Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH the check engine warning lamp illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the brackets that hold the timing chain fractured. As a result, the brackets and valve cover needed to be replaced. Also, the contact stated that while driving at various speeds she could hear a grinding noise. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that the front driver side hub assembly needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was not included on any recalls. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 75,000 and the current mileage was 120,000.
2003 Ford Explorer suspension complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 63, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Brought vehicle in for routine maintenance ( brakes ) when it was discovered that both rear coil springs were broken. While having springs replaced it was discovered that the rear wheel bearings also needed to be replaced along with the rear shocks. This vehicle has been driven only less than 55,000 miles under normal driving conditions on paved city and highway roads. After inspecting the broken springs we realized that the damage wasn't a recent occurrence. They could have been defected at 40,000 miles or less.I believe ford motor company should be made aware of possible defected rear suspension parts it may be using in some of it's vehicle models and the potential safety risks this may pose on the general public.
Rear of vehicle emitted a thumping and popping sound. First thought that rear tire had blown or that rear end had malfunctioned. After regaining control of vehicle and pulling off to shoulder on three wheels and a rotor, determined that the driver's side rear wheel and tire had disappeared. All lugs and nuts were gone. Wheel had departed from vehicle and gone in an unknown direction. Rotor and caliper where still attached to vehicle. Policeman was later able to retrieve wheel and tire from some distance down the highway behind the vehicle. Rim was scored all the way around the circumference of the inside of the rim. I assume that the rim had dropped down onto either the lugs or rotor prior to finding its way out of the fender well. Blessed to be able to talk about this. Ford motor company, there are recurrent problems here. Had rear bearing replaced on same wheel approximately 16 months prior. Suggested repairs around $400.00 to start for this incident. There may be greater damage and cost because the vehicle rested and dragged upon the rear suspension strut and torsion bar prior to get it stopped and pulled off of the pavement onto the grassy shoulder.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. The contact stated that both rear coil springs fractured. The rear passenger side coil spring failed first and was repaired. The rear driver's side coil spring was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 10,585 and the current mileage was 129,000. Updated 02/27/12*lj updated 02/28/12
I went to leave for work one morning & I noticed the rear panel was cracked. It wasn't like that the night before, so it literally happened overnight. My mechanic said it was cosmetic & common problem with these trucks. I was told the window would be fine, but there is a chance of the panel piece falling off. I haven't had it fixed yet due to the expense, but I am afraid a piece may fall off while driving which could injure someone. To add insult to injury, a week later, my transmission started slipping & the o/d light was flashing. I had it towed & sure enough, it had to be rebuilt. It also needed a new hub bearing and both front ball joints had to be replaced.
Broken coil springs front and rear causing the vehicle to try and swing around to the right on slippery surfaces. Extremely dangerous.
Driver side wheel bearing failure.
2003 ford explorer front wheel bearings make a loud grinding sound. Common problem in all 2003 ford explorers. It ground down the wheel lugs from the inside and the tire came off on the freeway doing 60mph. The rotors got eaten up on the inside too. Ford needs to address this issue before someone gets killed.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. The contact noticed that the passenger side rear coil spring was abnormally covered by an unknown plastic sheet. The dealer was notified and informed the contact that there were no recalls for the vehicle. The contact did not inform the manufacturer of the failure. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic who advised the contact that the rear coil spring would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The current mileage was approximately 80,000 and the failure mileage was 78,000. Updated 02/03/11*lj updated 02/04/11
My 2003 ford explorer has only 70,000 miles on it and three out of the four wheel bearings have had to be replaced, at a total cost of over $1,100. The mechanic told me that this could cause a dangerous situation such as abnormal tire wear or the wheel coming off during driving. This potentially unsafe situation warrants a recall by ford.
I have continuous problems with my tires coming off of my 2003 ford explorer while driving following any work requiring removal of my tires (this has happened to me multiple times now). The first incident happened in 2006. The explanation that I have received is that the aluminum rims require extra torquing when placing the tire back on the vehicle. I'm not sure what the root cause really is but now I know that there is an issue with the metal in all of the areas associated with my tires being attached to my vehicle. Everything is corroded behind the hub caps of all 4 wheels. This could be associated with the issue that the windstars are experiencing, maybe the annealing process used for the metal was defective? I don't know but this is a safety issue and I want an investigation opened so that it can be corrected. I have contacted ford regarding this issue so they are aware of this and I know that there are many other individuals experiencing the same exact issue with their explorers.
