Four problems related to front suspension coil spring have been reported for the 1996 Ford Contour. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The parking brake wouldn't release. We towed the car to midas. The inspection identified normal brake wear, but also serious front end deficiencies. The manager told us both front coil springs were broken and had been broken for some time, causing one strut to bend. He said had the second strut bent or broke, the car body would have dropped down onto the tires. He said the car was unsafe to drive.
Springs in front broke, and then vehicle started to veer left to right. Also, struts were damaged. Dealership was aware of it.
Springs are broken at the driver side and making clicking noise . Mechanic ( midas shop) told me that this is a classic problem with this model of cars due to bad design for these cars to break very easy mostly on the left side.
Vehicle has a crack in transmission housing. Consumer states while mechanic was performing routine maintenance he observed a crack in the bottome of the transmission housing, since no transmission work has ever been performed under consumer's ownership roughly since 41,000 miles in the mechanic's opinion that either the transmission housing was cracked when installed or another transmission was put in resulting in a cracked housing, he also observed what might be bad front coil springs, they are making a rubbing nosie on an uneven surface or in a sharp turn to the right,consumer has contacted manufacturer they have called her consumer back but they have turned the complaint into a feedback report consumer has also had rotors turned and serviced twice.