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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...

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
85,087 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 engine problems

engine problem

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2003 Ford Taurus Owner Comments (Page 2 of 2)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #3

Aug 082012

Taurus 6-cyl

  • 88,000 miles

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

The latest incident was today. Vehicle was started, idling, put into reverse with foot on the brake. Engine suddenly increased speed and vehicle lurched backwards. Vehicle was put in drive with foot on the brake, engine would periodically increase speed and vehicle would lurch forward. On several other occasions while driving, notably at speeds 20-40 mph, vehicle speed would start increasing on it's own. On those occasions, the increase was not rapid or extreme, these were thought to be flukes, but now it's lurching after the vehicle is put in drive or reverse. The frequency of these incidents with this vehicle are increasing and I believe this is a serious safety issue.

- Lonoke, AR, USA

problem #2

Oct 102011

Taurus 6-cyl

  • 130,000 miles
Total transmission failure out of no where. Multiple other phantom engine failures/engine inexplicably dies.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #1

May 012012

Taurus

  • 32,000 miles
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact had to have the vehicle pushed to their residence because it could not be restarted. The dealer was notified of the issue who advised the contact that there were no recalls. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 32,000.

- Brunswick, GA, USA

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