While driving on hwy 38 in sc, the steering wheel started shaking real bad and then the entire SUV started shaking and we veered off the right side of the road into a field. The front left tire came off and we came to a complete stop. Upon further investigation I saw that 2 of the 5 lug posts were sheared off and the other 3 were bent. In addition the molding around the front right tire came off and the driver's side door was jammed shut. After everyone was out safely the SUV has been towed and is with an auto center for repairs and body work. I searched online and this is a known problem for this vehicle yet ford has not had any recalls despite the frequency of this issue. If you search "2003 ford explorer problems" it will come up. This needs to be looked into before someone gets killed. I can see that several people have paid for their vehicles to be repaired only to have it happen again on another wheel.
The front bearings on my 2003 ford explorer have gone out in the past two weeks. The vehicle has 75,000 miles on it. The car stopped steering and I had a very difficult time driving it to the nearest repair station. Had I been on the highway it would have been a disaster. The right front bearing went at the beginning of the month and the left at the end of the month. The mechanics that worked on the vehicle stated that they see many of these. Additionally we had to replace the rear strut assembly since the spring actually snapped. This too was familiar to the mechanic. When researching this issue I have found that many owners have the same problems. The mechanics I have spoken to stated that wheel bearings should not go that soon and that this is a hazard that should be fixed.
I suggest you check the one url shown below - there are over 400 examples of ford springs fracturing because of a defect in the spring material. Http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/ford_springs.html I have two broken springs - I called ford to ask if they would fix the defect of course they said no way - the federal safety agency has not forced us to do a recall.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. While driving between 50-60 MPH, the contact heard a loud grinding noise coming from the rear suspension. He took the vehicle to the dealer and they replaced the rear bearings; however, the failure recurred two months later. The vehicle is currently being repaired at a repair shop. Through online research, he found numerous complaints for this identical failure with other ford explorers. The failure mileage was 67,000 and current mileage was 109,000.
2003 ford explorer 4 dr. Rear coil spring is broken. No rust on outside of spring, but its broken due to bad metal used to make it.
Both front and rear wheel bearings failed on my 2003 ford explorer at 67,000 miles. The vehicle is only driven on paved roadways and has been maintained by both myself and ford. Under normal operating conditions all 4 of these bearings should not have failed.
I bought my 2003 ford explorer in sept 2007. After driving it to and from work I noticed a loud humming sound up front @ 94,000miles. When I finally had it looked at 2 months later, I had to replace the drivers side front side wheel bearing. Now a few months later the passenger side front bearing is humming even worse so I had that one replaced. 10,000 miles later the drivers side has started doing the same thing again. I do not live on a dirt road, there is no reason for this to happen in such a short time. I have never had to replace a $400.00 wheel bearing (each) in my life on any truck or car that I have owned until now on a ford explore.
While driving loud grinding noise followed by a pulling to the side. A dangerous and possible catastrophic event. This is apparently a common problem with ford explorers. Had car towed and new wheel bearing placed. A very expensive and should be unneeded repair.
I bought a 2003 ford explorer xlt right off the lot brand new. Within months I noticed a small wet spot in the rear of the vehicle. After my first oil change I mentioned it to where I bought the vehicle and the told me that my differently is low but not leaking. Then I asked what about the wet spot on the ground. With 7 months from that a huge puddle from the rear of my car on vacation with the vehicle and drop it at a ford dealer it's my rear differently seals. Fixed that paid for it because they say where and tear. About 1 year later same thing get it fixed about 1 year and half same thing and continue to fix it. Talk to ford motor company they say it is out of warranty but when I started calling them in 2004 it was only 5 months old and I paid for the piece to be repaired. Today my vehicle is back in the shop for a fourth time same exact problem although now the ford dealership says the axle is frozen in there and they need to break it before fixing the rear differential. Why hasn't this been recalled. Seeking help for this lemon!!!!
