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.
Car rolled backwards in the "park " position, with 3 small children inside thus crashing into our neighbors motorhome. Police were contacted and officer noted problem in police report.
When trying to accelerate vehicle would hesitate. It would downshift and then slip, trying to catch and then slip again. Would not go into gear when pressing accelerator pedal. Would catch eventually, and then take off. Have taken to dealership, had transmission replaced. Replacement transmission acts like the previous transmission.
Whenever at a stop light or sign would start to accelerate. Vehicle would hesitate first, and then jerked forward. It was an intermittent problem. Have not taken vehicle to dealership. Consumer went to aamco to get transmission fixed and was told this was a common problem in the 1995-1996 Windstar vans.
Speed sensor and transmisson were failing, causing gears to shift erractically and resulting in vehicle to violently shake as it deaccelerates. Dealer has replaced speed sensor at 64,000 and 77,000 miles, and transmission was replaced at 70,000 miles, problem still reoccurring. Provide any further details on this matter.
Appears to be another case of early transmission failure due to defective components. Danger at time of failure was that from a stop I put my foot on the gas to move forward and the engine just raced. Had I anticipated accelerating to avoid oncoming traffic there would have been trouble.
Cruise control cable would stick. Has happened twice before. Had set cruise control on 62mph going uphill, auto shifted down. Was going downhill and pressed on brakes to release cruise control. Vehicle picked up speed. Cruise control failed to disengage. Put on brakes and turned vehicle off to disengage cruise control. The dealer sent a hazardous condition report to the manufacturer upon consumer's request.
At 90,000 miles while driving I came to a stop on a hill. When I removed my foot from the brake to give the van gas it began to roll backwards!! almost hit the car behind me. I revved the engine with my foot on the brake and eventually the transmission engaged with a thud. It was if the engine had gone into neutral. Went to aamco to have the transmission check and was informed that it was the aluminum forward clutch piston that was cracked and that Ford was replacing them with new steel forward clutch piston. Apparently this a common problem with Ford Windstar minivans. I asked Ford if this was a recall issue and they told me that it was only a service bulletin. I would consider this a safety problem if you are on a hill with other vehicle behind you.
Transmission: Vehicle hesitates and has difficulty shifting up; engine revs up while attemting to upshift; must back off on accelerator pressure to "baby" it into shifting up; when slowing vehicle down, it downshifts with a "clunk;" sometimes gets stuck in park position; overdrive light blinks on and off for long periods of time. Engine cooling system: Overheating; interior heating system inoperable; pipe of thin metal continually ruptures causing coolant and water to spew out. Engine: Vehicle sometimes stalls when slowed down to turn a corner or to stop; vehicle sometimes won't start for five minutes or more after it has been started, run for two or three minutes and turned off.
Electrical brake light problem required dealer to pull out dash to repair 8/19/96. Letter from Ford says out of warranty. Failure of auto trans at 59,428 in 11/4/97. There is a service bulletin issued by Ford for forward clutch pistons. Ford refuses again to cover.-- manufacturing defect. In Oct 24, 99 head gasket failure--replaced engine at 87,376 miles. Ford issues recall letter and we receive $3200 from Ford June 16, 2000. Second transmission replacement at 89,021. Mechanic states overheating of engine affected the second transmission. During test drive of third transmission, the speedometer malfunctions. The Ford dealer repairs problem. The total of these repairs alone total approximately $9500!
The transmission is slipping and the car won't go, then all of a sudden, it jumps and could jump in front of another car; the overdrive light is blinking and won't go off. You can't get it to switch on; the switch won't turn and it goes ding, ding, ding when you take the key out
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Richmond Hill, NY, USA