Front Suspension Control Arm Problems of Mercury Grand Marquis

I am an automotive technician and I service many vehicles daily. I currently own a 97 Mercury Grand Marquis LS and have noticed that practically most steering components on my vehicle are in need of replacing. Specifically the tie rod ends, control arms, ball joins all have blown bushings and a pitman arm. . . . The steering sways so hard on this vehicle. I have noticed that customer's vehicles that I have worked on that are similar to the crown vic, and the marquis are showing signs of steering component concern as well. I see more fords with steering issues than any other vehicle that I service. The vehicles also seem to have issues with anyone sitting in the back that the body will scrape the tires and there are multiple electrical issues. I have had to rig my vent door actuator and I have had to install a shut off switch due to a parasitic draw that I can not locate even with a volt meter. After researching on forums and watching countless youtube videos of owners stating these known issues I believe that it is beyond maintenance standards for these parts all to be faulty from this car manufacturer.

See all problems of the 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis 🔎.

Autozone- valucraft brand- ball joints part number vfa2101 I recently had my ball joints replaced and I had a premature failure of the ball joint fastening hardware while driving down the city road in a straight line at 45 mph. It caused thousands of dollars of damage and it also almost cause me great injury. I suspect autozone is using low grade nuts cause the nut that was on the ball joint sheared off causing me to bend a control arm, crack my frame, blow a tire, all while barely missing a telephone pole. Had I been going down the highway at the posted speed limit I could have flipped my car, got pulled under a semi, cross the median into oncoming traffic and so on. I would like for an investigation to be started on their poor engineering choices and a recall to be started. Its just not for the safety of me but for the safety of other people. I do have all damage pictures and pictures of the failure point. I have pictures of the nut in question compared to another competitors brand and there is a noticeable size difference and hardness difference. The ball joints were replaced 9/26/2015 and failed on 4/25/2016. Autozone part number vfa2101. My belief is the nut is a lower grade when it should be a grade 8 nut. I say thousands of dollars because the auto body shops around me said they will not repair the frame because its a liability and would recommend a new frame to be put under the vehicle essentially totaling my car out causing me to have to spend thousands to replace my vehicle.

See all problems of the 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis 🔎.

This happened while driving my 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis. The lower control arm ball joint broke while driving, resulting in suspension collapse. This breakage resulted in a irrefutable total loss of vehicle control. There was not a crash because luckily I was driving at very low speed in a street while there were not other vehicles around. If this had happened a few minutes before when I was in the expressway I am totally sure it had resulted in a catastrophic multi car accident. Car is in a repair shop.

Occasional "popping" in right rear of car. On going since car was purchased on Nov. 26, 2002. Reported each time car was taken for service. At servicing on Nov. 11, 2003, technicians found "right rear upper control arm missing. . . Found right rear upper control are bolt out. ".

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While backing out of driveway left ball joint fell out of vehicle. Dealer contacted. Consumer also stated left tir rod end and ball joint failed, and also the right side is in poor condition, dealer replaced the outer and inner tie rod ends.

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While backing car out of driveway the left control arm broke causing a large segment of the front end to drop to the ground and a the left front to lift and be unresponsive. Nlm.

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Consumer was backing out of driveway and left control arm bolt broke in half and there was no nut. Left side of the wheel collapsed. Vehicle was a rental. Consumer took vehicle to the dealership, and they told him that they were not interested in reporting the problem to Ford.

See all problems of the 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis 🔎.