On 7/15/08 we brought our 2003 ford explorer to the dealership for a tune-up. We then found out our front wheel bearing needed replacing. Other problems occurred too. The lower ball joints and upper control arm also needed to be replaced. We also had a front pinion seal leaking. The cost of the tune-up was $555.54 while all the other problems costs us $1402.30. We were prepared to pay for the tune-up but not for all the other problems. We asked if ford could help out before this work was done but the dealership said we were out of warranty so we had no choice but to pay and have it fixed because the dealership told us these were safety issues. Soon after we left the dealership we noticed a loud noise coming from the front. We thought it was the tires. We brought our explorer back to the dealership on 7/31/08 only to find out the other front wheel bearing had gone. They told us it would cost another $365 and again we asked if ford could help out and they said we would need to call ford ourselves. Which we did in the waiting room of the dealership. Ford did not want to help at all. I explained to ford all the complaints I found on the federal safety agency site as well as the technical service bulletins on the same exact problem we were having with our explorer. Ford finally said they would cover $265 but we would have to pay $100 as a deductible. We said no and tried to explained to ford that these parts were defective and that ford should cover all the expenses. Ford said it was up to the federal safety agency site to issue a recall and until that time ford will not pay for these defective parts. The service manager then said he would cover the $100 but we would have to go after ford on our own for the past expenses. We had the part fixed but we want ford to step up and do the right thing and admit these parts are defective and cover the costs. Our explorer has only 73000 miles and we feel these parts should not have gone. Ford should care more about their customers safety.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. The contact heard a loud whining sound coming from the rear of the vehicle while accelerating and decelerating. The service manager stated that he could not find anything in his computer that was related to the failure. There are currently ten the federal safety agency service bulletins related to the failure. The current mileage was 76,000 and failure mileage was 55,000. Update 09/10/08 *cw the consumer was told the rear axle may have to be replaced. Updated 09/11/08.
Wheel bearing needs to be replaced after 50k miles which seems to be very common on 2000+ model year ford explorers.
Loud roaring sound inside of car. Turned out to be the front drivers side wheel bearing. Replaced now the rear is doing the same thing. My vehicle doesn't have enough miles for these failures to happen.
Bearings in ford explorer almost seized.... This could cause a major problem if they had not been replaced. 3 out of four at one time?
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. At 50,000 75,000 and 80,000 miles, the wheel bearings failed. The two front and the rear driver side wheel bearings were replaced several times. At 30,000 miles, the contact took the vehicle back to the dealer for the state inspection and they stated that four wheel bearings needed to be replaced. The dealer further stated that the frequent failures of the wheel bearings may be due to driving on a dirt road. The manufacturer stated that there was no recall for the failure; therefore, he should take the vehicle to the dealer. The contact will have the wheel bearings replaced, but he feels that the manufacturer should be responsible for the cost. The dealer information and purchase date were unavailable. The current mileage was 130,000 and failure mileage was 60,000.
Loss control of my SUV, and found out my spindle, bearings and everything was shot!
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. While driving 30 MPH, the contact heard a whining noise coming from the vehicle. The noise becomes louder as the vehicle travels faster. The whining appears to be coming from the rear suspension. The failure mileage was 120,000 and current mileage was 144,800. Updated 04/14/08. *lj the consumer stated the transmission was replaced at no charge by ford at 55,000 miles due to a defect. The 4-wheel drive makes excessive noise when in gear. Updated
Reference my 2003 ford explorer 4x4. Right rear spring is broken. Vehicle only has 45,506 miles.
Recently had to have the rear bearing and hub replaced b/c it was going bad. Repair shop informed me that it was very dangerous b/c the wheel could come off while driving and it was walking wearing the brake pads out unevenly resulting in additional safety concerns. The repair shop is replacing bearing assembly and all brakes. I have researched this and notice many other people having similar issues. It only was detected b/c we thought the transmission was acting up which was still under warranty. So we took it in. If we hadn't, my family could have been seriously injured if the wheel came off and/or brakes failed due to bearing being bad causing brakes to wear unevenly. The repair cost about $1500.
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