Several months to a year ago, I received a recall notice from Ford/Lincoln telling me to have my tire rods inspected. I did so the last time the care was in for service and was told all was ok and they didn't need to be replaced. Last night, while driving near rfk stadium in Washington, DC, the tire rod on my 99 Lincoln Navigator severed from the vehicle causing me to lose control of the vehicle and steering. Shortly before incident I had been on the beltway going 55 mph. At the time of the incident, I was only traveling 25-30 mph. By luck, the car veered into a exxon gas station. In talking with the Lincoln service dealer this morning, they seem to be well aware of the problem and informed me that there really is no way to tell if the tire rod joint is worn by inspection. They seem to imply that the problem is well known but that other than the letter, there has been no recall. The vehicle has only 80,000 miles'most of which are traveled on the highway (between ocean city and bethesda md. The part in question was replaced at the exxon station last night and I took the vehicle and part this morning to manhattan Lincoln in rockville, md. They suggested replacing the other tire rod (at cost to me) and then informed me later in the day that the sway bar links also needed replacing at a cost of $275 for both. Apparently one of them was loose or had already come off. Not sure if the incident last evening cause this. I request that NHTSA look into this matter asap. I travel back and forth to ocean city, md almost every weekend and am convinced that had this incident occurred at 55 mph or while traveling over the chesapeake bay bridge, you'd probably have four fatalities to investigate (my wife and two children). The VIN number is [xxx]. please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions. Sincerely, [xxx]. updated 07/19/2012 information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Bethesda, MD, USA