general problems of the 2004 Ford Ranger

As I was driving, the bumper and spare tire came off almost causing an accident.

On November 2, 2012, I went to the place where I purchased my tires to have them rotated and the mechanic reported to me that my rear drum brakes where metal to metal. The next day I pulled the driver's side rear tire and drum and verified that there was no lining on one of the shoes. I purchased a new set of brake shoes (10") at autozone and on November 5, 2012 drove to my father's home to replace the defective shoes. Upon removal of the old shoes, we discovered that the lining of the shoe on the other side of that same wheel was cracked down the middle and coming off on one end. We also noted that the missing lining was a bonded shoe and the cracked lining was a riveted shoe. This was confirmed after inspecting the shoes on the passenger side which appeared to be wearing normally but that side also had one bonded shoe and one riveted shoe. Don't know why there would be a mix match of brake shoe types. The replacement shoes purchased from autozone were riveted only. I kept the original shoes for anyone's inspection. I recall having my vehicle being stuck from movement after sitting in my driveway, even after removal of the parking brake, on several different occasions. I had to shift from drive to reverse several times to get it to break free. The brake shoe problem could have been the reason behind that happening.

Rear brakes rusted, holding springs rusted, support pins fell out and caused brakes to drag and become worn and overheated way before their time causing replacement about 30,000 miles before they should have been. Could have caused brakes to lock while driving.

When the consumer attempted to apply the brakes, the vehicle failed to stop completely. The consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle and pulled over. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. The cause has not been determined at this time. Please provide further details.