Brake Disc Caliper problems of the 2005 Ford Freestar

Took my 2005 Ford Freestar minivan with only 43,223 miles into Ford dealer for annual safety inspection. Advised both rear calipers were bad, caused premature wear of break pads and rotors which needed turned. The repair cost me $581. 40. I have owned many vehicles, and never have I had calipers fail at 43k miles. I believe this to be a manufacturer defect that I as a consumer had to foot the bill for. I do not have the parts.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestar. In the summer of 2008 he noticed that the vehicle surged and shut off when he attempted to park at low speeds. The dealer diagnosed the failure and determined that the throttle body failed; however, the part is on back order. He also stated that the rear calipers were defected and that they were unable to repair them. The vehicle identification number was not available. The failure mileage was 45,000 and the current mileage was 59,000.

I took my car in for a routine oil change and tire rotation. (which I do every 5k, this was at about 40k). Rear driver brake pads were down to 10%, all others were fine. When replacing pads, the mechanic found brake fluid had leaked into the caliper, causing it to fail. The caliper failure caused overheating and dragging of the ceramic brake pad on the rotor, cutting a huge groove into rotor, which negated any chance of machining. The calipers, rotors and brake pads all required replacement with less than 40k miles on the car. . . Big $$$$. This failure seemed pre-mature, and was unusual even to a service manager with many years of experience. (he suggested that Ford should be notified, which they were, today, 11/26/2007).

The left rear caliper froze and wore out the brake and rotor. Then in 2012 the left rear caliper froze and wore out brake and rotor. As well as the right rear caliper.

I returned from a cross country trip and heard a grinding noise coming from the rear of my 2005 Ford Freestar. To investigate I removed the wheels and found the passenger rear rotor and disc pad were metal to metal. I checked the other wheels, they showed no signs of damage, pads still had a lot of material remaining. I took the vehicle to craig Ford, in craig, colorado for repairs. At first I was told that it was a defective brake caliper and that warranty would cover the caliper, rotor and pads. However I was told later that the caliper was not defective and that I would be responsible for the total repair costs. Note, I had less than 30,000 miles on the vehicle at the time of the brake failure. I had to pay for the new rotor for the passenger rear, rear pads and turning the driver rear rotor which I was told is a normal procedure for e rear break job; I was not charged for a caliper so I presume craig Ford reused the caliper. Since work was being done on the rear, and I was having to pay for the repairs, I instructed craig Ford to do a complete brake job replacing pads and turning rotors on the front as well so that I would be starting again with 100% new brakes on all 4 wheels. When I picked the vehicle up, I was advised by the service manager, rob sovine, that he checked and there appeared to be a number of incidents of 2005 Ford Freestar passenger rear brakes wearing prematurely, with no know reason for this problem; and that there was no recall or service bulletin regarding this problem. I had no choice but to pay for the repairs as the vehicle was inoperable, but since I was not the only owner experiencing this problem, according to mr. Sovine, I felt and still do feel that Ford should do something about this problem.