Rear Suspension Springs Problems of Ford Windstar

Tl-the contact owns a 2000 Ford Windstar. The contact stated that while stationary, the rear axle rusted and fractured without warning. Phil long Ford of colorado springs, colorado was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the vehicle was not included in the recall related to the failure due to its location in a dry state versus those that are only being covered in humid states. The failure mileage was 136,000. Ad.

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My wife has been complaining that she was hearing loud noises coming from the rear of her 2000 Ford Windstar. I checked the shocks and springs and everything was okay. Today she was backing out of the driveway on her way to work when I noticed that the left rear tire was badly tilted inward. I stopped her and looked under the van and noticed that the rear axle had split in two. There is no significant signs of rust or corrosion, just a huge fracture of the entire axle.

The rear axle beam on my 2000 Ford Windstar van broke in half suddenly shortly after exiting the freeway. Just prior to exiting the freeway the van shuttered and vibrated bad enough to cause me to slow down to about 50 mph before exiting the freeway. Fortunately I was only traveling about 30 mph when the incident occurred. Although both rear wheels collapsed against the inside rear wheel wells and the vehicle swayed from side to side I was able to safely get it stopped with causing an accident. During the past couple of weeks the van had an on and off vibration and seemed to wander in its lane on occasion. I took it in for front end service work last week and had the inner tie rod ends replaced as well as some front end bushings. Although the steering was tightened up, the periodic vibration was still there. It took about 5 minutes on the internet to discover this is not an isolated incident. I found about 130 similar issues/complaints by googling "Ford Windstar axle problems. " this is clearly a very serious safety issue. At this point I don't know if anyone has been killed or injured but I intend to find out. The problem appears to involve 2000 & 2001 Windstars with mileage ranging from 70k to 160k. Based on the inspection of my vehicle and review of other posted complaints it appears Ford uses a double walled u shaped steel beam to support and connect the rear wheels and springs. The axle beam is not totally enclosed around the spring mounts. Water enters the axle tube and has no where to drain. Over time the water promotes rusts and weakens the axle tube from the inside out until metal fatigue sets in and the axle eventually fails. I suspect this problem will bleed into the 2002/2003 models as they age and eventually rust out. This situation is a virtual time bomb for unsuspecting Ford Windstar van owners.

Consumer was moving out of a parking lot and rear of vehicle dropped. Consumer got out of vehicle, thinking it was a flat tire. Rear coil spring on left side broke and punctured tire. Dealer diagnoised that vehicle needed rear coil springs and struts. A mehanic repaired vehicle using Ford parts ordered by the consumer. Both sets of coil springs needed to be replaced.

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