferior metal used for spring mounts which is apparently very prone to rust compared to rest of truck. Highly recommend all Ford Ranger owners be notified and advised to have spring mounts inspected before fatal accident occurs. Can not stress enough that there were no symptoms noted before failure, and no apparent rust on truck to indicate any problems.

- Preemption, IL, USA

Rear leaf spring brackets rusting and breaking.

- Jeffersonville, IN, USA

Found drivers side rear spring support (front) that attaches to the frame rail was broken from rusting apart. While replacing it, also found the rear spring supports (rear) on both sides broken from rusting apart. This appears to be a poor design or under engineered part. The truck is 1997 Ford Ranger pickup with only 73K miles on it and has never been used to carry anything heavy. This seems to be highly unusual that three brackets are broken on one truck from rusting apart.

- Frankfort, IL, USA

When driving my Ranger if I hit a small bump or pothole the truck becomes very dangerous to operate. The vehicle wants to jump uncontrollably from lane to lane posing danger to myself or other drivers on the road. Recently I noticed a small hairline crack in the roof of the cab above the drivers side and the front passenger panel protrudes away from the vehicle. This tells me somethingis seriously wrong and the vehicle is unsafe to be on the road.not only is the truck a hazard because of the unstableness of operation now it has a stress problem as well and if in an accident I wonder if the the structure would hold up as it was designed to do. I have since purchased another vehicle and because of the safety hazard am refraining from operating this vehicle until a later date. I hope something is done before someone is seriously injured.

- Columbus, OH, USA

Lost control of vehicle (most recent incident) when I hit a washboarded section on a dirt road (koehn rd. Between capac rd. At knoll rd., mussey twp., St. Clair county). Ranger repeatedly loses control when it hits bumps or washboards, often causing lane changes or severe skids. Dealer dismissed complaints, said it was "normal" for truck suspension. Our other trucks ('74 Chevy C-10, '85 astro, '85 S-10 Blazer, '88 S-10 Blazer, '94 Caravan, '95 sonoma) have never done this. We were able to alleviate a little of the problem by reducing the air pressure in the tires to 30 psi, but we still lose control frequently, on bumpy paved roads as well as dirt roads.

- Emmett, MI, USA

Whenever driving over a bump, such as repaired pothole or before a bridge, rear suspension jumps jumps to the side and gets out of control.

- Haughton, LA, USA