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| Jim,
Greetings to all. This exact same thing happened to my van this weekend, except I was traveling with 4 kids when it snapped! The steering starts to float leaving you out of control in the van as well as the breaks becoming very soggy and useless...it is a scary feeling...VERY. I called the guy I bought it from and he told me he had never heard of anything like this happening...so I checked it out on the net. I too take very good care of my van and have never been in an accident but the axle snapped the only warning I had experienced was about an hour before it snapped the van started making a squealing sound when you turned the wheel to the right. I thought maybe it was a power steering problem...low on fluids. I even stopped at a service station and had the kid there look at it. He was younger had no license and told me to return in a hour when his boss was back from lunch. In this thread someone said why do we all jump to the conclusion that it is a life threatening situation when something like this happens...BECAUSE IN THIS CASE IT IS. I could not control the vehicle...if I had been going faster it would have flipped. But back to you Jim...I thought maybe this was just a sole incident but after doing a little research looks like it is not. The axles are rusting from the inside out...thats either a flaw in the materials they are manufactured from OR a flaw in the design.
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Windstar/2001/drivetrain/rear_axl...
I too called Ford this morning...was told that under their warranty & other policies Ford could not repair or pay for the part and it too was a lady who was about as compassionate as a toadstool. I informed Ford that I was saddened by the fact that my childrens safety had to fit into their rules and policies and that I felt it was morally and ethicly wrong for such a staple in american industry to treat me so "unimportantly". There is an issue with this axle and I want them to find out why it is breaking. Lets face facts only people who have children drive mini-vans...many of them have more than two children...so those childrens lives should matter to Ford. Do a little research Jim on the net...I just googled 99 Windstar van rear axle breaking and was shocked to find that this problem hasn't been addressed. Ford is just sweeping us all under a rug hoping we will go away. Some people are looking at filing class act law suits against Ford. I can only hope that they recall this part soon before something does happen to a family...but then again maybe it already has...who would ever know?
count your blessings...kiss your kids...right now all I can think about is all the thousands of these things driving around on the roads right now...ticking toward the moment it just snaps...I don't even want to have mine fixed...what are they going to put in it...as used one that could snap tomorrow or maybe another "Ford" one that snaps next week while I am doing 70 on the Interstate...this is just nooooooooooooo good!
Tamara
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Ford Windstar Broken Rear Axle Pictures
