Brake Drum Problems of Mercury Villager

I sent this letter to the Ford motor company. No reply yet. I also have copies of the work that was done to the van. I hope you can help. Thank you very much. On Thursday may 3, 2007 we were driving, with my wife being the driver, north on u. S. 441 in florida. As we passed a truck we heard a growling noise. It was our van. I-75 the traffic was stopped up from an accident so we took a parallel road to the north. The van was still growling. When we got to u. S. 27 I told her we had better find a Mercury dealer and see what the problem was. We turned back into ocala and stopped at a small independent used auto sales business. We were told the Mercury dealership was just down the street, so we got back into the van and proceeded to start out. My wife had to back up a little toward busy u. S. 441. Then she screamed ?I have no brakes!? quickly she put the van into drive and it screeched and lunged forward. Now we were headed toward a chain-link fence. Still no brakes, so she was Smart enough to turn off the key and we stopped two feet from the fence. Needless to say she was my heroine. We got out and she said, ?look at this hub cap. ? the plastic connectors that hold it to the wheel were melted and the cap had fallen off. The wheel was too hot to touch. Both front wheels were very hot and now you could smell brake fluid. We called a wrecker and the people that owned the auto sales store gave us a tire store that was suppose to be the best in the area. I called them and they would take us in right away. Apparently the wheel cylinders engaged on the front of the van and the intense heat from friction built up had melted the brake hoses. We are sure glad we had not ventured onto I-75. Is this a manufacturer?s defect that hasn't been found yet?.

See all problems of the 1999 Mercury Villager 🔎.