(For the information about the coil springs... skip the next few paragraphs.)
Wow... it has been SO long since I have last written something here. You must accept my deepest apologies as I have been quite busy these days. The clock is ticking as I have the deadline of my thesis defense a little over a month away. My thesis is a little less than a half written and I still have a few lingering experiments to do! Every ounce of my energy right now is going into completing this goal. Not to mention, I have been trying to fit in a job search while all of this is going on!
Since my last post, I have celebrated Valentines day with Emily by exchanging gifts and making a home made pizza dinner. We also went out to dinner the day after to The Crystal Barn. This restaurant has been on our list for quite some time. VERY fancy place that we both enjoyed. Then I took a trip back to Buffalo to my parents house. That's where the story of my life gets a bit interesting...
Once again I am put into a position where I can use this blog as a "virtual soap box" to shout out to the world regarding a problem that must be fixed. That problem is the factory installed front coil springs on 2002 Ford Taurus automobiles.
While backing my 2002 Taurus out of a parking spot in my driveway I noticed that the car was making some odd sounds and not backing up normally. I thought I was stuck in the snow in the driveway so I looked at my tires. I discovered that the front driver side tire was completely flat and pretty badly damaged. Later I found out that the front driver side coil spring broke and punctured the tire. You can see a nice chunk of the spring in the picture below. You can also see a rather large gash in the tire from where the spring punctured it and did damage when I backed up. Thank goodness that this did not occur while I was driving at highway speed as I was planning to do while traveling later that afternoon!
Well... after replacing both front coil springs, both front tires and the front sway bar on the drivers side the repair bill totaled over $500 (including labor). That's quite a chunk of change!
It gets worse. To add insult to injury it turns out that this problem is not uncommon with my type of car. (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C) A recall has been issued for Taurus model years 1999 to 2001. The dealer told me they could do nothing to help.
Well, I have saved all my receipts and filed a complaint with the NHTSA. I urge everyone out there who has googled "2002 ford Taurus" and "coil spring" and ended up here to take the actions I have taken. If enough people complain about this problem, Ford will likely extend the recall to the 2002 model year. Let's just hope it does not take a family on a highway getting killed in an accident from this malfunction.
Needless to say, I have lost much of my faith in Ford automobiles as this is the third problem that I have been told by mechanics is common for Ford Taurus automobiles. I will NOT be buying a Ford again until they can demonstrate to me that they are making a higher quality product.
Wow... it has been SO long since I have last written something here. You must accept my deepest apologies as I have been quite busy these days. The clock is ticking as I have the deadline of my thesis defense a little over a month away. My thesis is a little less than a half written and I still have a few lingering experiments to do! Every ounce of my energy right now is going into completing this goal. Not to mention, I have been trying to fit in a job search while all of this is going on!
Since my last post, I have celebrated Valentines day with Emily by exchanging gifts and making a home made pizza dinner. We also went out to dinner the day after to The Crystal Barn. This restaurant has been on our list for quite some time. VERY fancy place that we both enjoyed. Then I took a trip back to Buffalo to my parents house. That's where the story of my life gets a bit interesting...
Once again I am put into a position where I can use this blog as a "virtual soap box" to shout out to the world regarding a problem that must be fixed. That problem is the factory installed front coil springs on 2002 Ford Taurus automobiles.
While backing my 2002 Taurus out of a parking spot in my driveway I noticed that the car was making some odd sounds and not backing up normally. I thought I was stuck in the snow in the driveway so I looked at my tires. I discovered that the front driver side tire was completely flat and pretty badly damaged. Later I found out that the front driver side coil spring broke and punctured the tire. You can see a nice chunk of the spring in the picture below. You can also see a rather large gash in the tire from where the spring punctured it and did damage when I backed up. Thank goodness that this did not occur while I was driving at highway speed as I was planning to do while traveling later that afternoon!
Well... after replacing both front coil springs, both front tires and the front sway bar on the drivers side the repair bill totaled over $500 (including labor). That's quite a chunk of change!
It gets worse. To add insult to injury it turns out that this problem is not uncommon with my type of car. (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C) A recall has been issued for Taurus model years 1999 to 2001. The dealer told me they could do nothing to help.
Well, I have saved all my receipts and filed a complaint with the NHTSA. I urge everyone out there who has googled "2002 ford Taurus" and "coil spring" and ended up here to take the actions I have taken. If enough people complain about this problem, Ford will likely extend the recall to the 2002 model year. Let's just hope it does not take a family on a highway getting killed in an accident from this malfunction.
Needless to say, I have lost much of my faith in Ford automobiles as this is the third problem that I have been told by mechanics is common for Ford Taurus automobiles. I will NOT be buying a Ford again until they can demonstrate to me that they are making a higher quality product.
1 comment:
You have been warned once before that Fords just don't cut it.
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