I was driving my car, after driving home from work (approx. 70 miles round-trip). While turning I heard a loud crunch and then felt a hard thud, my vehicle was difficult to steer, felt another crunch. I pulled into a parking stall, after parking my vehicle, another loud crunch, the driver's side wheel had fallen off and was wedged into the wheel well. On March 12th, 2012 my repair facility informed me about the items that need replaced: Upper and lower left front ball joints, front outer tier rod ends, new fuel filter- damaged in the incident, two new tires & an alignment. I realized how lucky I was that this did not occur while driving down the road. I conducted google search on 2001 Lincoln Ls suspension problems, I was stunned on the amount of safety related hits out there (suspension related), I realized that this was not isolated to just my vehicle, there were pages-of-pages of people that experienced similar suspension problems with their 2001 Lincoln. There was a suspension related recall: Lincoln / Ls 2000-2001, Ford Motor Company, date: Nov 01, 2000 NHTSA campaign id number: 00V359001 N/a NHTSA action number: N/a component: Suspension: Front: Control arm: Lower ball joint, number of affected: 82,300 summary: Vehicle description: Passenger vehicles. The front suspension lower ball joints were not tightened to specifications when they were attached to the lower control arms. Consequence: If the ball joint attaching nuts are not adequately tightened, they can loosen and, ultimately, result in fracture of the ball joint stud. If the ball joint fractures, control of the vehicle could be affected, increasing the risk of a crash. Remedy: Dealers will inspect the torque on the two ball joint attaching nuts. Vehicles with loose ball joint attaching nuts will either have the fasteners tightened to specification, or if necessary, the ball joints will be replaced.

- Decatur, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While driving approximately 25 mph over a roadbump, the contact lost slight control because the vehicle began to abnormally sway from left to right. In addition, the four wheel rims installed on the vehicle were corroded near the hub. The dealer was notified of the failure and they informed the contact that the VIN was not included in the recall associated with NHTSA campaign id number 00V359001 (suspension: Front: Control arm: Lower ball). There was also a manufacturer voluntary recall on the wheel rims but the VIN was ineligible. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 148,000.

- Providence Rhode Island, NY, USA

2001 Lincoln Ls--front passenger wheel- there was alot of squeaking noises coming from the wheel before incident occurred. Yesterday, going through a drive-thru, I heard a pop. I got out and inspected the vehicle. The fender was resting on the tire. I called a tow truck and as he was trying to put the car on the tow truck, he showed me the damage. The bolt that holds the ball joint and control arm to the wheel came off. Please investigate this for me, and contact me when you find something out! thx

- Canton , GA, USA

- the contact owns a 2001 Lincoln Ls. While driving at approximately 2 mph the wheel caved in. The car was towed to the dealer and repaired. The mechanic state the failure was due to the lower ball joints, and provided the contact with a copy of recall #00V359001. The contact called Ford, who stated the recall was not related to this vehicle. The contact felt Ford wasn't accepting responsibility for the incident. The contact will further investigate, and was concerned about the safety risk involved as the incident could have been devastating if it had occurred while driving at at a much faster speed. Updated 03/30/07.

- Berwin , IL, USA