All Investigations » Investigation PE05054

  Defect Investigation of Rear Coil Spring Fracture

Investigation of Rear Coil Spring Fracture

Subject: Rear coil spring fracture
Components covered:
  • Rear suspension springs
  • Rear suspension springs coil springs
Investigations Summary: This investigation was opened on Sep. 27, 2005. It was closed on Jan. 24, 2006. the office of defect investigation (odi) opened preliminary evaluation, pe05-054, based on 131 vehicle owner questionnaires related to alleged rear coil spring fractures. Since opening the investigation there have been an additional sixty-three (63) complaints alleging rear coil spring fracture. An analysis of the vehicle owner questionnaires (voqs) submitted to odi reveals that 42% of the complainants allege that the adjacent tire was punctured as result of a rear coil spring fracture. Additionally, an analysis of the complaint data received by odi from Ford reveals the following: there were a total of 553 unique vehicle complaints of coil spring fracture. 30% of the complaints allege that the rear coil spring fracture resulted in the adjacent tire being punctured. An engineering analysis (ea06-002) is being opened to further examine the potential safety implications of the rear coil spring fractures as related to tire punctures.
Vehicles Affected by this investigation:
  • 2000 Ford Taurus
  • 2001 Ford Taurus
  • 2000 Mercury Sable
  • 2001 Mercury Sable

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