These particular wheels on the crown victoria police interceptor were known to crack, and leak air, causing an accident. They were recalled by ford, but the police department that purchased this vehicle, yavapai-apache police in camp verde, az, never had them replaced. I am constantly adding air to my tires. Luckily I haven't had a blowout. I would settle for a used set of stock wheels(12 hole type) to replace the current 8 hole type, since I still have the original hubcaps on the vehicle
2003 Ford Crown Victoria wheels problems
42 complaints (17% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 51,472.
- owner complaints
- 42
- of this car's complaints
- 17%
- typical mileage
- 51,472
- crashes
- 0
- recalls
- 1
Which part fails
- Rim18
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
0k-25k
25k-50k
50k-75k
75k-100k
100k-125k
125k-150k
150k-175k
175k-200k
200k+
Ford Crown Victoria wheels problems in other years
Related recalls
Wheels
- What is wrong
- On certain police and taxi vehicles equipped with steel wheels, some of the wheels may develop cracks in the rim near the weld line that connects the rim to the disk.
- Risk
- The cracks can ultimately result in rapid air loss from the tire and could affect vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect and replace the four road wheels and spare wheel with the manufacturing date codes of august 18, 2001 through september 22, 2002. In addition, ford is providing extended warranty coverage for wheels on 2003 crown victoria police interceptor and taxis built from october 1, 2002 through april 29, 2003. These wheels are exhibiting cracks at a substantially lower rate than those wheels included in the recall. Owner notification began on august 8, 2003. Owners should contact ford at 1‑800‑392‑3673.
Recall number 03V279000 · Recall details
Related investigations
Fracture of the steel wheel rim
During a september 23, 2004 meeting and in subsequent discussions in november, ford advised the office of defects investigation (odi) of their plans to introduce an improved steel wheel for manufacturing and service component use on the subject vehicles, indicating this would occur in december 2004.the new wheel design incorporates an additional manufacturing process (shot peening) which lowers tensile stress in the surface layer of the rim material adjacent to the circumferential weld. Theoretically this should improve rim durability by reducing fatigue crack initiation sites.indications from ford?s accelerated testing methods show an improvement in the performance of the new wheel.in addition to prior safety recall 03v279 and service action (sa) 03m03, ford will announce a new extended warranty sa for vehicles built prior to december 2004 that suffer rim fractures in service.the new wheel design will be used as a remedy.ford advises that a sa is sufficient for addressing future wheel failures (including recall 03v279 remedy wheel failures) because: 1) failure rates are low based on ford?s analysis, and 2) driver warnings (repetitive slow air loss, and or steering wheel vibration) allow early and safe detection of cracked wheels.odi has received 25 vehicle owner questionnaire (voq) reports (involving 22 vehicles) which allege a rim fracture of one or more steel wheels.about half the reports involve vehicles built with the remedy wheel used for recall 03v279, and most of the remaining vehicles were subject to the recall.the process of identifying pertinent ford complaints is made difficult by ford?s prior recall and warranty program activities.the manufacturer complaint and warranty counts, which primarily involve failures of recall 03v279 remedy wheels, are based on analysis conducted to date and are considered to be conservative.further investigation is required, thus odi is upgrading this investigation to an engineering analysis (ea).during the ea, pertinent failure reports and consequences will be identified and reviewed.odi and ford will discuss details for conducting an audit analysis of failed wheels replaced under the new sa.additionally, odi is awaiting ford?s lab analysis of two wheels which were the subject of voq reports, one of which was involved in the noted crash event.a determination will be made as to whether ford?s service action is sufficient for addressing ongoing rim fractures.
RQ04007
Fracture of the steel wheel rim
The subject wheel (new for my 2003) is used on crown victoria (cv) and grand marquis.complaint data indicates that wheel failure affects primarily the commercial specification cv model (police and taxi) which has unique design characteristics and is generally subjected to higher usage demands.during ford's analysis, it was determined that cyclic bending moment fatigue could cause rim cracks to occur in the heat affected zone adjacent to the circumferential weld.ford implemented changes in wheel manufacture in september 2002 and introduced a new wheel design with a thicker rim in april 2003.odi found evidence that indicated rapid crack propogation might have occurred in seven wheel failure incidents, two of which lead to tire debeading.ford has announced that 29,946 commercial spec cv vehicles, manufactured prior to the september change, will be recalled to have the april 2003 design wheel installed.odi will continue to monitor for wheel failures in the subject vehicles not covered by the recall.
PE03009
What 2003 Ford Crown Victoria owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Ford dealership wont fix saftey issues recalls
My headlights dim in and out while driving and my wheel studs have popped off twice.
