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 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
50,177 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 blower motor stopped working and the windshield fogged up while driving. The problem was water getting into the blower motor area from the cowl area at the cabin filter. Ford knows about this problem and has a tsb fix with a shield and weatherstrip. They tell you about the problem after the water has already caused the problem costing you $300 extra because now you need electrical problems fixed.
I just purchased a 2003 Ford Taurus from royal Ford in owego, N.Y. and the blower motor quit on me, they will not replace, I've only had the car for 4 months.
There was water on the passenger side floor after a rain storm this week and now the climate control blower motor doesn't work in my 2003 Ford Taurus. This is the same problem described in NHTSA item number 10011149 and service bulletin number: 031506.
- Churubusco, IN, USA
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Purchased used '03 Taurus ses from non-Ford dealer, on 3/2/06. April 22, after heavy rain noticed puddle of water on passenger side floor. Following Monday morning during drive to work...still raining and misty...windows fogging up...turn on heater/defogger/ac...not working! call dealer to advise of the water and heater/ac not functioning...advised still covered under 3/36 factory warranty...however, Ford advised warranty expired 3/31/06. Dealer then had their mechanic take a look...advised there's a leak behind firewall causing water to get in...and also cause of motor blower not working...est. $500-600 to repair...not including part for motor blower! they would need to contact Ford about price on motor blower...I decide to check pricing online and discovered the numerous complaints from other consumers! contacted Ford customer relations asking if they could make an exception on having covered under warranty as it was not quite 30 days beyond expiring. They contacted service mgr. At Ford dealer closest to me...told that they would agree to repair work according to Ford's guidelines and discount repair cost...I dropped car off today for them to "asses" the problem which will cost $80 on top of the $109 paid to other dealers mechanic. I'd left several messages with service mgr...to discuss...never called back! I put $4K down payment on this vehicle and only about to make 2nd car note...I'm certain that I, like many others who've complained, will be responsible for the costly repair.
Heater and air conditioner fan motor stopped working. Water leaks in on the passenger side with large puddle on passenger floor. Water leak has been noticed several times but blower motor just stopped working.
During a snow fall, my wife had just started her 2003 Taurus and turned the heater/defroster motor on high. She cleaned snow off the exterior windows and when she re-entered the car, the blower was not running; it would not run at any speed. She had to drive home with no heater/defroster working. She had no choice because she had to get home. This type failure has occurred on many taurse's. service bulletin 031506 has been issued and Ford has redesigned the replacement blower, a tacit admission that the original design was faulty. When the Ford dealer called me with description and cost of repairs I specifically asked if a tsb had been issued, the Ford dealership told me no tsb had been issued. The car was 6 weeks out of warranty and the repairs cost me $450. I have owned about 2 dozen various american cars over about 35 years and I know american car quality has improved tremendously since the 70's. but any company that treats its customers the way I was treated in this case deserves to continue losing market share. I actually hate to have to say this, but our next 2 cars will probably be Japanese.
I found this web site ( ttp://forums.carreview.com/show thread.php?T=2030 ) while looking for information on how to change the heater fan blower resister on my 2003 Ford Taurus. What was described on this site is exactly what happened to me a couple months ago. My wife noticed a puddle of water on the passenger's side front of the car. Not long later the fan for the heater went out. The above mentioned site said that a Ford admitted design defect allowed water to get into the heater system and causes the blower to go out. This is definitely a safety issue because I can't drive my car when it is cold because the front window will fog up and I can't safely see out the window. I feel that Ford should replace the resister/ blower motor or whatever went out on my 2003 Ford Taurus to cause the fan to quit working and they should fix the design defect that allowed water into the heating system. Thank you for your time, I hope something can be resolved soon.
Blower was making a strange noise and the next time I started the car to turn on the heat the blower wouldn't work. I purchased a new blower motor from a Ford dealer. To my knowledge, there was no prior evidence of water on the floor or leaking from that area; however, when we took out the old blower motor, water poured out onto the floor. When I called the Ford dealer back, I was told from the parts department, that there had been customer complaints of blower motors burning out from water leaking into that area.
Blower motor on 03 Ford Taurus ceased to operate. No accident involved. Fuse and relay ok. Dangerous because visibility problem due to frost. Called Ford customer service unaware of problem! internet research revealed that Ford is aware of a problem. (tsb 03-15-6). Called dealer, they claim we have no recourse because car is no longer under warranty.
During a snow storm, while traveling home from work on a slushy road, the vehicle's blower motor quit working. This is the second time this has happened. The car became most un-drivable after about 10 minutes due to condensation and frosting on the windshield. I almost ran into the car in front of me one time.
Blower fan switch only works on high. I suspected that it would either be the blower switch itself or the relay. I replaced both and quickly determined that those two components were fine. After reading complaints associated with this problem, I suspect that my problem is associated with tsb 031506. Like the other plaintiffs with the same issue, I strongly believe that Ford Motor Company should offer to repair this costly global issue with their 2003 Taurus models.
Heater blower motor and blower motor resistor failed due to water leakage into blower motor resistor caused by poorly designed cowl vent screen(passenger side). Ford has had numerous complaints about this same problem. They issued tsb #03-15-6 to detail the repair procedure and redesigned the passenger side cowl outside screen/vent panel to eliminate the problem. While it might not be a serious enough problem to recall all the cars covered under this tsb, the repair of the defect should be borne by Ford Motor Company, not the consumer! they charged me $382.57 to repair something that was a design flaw with the vehicle.
18 May 2004, after rain showers, vehicle blower motor quit working. Could not see out of front windsheild after 15 minutes from condensation build-up. On 24 May 2004, took vehicle to fomoco dealership they replaced blower motor and said a seal failed.
Blower motor failed because of an "act of god" (dealer's description). The vehicle has a comprehensive warrantee to 75,000 miles and the motor failed at just over 51,000 miles. Cost $350 to replace and only warranteed for a year even though this is most likely a design defect in the car.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Kamas, UT, USA