We experienced fish tailing in the rear of our 2000 Ford Windstar while traveling in heavy holiday traffic during a torrential rain storm on NJ Garden State Parkway - we thought it was the rain on a very cold day. Ten miles after 400 miles of parkway travel over the holidays with my entire family in the van, the rear axle broke in half, off center to left. My investigation shows me that this has happened to many other Windstar owners around the 100,000 mile mark. We, like many others who posted it here and other complaint sites, thank god that it did not happen while going 65 mph in heavy traffic. There have been many near accidents sited and Ford claims they know nothing about this issue. As many more Windstar approach this milestone - word needs to get about to have them and their mechanics watch for this. I was without transportation for a week and it cost us almost $1,000 to replace it and our mechanic could not find anywhere where it is advised to check this out on routine maintenance — he was horrified. In the broken rear axle category for 2000 Windstars reported on the NHTSA site, there are only six less number of complaints (57 vs. 51) as there is the speed control issue that FORD just sent out a recall for and in 2001 there were eight more complaints — 45 broken axles vs. 38 speed control! Ford customer service was less than concerned when I called to report it. THIS IS A FATALITY LOOKING TO HAPPEN - IF IT HASN'T ALREADY!

i was was coming home from a trip to AL. on I-65 between KY and IN just over the bridge (hate that bridge) so going about 60 mph. i felt like i had just hit a bump in the road . after the bump my steering felt like i was on ICE . no control. tried to get over to side of road no one would let me over ever when i had almost stopped . traffic was heavy on a Saturday night. then my tire blew out knew then it was a flat tire felt like was on ice more.finely got to side of road. not until we went to change the tire did we realize the axle was busted. ford wont help over 100,000 miles . I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE before FORD will do some thing???? im glad i was driving not my teen. and that i was not in KY in the mountains or was driving faster than what i was.

On Dec.23,2009 on my way to work I noticed my 2000 Windstar starting to lose control around a bend. Thinking I must have hit some ice I proceeded at a slower pace. Then as I made a right hand turn a loud screeching noise could be heard from the rear as the van struggled to gain speed. I pulled over as far as I could on the road which had no shoulder. I exited the vehicle to the smell of burning rubber to find the rear wheels flared bottom side out. Looking under the vehicle I could see the rear axle beam nearly split in two. After a week finally repaired for $934. My mechanic said I was the 4th or 5th Windstar he has replaced the rear end with this same problem. This is a dangerous problem that needs to be addressed. I reported this problem to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). I encourage other Windstar owners with this dangerous problem to go to www.nhtsa.dot.gov and file a complaint. If enough of us do this maybe Ford will be forced to take action and do a recall on the Windstars before someone gets killed if it hasn't happened already.

While driving in the car with 6 children I heard a loud whistling noise and I could tell something was very wrong by the way it handled. Something felt wrong with the tires in the back. I crawled the short distance home and discovered that the rear axle was now 6 inches above the ground and digging into the tire on the driver side. As I later followed my husband to the mechanic's, the rear tires were visibly tilted in at the top and out at the bottom. We had to stop and flatbed it the rest of the way to the garage. The mechanic said the axle was cracked 3/4 of the way through and looked as though it had rusted from the inside out. I was thankful I was not on a highway when this happened.

Well, It all started a couple of weeks ago. I noticed some swaying in the rear end and some really loud squeaking in the rear end when I would make turns , especially right turns. I really thought nothing of it at first. I just thought it was getting old and starting to make some noises. It got worse as days went by. My wife and I use this as our primary transportation. We need a van because we have four children 12 and under. Well the noises continued to get worse so today I decided it was time to get underneath and see what was going on under there. I pulled it in my garage and jacked up the passenger side and pulled off the wheel and started looking at my shocks and springs with a flashlight. There didn't seem to be any problems. All the while I was hoping and praying there wouldn't be a major problem. It turned out to be really bad news. My axel was broken almost all the way through.Only about 1 1/2 left connected. That little bit probably saved our lives because I just made 2 trips to the movies with my 4 kids 2 days ago. This involved a highway drive (65mph) and about 15 miles each way. I thank GOD it didn't break through all the way on that highway. I started shaking when I read some of these posts about this problem. I believe there is a MAJOR problem with these axles. If you check all the pictures that are posted. The break occurs in the SAME spot in all the posts. There is a flaw in the making of this part. Something has to be done. I have to get it fixed. It's of no good just to junk it. I just spent over 1600.00 to fix the transmission in July. I an going to have it looked at on Monday and I hope for the best. Again, I just thanks GOD none of us got hurt and I decided to get under there today even though it is 12 degrees outside and find this problem before it was too late !!!

My wife told me, about a month ago, that her friend at work had a problem with her ford windstar. She said that the rear axel just snapped in half. When she brought it to her mechanic, he told her that he has found this to be a common problem. I did not believe that it would happen to my van, so I did not get it inspected. Two days ago, my wife called me at my job and told me she was driving the car and heard a loud bang. She felt like the tire was flat and pulled over to the side of the road. I left work, picked up my air compressor at home, and went to her. When I pulled up to the car, the rear tires did not look right. They were crooked, so I looked under the back of the car,and sure enough the axel was broken in half! We had to have it towed to the mechanic, and the repair is going to cost us $1100.00. There should be a recall on the rear axle because of the frequency of occurrences with this car make.

The rear axle of my sons Windstar split in two pieces approx. 12" from the drivers side rear tire.Seperation accured on interstate 287 in NJ. Speed was apporx. 60mph.His wife was driving.Smelled rubber burning,tire was shredding on wheel well.She got off main road,during which she heard metal scrapping. The axle fully seperated at this time.Had car towed to home.Having had owned my own towing/repair service I repaired the axle with help of old friends in salvage yard buisness.I now known why I sold buisness.Approx cost with parts was about $500,had to replace an almost new tire. The axle gave no warning sounds or signs readily visable or audiable. Axle was rusted at brake approx. 75% Clean metal was very little..

We could of been killed and I cant believe Ford hasn't offered a recall on this. My back axle just snapped in half and luckily we were not on a major highway or freeway, we could of lost control and been killed. My neighbor, who also has a 2000 Windstar, had the same problem happen to them 3 months ago and the collision center that fixed it said they had never seen anything like it and that it never should of happened. Ford needs to take responsibility for this proble before someone gets killed or is that what they are waiting for in order to respond. How many lives cost before Ford picks up their cost?