I have a 2003 ford crown victoria. I am having issues with the electrical system. I only have 2 speeds on my wipers. Either the second intermittent, or full speed. While on full speed, if I turn on the left turn signal, the wipers stop. A while back, my horn would just honk on its own. The worst, which made me take out the fuse, was at 3:30am one night the horn just wouldn't stop. I was asleep in the house. The windows work, sometimes. I can roll down the passenger window with the drivers side button, but have to reach across the car to roll it up with the other door switch.my lights, that are supposed to come on automatically when it's darker outside, seem to be on no matter what time of day it is. I know it is an old car, but for so many things that are wired through the electrical system, it makes me think that part of that is one of your recalls. I tried searching by VIN, but it kept telling me to enter a valid VIN. I checked it again, wrote it down twice, and tried again. I also noticed that you have a recall on the wheels for this car as well. I have replaced the tires 4 times, and the valve stems twice. For three years now, I have driven on bad, or new tires off and on. I thought the rim was bent, but read that there is a recall on steel rims that crack causing air seeping out. I really would like to have this examined. That, and along with the issues, is why I am installing a complaint to you. Down below, when it asks for when it happened, I am not sure. It has been going on so long, I'm not sure when I noticed it exactly. But the horn was close to the date below. Everything has happened since then. Thank you for your time, and hope for a quick resolution to this complaint.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford crown victoria. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 03v279000 (wheels) however, the parts to do the repair was not available. The dealer inspected the vehicle however, the technician informed the contact that the vehicle was not defective. The contact stated after driving the vehicle approximately 10,000 miles they noticed the rear passenger rim had a crack. The vehicle was returned to the dealer where they diagnosed that the due to the vehicle no longer being in law enforcement the recall did not apply to the model. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 170,400.
Dealer, who I had bought the car from and who had been servicing it, said bearing noise in r/r (mileage 44850). Repaired it for $694.57 dollars. Police and fleet crownvics were manufactured at the same time in the same plant in canada and were recalled for wheel bearing and axle problems via ford recall number 04s16. Dealer said recall only applied to fleet vehicles so I had to pay for the work. Ford customer relations simply sent me back to the dealer. Is there any possibility the l/r bearing/axle may fail? Shouldn't the dealer/ford consider this vehicle as part of the original recall? You have a number of complaints similar to mine on your website under different headings such as axle assembly, suspension rear, power train, axle shaft for the same model, year of manufacture, place of manufacture and low mileage. Just what role does your organization have in these situations? I had tried to get satisfaction in this matter much earlier but with the recent interest in safety recalls I thought I'd try again. Thank you for your consideration of my concerns.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford crown victoria. The contact stated that the front driver side wheel split where the rim connected to the center of the wheel. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign id number: 03v279000 (wheels), but the manufacturer informed him that the recall only applied to the models that were being used as police vehicles. The contact stated that the information was not indicated in the recall notice. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer did not offer any assistance. The failure mileage was 180,000.
Have been driving the car back and forth to work under normal conditions. Then realized the car had a flat, then took to the local tire shop. Where they informed me the tire was fine, but the wheel had split at the connection weld(making it no good). Found out ford had a recall, I went to my local ford dealer where they explained it was a defect and would be replaced if it was a current police vehicle. Where it is not cause I own it, they said they can not perform the recall. Now tell me how am I not anymore important than our police officials? My family is at safety risk, along with myself, and others on the road, because the wheel could split and cause and accident! So tell me why wont ford stand behind there recalled product?
2003 crown victoria. Consumer writes in regards to his vehicle not being able to be repaired under recall due to his VIN number not being included. *tgw there was a recall on the wheels.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford crown victoria pi. The contact stated that about 2 months ago he noticed a slow leak in the tire. While he was adding air in the tire he discovered that the rim was cracked. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who stated that the vehicle was no longer in recall status since the vehicle was no longer owned by a police officer. The contact is concerned about the safety risk and doesn't think it should matter if a police was driving the vehicle or not. The rims have continued to crack. The failure mileage was 100,000 and the current mileage was approximately 105,000.
Questions about the 2003 Ford Crown Victoria wheels
Does the 2003 Ford Crown Victoria have wheels problems?
Owners have filed 42 complaints about the wheels of the 2003 Ford Crown Victoria, 17% of all its complaints.
At what mileage do 2003 Ford Crown Victoria wheels problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 51,472 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2003 Ford Crown Victoria wheels?
Yes, 1 recall: 03V279000. Check your VIN to see if your car still needs the free repair.
What year does the Ford Crown Victoria have bad wheels?
The Ford Crown Victoria model years with the most wheels complaints are 2003 (42 complaints) and 1999 (12 complaints).
Other 2003 Ford Crown Victoria problems
Lights 96Suspension 27Transmission 25Electrical 20Engine 13Acceleration 11Steering 11Fuel system 9Tires 9Visibility 9Brakes 8Airbags 4Body 4Seats 4Driver assistance 1Seat belts 1
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