Five problems related to front suspension have been reported for the 2003 Mercury Sable. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Mercury Sable based on all problems reported for the 2003 Sable.
I was backing out of a driveway and I heard a loud wooshing noise. I got out to investigate and saw my front driver's side tire was flat. I tried to remove it but couldn't get a jack under the vehicle because it was so low to the ground. I finally managed to jack up the car and had a lot of trouble removing the tire. Upon further investigation I realized that the spring had broken and lodged about 3 inches into my tire. I had to have the car towed to a service station and the total cost of repair was $600. 51 in addition to the cost for towing and two new tires. I had just driven 40 miles on the express way at 70 mph and I could have been killed had this happened en route.
While backing out of driveway, note* a driveway with not even a crack in it, the front driver side tire blew. Upon removing tire, part of the spring fell to the ground and the remaining spring was found to have punctured the tire.
2003 Mercury Sable catastrophic coil spring failure.
-driver side suspension coil spring broke. Fortunately this was when car was sitting still. Coil punctured tire and broke the strut & some kind of a linkage. There was no warning sign of this problem. -replaced parts including passenger side parts knowing this was a material fatigue failure & would eventfully occur on other side too. -this part is the same as on 2000 & 2001 Sable that are now covered under an extended warranty. -this is a safety issue & should be a recall item !.
Drivers side coil spring broke and collapsed when car was placed in gear. Protruding edge of spring punctured and deflated tire. Spring and tire were replaced by mechanic at substantial expense. Old tire and spring were discarded.