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CarComplaints.com Notes: Most people need a car that shifts gears & coil springs that don't shred tires. The Taurus fails in that respect.

The 2003 Ford Taurus has major issues with the transmission failing. Typically the 2003 Taurus transmission failure costs $2,000 to fix by about 90k-100k miles. Not good.

Adding insult to injury, the 1999-2003 Taurus also has a huge problem with coil springs breaking which can puncture or even shred tires while driving.

The US government spent THREE YEARS (2008-2011) investigating the 2002-2003 Taurus coil springs. Although Taurus/Sable from earlier years were recalled, ultimately the NHTSA did not force a recall. They determined that because there had been no deaths & very few bad crashes & injuries, the broken coil springs defect was no big deal & not a safety defect. Tell that to all the owners who had close calls...

2.9

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
49,833 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2003 Ford Taurus body / paint problems

body / paint problem

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2003 Ford Taurus Owner Comments

problem #3

Dec 062013

Taurus 6-cyl

  • 149,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Just bought the car and doing some routine service, oil change, brake inspection etc. Noticed that the rear body mounts on the subframe had rust rot. And looking over the rest of the subframe noticed that the lower control arms on the front mount of both left and right sides were rotted out completely. The repair work is more than what I paid for the car. I can't even put the car on the road. It will not pass inspection. For a car that is only 10 years old the subframe shouldn't be rotted out like this.Ford should give some kind of assistance with this problem.

- South New Berlin, NY, USA

problem #2

Oct 142004

Taurus 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
The fan on my 2003 Ford Taurus stopped working and when I took it to the garage they found that the fan and the resistor had shorted out because there was a crack in the cowl near the fire wall-I had to have a new fan, resistor, and the crack sealed.

- Waterloo, NY, USA

problem #1

Dec 102003

(reported on)

Taurus 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
While driving, something hit the underside of the car causing a hole in the floor pan.

- Bronx, NY, USA

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