Steering Tie Rod Assembly problems of the 1999 Mercury Mountaineer

The passenger side tie rod of my 1999 Mercury Mountaineer, 75,000 miles, fell apart (at the ball joint) while driving. I was very lucky to not crash the car (I was on a quite road and going slowly). My car has been well kept and had a full Ford service ($800) in February. I went online and noticed that many other drivers had experienced the same problem. I kept the ball joint and found it completely worn out (you could pull it out of the socket). The car had to be towed to a repair shop and the tie bolt was replaced. The repair shop said that I should contact Ford as this was a problem with the way the ball joint was manufactured (with no way to apply new llubrication during servicing). This is potentially a very serious issue that it should be investiagated.