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...
1.7
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
98,238 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.
Backing out of garage and heard a loud noise and left front tire went flat. Found left front coil spring had broken and punched a hole in a new tire (less than a week old). Could not get the flat off because the spring was inside the tire so could not put on the spacesaver spare had to tow. This is a 2003 Ford Taurus with less than 80,000 miles. Not covered under any warranty or policy.
Was driving my 2003 Taurus when I got a flat tire drivers side..called aaa they put my spare on. I took car to my mechanic who told me a coil broke and ruptured the tire..it is going to cost $950..I was told how lucky I was not to have had a major accident!!! only have 49,000 miles on my Taurus.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact was exiting a driveway when the vehicle exhibited an abnormal pop. The contact then noticed that the coil spring on the driver side was fractured and had punctured and deflated the tire. The contact did not inform the dealer or the manufacturer of the failure. A private mechanic repaired the tire as well as the front coil spring. The current mileage was approximately 79,000 and the failure mileage was approximately 77,000.
I'm adding my complaint to an open investigation #EA08018. My 2003 Taurus suffered a broken coil spring today which punctured my passenger side tire and apparently damaged upper and lower mounts in the process. Estimated cost of repair (including addressing the yet to be broken opposite side), is 1800 dollars. There was no accident as I was traveling a slow rate of speed.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. While the vehicle was parked the right front coil spring broke and punctured the passenger side front tire. The contact stated that he cut a section of the coil spring out in order to change the tire. The vehicle was taken a local mechanic who stated that the left front coil spring also broke and punctured the drivers side front tire. The dealer replaced the two front coil springs and both front tires. The failure and current mileages were 130,632.
- Bretz, WV, USA
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The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 45 mph the contact noticed one of the tires was flat. The vehicle was pulled over and the contact noticed the front drivers side tire was pierced by a fractured coil spring. The fractured portion of the coil spring was cut off and a new tire was installed. The vehicle was driven home where the contact installed new coil springs. The failure mileage was 100,000 and the current mileage was 100,203.
Front springs breaking on 2003 Taurus. Loud boom in front of car. Result is a broken spring damaging front tire also. Car was backing out of garage when it happened. Had to tow vehicle as it could not be moved without further damage to vehicle.
Front suspension spring broke suddenly, causing front corner of vehicle to drop, vehicle pulled abruptly to the left, and broken spring pierced tire on 2003 Ford Taurus. Luckily nobody was killed, potentially very deadly quality defect with these vehicles. Ford acknowledges problem with 1999-2001 Taurus coil springs, but will not repair later models, even though they apparently haven't fixed the problem.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus ses (na). While driving approximately 15 mph, the driver side front coil spring broke and punctured the driver side front tire. The contact lost control of the vehicle but was able to avoid a crash by applying the brakes. The vehicle was towed to a local repair shop where the mechanic stated that the front coil spring broke and the entire strut assembly and the tire needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The VIN was unavailable. The current and failure mileages were 84,523.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while driving 30 mph, the front coil spring fractured causing the vehicle to mount the sidewalk. The coil spring caused the front driver side tire to burst as well. The contact had the vehicle towed to his place of residence and called the manufacturer. The manufacturer informed the contact there were no recalls for the vehicle and would not provide any further assistance. The contact stated the front coil spring malfunctioning could have caused a serious crash. The failure mileage was 101,000.
Tue 28dec2010 outside temp = 21F I entered driver's seat & immediately heard loud "bong!" sound of lf coil spring breaking. I am familiar w/ Ford recall# 04V332000 (NHTSA reference #04V332000) and have been waiting similar recall for newer models during NHTSA action number: EA08018, ongoing for over two years now. I tried to drive off slowly to avoid tire damage but could not, as within the first tire rotation the broken spring slashed the entire inside sidewall of the lf tire. Repairs will cost $300 for strut/spring replacement + $60 tow + $150 for tire, total = $510, and I expect rf to break identically at any moment. It is outrageous that the investigation of a safety hazard identical to vehicles two years older has taken two years!
