I took it in for recalls on the rear axle. they gave me a list of stuff that was wrong with it. I took it to another mechanic to have it looked at. They did say that the sway bar links needed to be replaced but the Tie rods were fine. However they said that the front sub-frame was in serious condition and the dealer didn't even catch that! If there is a problem with corrosion on one part why does this not extend to all of the under pending? I have a lady at work that has the same van and the same thing happened to her. Ford you need to fix this problem before we all wreck!!!

I am the very un-proud owner (original too) of a 1999 Ford Windstar, bought at Sloan Ford in Exton Pennsylvania.

The problem started when my son was having issues two days ago with the engine making clunking sounds and then dying. I took it to my local mechanic and he told be the front sub-frame was rusted through and the vehicle was unsafe. Then my son carefully drove it to the Sloan's (hoping the engine would not fall out).

Sloan confirmed (there's a real shocker) the sub-frame was rusted too, said it would be $1300 to repair. They will repair for no $ the corrosion issue on the rear axle though for free. The service manager told me there was nothing Sloan could do on the sub-frame (they didn't even offer to check with Ford). Currently I have a call into the general manager at Sloan, but not holding my breath. Probably just get blah, blah, blah, we can't help, blah, blah, blah.

The NHTSA is investigating this sub-frame issue in conjunction with the recent recall for corrosion of the rear axle, but it probably won’t be for quite a while before it becomes an official recall (the speed of government). I’ve filed an email complaint and called them, although the NHTSA cannot do anything to assist me, since there is no ‘official’ recall. It’s nice to know our taxpayer money is providing useful services. However, they did give a reference number for my call—I’m in the process memorizing it.

Next step was to call Ford Motor and they were no help either (are you surprised?), telling me ‘the car is only under warranty for 3 years after you bought it’. I was on hold for 5 minutes for the rep to come back and tell me that. I’m not even sure the rep actually checked with anybody else. Oh yeah, ‘keep my repair receipt’. That helped, a lot!

Fortunately, this problem was caught in time and there were no accidents, injuries, or fatalities. However, maybe that would have gotten more attention from Ford. Maybe I would have been on hold for 10 minutes, maybe even 15, before they got back to me and told me about my warranty.

I'm stuck with the car at the dealership, unsafe to drive and not wanting to sink $1300 more into a potential poster child for auto recalls.

Any advice on how to proceed to rectify this problem would be helpful. Thanks for letting me vent a bit.