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.
My Ford Windstar has had problems with the ABS for a couple of years. It turns on and off on the dashboard randomly. When the ABS light is on, the ABS is not working. When the ABS light is off, the ABS is working. I had my mechanic fix this for $850. Three weeks later, the new part started doing the same thing. I never know how to brake in an emergency situation because the ABS is on some of the time and off some of the time.
The radiator and water pump went bad and the transmission went out as I was driving. The electrical locks on the doors locks us in regularly, while driving it often slides on it's own. There's a good bit of things going on with my car that I don't know about to tell you about.
The ABS and traction system lights come on and stay on. If I turn the vehicle off and restart it sometimes the warning lights will go off but this is inconsistent at best. If I hit a bump the systems will go off. It does seem worse after the vehicle warms up. My biggest concern is failure of my braking system.
While driving, the ABS and traction control warning lights will sometimes illuminate at the same time with a warning chime. Until the vehicle is stopped and turned off/on; these lights will remain lit and neither the ABS or traction control will function.
- Sinking Spring, PA, USA
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ABS light on dash and other warning lights malfunction at different times along with displays that have characters in dash that are un-familiar. Beeps occur that I find no explanation in manual. Have had 2 malfunction in electric door locks and it is impossible to manually unlock passenger side doors from outside doors. Rear door latch cannot be opened except with key in event of certain types of crashes especially if occupants are not conscious.
ABS and traction control lights illuminated while braking on snow and ice, ABS stopped working and van skidded out of my control, pumped brakes until vehicle came to stop, luckily did not occur at next intersection, or would have slid into busy intersection !! brought to shop and they did some diagnostics and came up with van needing a new ABS/traction control module. Very expensive repair. Upwards of $2000, if both ABS module and ABS hydraulic control parts need to be replaced. Went online and have read many many complaints of this problem on this model of van. Ford knows and they wont issue or recall a major safety / brake recall......this could cause someone severe injury or death !!! brakes are there to safely stop a vehicles motion !!!!! dealer says very common problem with these Windstar.if Ford could fess up and make part very affordable then I could fix van myself. Rear axles, subframes breaking have been addressed. I believe this is a very important issue that needs to be addressed. Thank you for looking into this problem. Sincerely, [xxx] here is one link to a site I was on www.fordwindstarrecall.info/ information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I was driving on the highway and all my instrument panel needles (gas, RPM, mileage, temperature) were all jumping around. This went on all the way home. I parked the car but the RPM needle was stuck and I could not shift the car into park (P) and could not turn off the car. I called a local mechanic and he came over and put the car in neutral (N) and turned off the car. The car had to be towed to the mechanic to have the instrument panel checked. The mechanic was able to move the RPM needle so that I could shift the car but the instrument panel continues to sporadically go from working, to not working at all, to all the needles jumping around. The mechanic was aware that I had the transmission done 3 times since I bought the car in Sept. 2003 and told me that the malfunctioning instrument panel may be contributing to the transmission issues.
Van would/runs for over an hour, shut off for 15 minutes and try to restart, and it won't. after multiples issues with this, and being able to temporarily repair, speedometer and RPM meters are now sticking permanently and are not showing speed or RPM's accurately at all! more issues too...
Massively erratic behavior of the instrument cluster. All of the gauges; the speedometer and RPM gauges, heat and all just jump rapidly up and down. Sometimes they give false indicators. The heat meter arm goes up when it is not hot. It's really scary. It's been going on for weeks. It doesn't happen often and I am not sure why it happens. This is a minivan I.e. a family car. I cannot wait to get rid of this car. I'll never buy a Ford again.
ABS and traction control light would intermittently turn on during operation for approximately three days. After that time, both lights are continually lit.
ABS ECM failure - during recall repairs to the ABS switch, trouble shooting discovered a malfunctioning ABS ECM module. Customer was told that this is not a result of leaking brake switch.
Not working cruise control, defective odometer started when I was approaching a stop light all the gauges in my dashboard (fuelgauge, RPM gauge, odometer, and temperature gauge swung back and forth. The other gauges returned to normal when I turned off the engine but the odometer was stuck and the cruise control not working.
We lost our odometer, speedometer, cruise control and air conditioning on a recent trip from va to nc. At first, replacing the #10amp fuse took care of the problem. Within one week, the fuses began to blow as soon as the car is turned on. Now, it blows the fuse each time a new one is replaced. Therefore, no odometer, speedometer, cool air, cruise control, etc. After a lot of research on line, we have found numerous sources with incredible documentation and consistency showing that this problem has been pervasive across Ford Windstar products in the age range of our van. We have not had a fire, but there is enough of a record on this, that something should be done about it with Ford before someone has a fire that causes death or injury. Thanks for a response on what we can expect next.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Kaysville, UT, USA