About 4 months ago as I was backing my car out of the garage, the front left coil spring broke which prevented me from driving the vehicle. I had to replace both of the front struts and coil springs which cost me several hundred dollars. Today, as I was backing out of my garage once again, the left rear coil spring broke. Again, I will need to spend several hundred dollars, this time to replace the rear struts and coil springs in order to assure my vehicle is safe to drive. My vehicle is only used to drive a few miles every day on smooth, paved roads so there should be no reason why I am having to replace these parts due to their breaking. I feel fortunate that the parts broke as I was exiting my garage, and not driving down the road at 50 mph. I believe this ongoing issue is a safety concern and should be addressed. I hope some type of financial compensation can be agreed upon to cover the costs associated with this ongoing safety issue.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact was driving approximately 5 mph in reverse when the vehicle exhibited a loud noise from the front end of the vehicle. Suddenly, the front driver side of the vehicle collapsed to the ground causing the tire to flatten. The damaged tire was replaced with a spare tire and the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic where they informed the contact that the failure could possibly be related to the coil spring. The mechanic advised that the vehicle be repaired at another repair shop because they were unable to provide any type of suspension repairs. The vehicle was in the process of being diagnosed and repaired by a second mechanic. The failure mileage was approximately 277,000.
Was backing out of the driveway and heard a loud thump and then my tire deflated like a balloon. Had a tire guy come to fix it and he said it was due to a broken strut/spring. It had broken and slashed the tire. I am just thankful this did not happen on the interstate driving at a high rate of speed. Could have been deadly.
My 2003 Ford Taurus was simply sitting in my driveway and all of a sudden there was a huge pop. We looked to see the tire had gone flat! when I took the tire we discovered the flat was a result from the coil spring breaking and puncturing the tire. So now not only do I have to pay to fix the spring, but also a new tire. Obviously Ford has not resolved the issue with the 2001 cut off model on a recall and they need to make right with their customers. I have been a loyal Ford owner. They should be as loyal to their customers!!!
On 12/20/2010 left front coil spring broke and punctured tire while driving on state highway. Incident occurred just 2 miles after departure from home. Thought it was just a flat tire. The shoulder was narrow and the road was snow covered. When pulling off the road the car got stuck in the snow. Upon retrieval from the ditch and subsequent tow to the tire store we discovered the broken spring issue. We have not yet repaired the spring/strut problem as the tire store does not perform that type of repair. We are planning to replace both front springs and struts as well as rear springs to have some peace of mind. We purchased four new tires and will have it towed to the full-service repair shop on 12/21/2010. The tire store could not mount the new tire on the left front because of the broken spring. The tire store mounted the "MINIspare that could clear the broken spring. We feel Ford should reimburse us for the cost of repairs. We are fortunate that there were no injuries!
On my 2003 Ford Taurus, the drivers side front coil spring assembly broke. This sliced my tire sidewall and caused my car front end to drop to the ground. Luckily this happened when parked in my garage. The bad thing is that it is Minnesota and winter. I thank god I was not driving down the road. This would have been very, very bad.
I pulled out of my driveway and realized I had a very flat tire. I called the service station up the street. He told me to drive it down slowly & he'd put the donut on it and order me a new tire. When he looked at my car at his shop, he said the driver's side, front coil spring had snapped and sliced through my tire. He said I was lucky it didn't happen on the freeway or I could have had a bad accident. He said I was also lucky I hadn't just put the donut on it myself and driven it over the weekend, because it would have snapped the donut while I was on the road. I looked up the problem online and realized many, many 2003 Ford tauruses have had this problem. Ford has had to recall several makes & years, but the 2003 Ford Taurus has not so far been included. I had taken my car out 2 days earlier with no problems. It must have snapped while sitting in my driveway.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- South Bend, IN, USA