As I tried to pull forward from a parking spot, I noticed the vehicle would not hardly move forward, and a very loud groaning noise was present. I could not turn the wheel, and as I tried to back up, I heard a loud pop. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the left front tire had blown, and the left front spring was broken and sticking into the tire on the inside! The spring did not look rusty or excessively dirty.
2002 Mercury Sable suspension complaints
Page 2 of 9: complaints 11 to 40 of 239, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Backed the sable to the end of my driveway, was moving very slowly, when a loud bang was heard under the car. Upon inspection, the drivers side front coil spring had broken and a jagged edge of the broken coil spring punctured the tire. I contacted my local dealer who said there was no recall on the spring for this year and model. I then did some research on the internet and discovered that this is a fairly common occurrence on this car and the similar ford taurus.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH, an abnormal noise from the front end of the vehicle. The contact indicated that the driver's side coil spring was fractured. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact notified the manufacturer of the defect but no solution was offered. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign 04v332000 (suspension) the contact stated the vehicle experienced the same defect listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 109,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that while backing the vehicle out of the garage, the front driver's side suspension coil spring suddenly fractured and punctured the side tire. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 105,000.
I moved the car in my driveway and the left front spring broke and went through the tire sidewall. If this had happen at highway speed or even less the car could have gone off the road and rolled. I had the car towed and the truck driver told me this was a common problem. He said he ran into a couple time a month. I called ford and they said there was no recall. I know the car is 11 years old, but it has very low miles and the spring had no rust it looked like new. This seems to be a serious safety issue please look into it.
My car was parked in the garage, when I sat down in the seat I hear a loud noise, which was caused by the driver front side coil spring broke and plunged into the tire. Had this had happened while driving it would have most like cause a severe accident. The cost to fix it was higher as it was recommended that both front springs be replaced for safety reasons.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that both front coil springs were fractured and punctured both front tires. The contact had the vehicle towed to a dealer for repair. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign id number: 04v332000 (suspension) but was advised that the recall only pertained to the 2001 model sable and not the 2002 model although the vehicle was manufactured in december 2001. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 95,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the front driver's side coil spring fractured and punctured the front driver's side tire. The contact replaced the coil spring. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The VIN was not available. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 190,000.
I started my car and started to back out of my garage. I went about 1 foot when I heard a pop, then the front left side of the car dropped instantly. The tire was flat, so took another vehicle to work. When I came home from work, I jacked the car up to pull the tire off, but couldn't. At inspecting the front wheel assembly in noticed that the coil spring was into the tire side wall. Not knowing what happened, I called my mechanic who came the next day to inspect the damage. He was able to pull the tire off the car and we saw that the bottom part of the spring had broken off and went into the tire. My mechanic said both front springs would have to be replaced with the tire and strut support. He said I was very lucky that I was not driving, because I or persons could have been severly injured. I drive 22 miles one way to work on hilly and windy roads. The broke spring was not damaged or have any corrosion. There was a recall of sable and taurus vehicles (the federal safety agency #04v332000) for this exact problem. After searching the internet, I have found hundreds of people with the same problem for 2002 sable / taurus. Why hasn't the previous recall for the earlier vehicles be extended to year 2002?
Tl* the contact owns 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked in a residential garage when he heard a loud sound. The contact inspected the vehicle and discovered that the strut spring was fractured and had punctured the front driver's side tire. The vehicle was taken to a repair facility. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 95,000. Updated 03/15/13
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that the vehicle made a loud grinding noise while reversing then the left front end dropped. The contact inspected the vehicle and found that the left front tire was flat. The vehicle was towed to the mechanic and was inspected. The left front coil spring fractured due to corrosion and cut the tire side wall. The manufacture was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 55,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that while parked, the coil spring fractured and pierced the front driver's side tire. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic, who advised the contact that the front coil springs and the struts needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance due to the vehicle not being included in any recalls. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure and the current mileage was 72,800. Updated 3/13/13
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that while parked, the vehicle made a loud snapping noise. The contact mentioned that while he drove the vehicle out of the garage the passenger front tire blew. After inspecting the vehicle he noticed that the passenger front coil spring broken. The manufacturer advised that the vehicle was included in the federal safety agency campaign id number: 04v332000 (suspension: front: springs: coil springs). The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current and mileage was 113,000.
Front left coil spring fractured when I got into my car. Car was parked. Coil spring penetrated the front tire and ruptured it. This is identical to the failure reported in 04v332000, but my car is about 6 months older than the manufacturing range of that recall.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that the front driver's side coil spring fractured. The contact stated that the vehicle was recently parked when the coil spring fractured and pierced through the front driver's tire. The vehicle operated properly prior to the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileages were 72,000. Updated 09/05/12*lj updated 09/10/2012
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 MPH in snowy weather, the contact heard a loud noise from the front of the vehicle. After inspecting the vehicle he noticed that the front driver side tire was deflated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where they advised him that the coil spring had fractured and punctured the tire. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000. The VIN was not available.
I was backing out of my garage when I immediately became aware the vehicle was not moving normally, the front drivers side tire was completely flat. When I was changing the tire I noticed the spring had broken and punctured and ruined the tire. This evidently happened while the car was parked in the garage as I heard no noise from the breaking spring or escaping air. I feel fortunate this happened in the garage and not at highway speeds.
The following addresses an issue I encountered with my vehicle, a 2002 mercury sable. On january 12th, 2012, I was driving on a two way road during a heavy snowstorm. I was traveling about 35 miles per hour, which was below the speed limit, due to the road conditions. At this time, I heard a loud noise and experienced a loss of control over my vehicle. After pulling over, I investigated the noise and discovered that the front right tire was completely shredded and partially off the rim. I towed the car to a repair shop and learned that the suspension spring broke and punctured the tire and damaged the strut. This is also a year and a half after I had a similar problem with the front left spring. Neither the strut nor the tires were damaged during this event at that time.
Driver backing out of parking space when heard metallic grinding sound followed by a bang. Then we heard the sound of metal on pavement. When got out of car the drivers side of the car was sitting so low that I could not get a jack under it. The driver front tire was completely shredded on the inside of the wheel well. It is costing us $700 to repair. As per odi resume ea 08-18 document under reason for closing the following sentence appears, "the coil springs in the subject vehicles are defective." even if there is no real danger to traffic safety it is still and issue that ford should be required to address, we as the driving public should not have to pay hundreds of dollars to repair it. Also if ford wants to keep their customers they should address problems such as this. We are thinking of looking to toyota or honda for our next car after driving fords since 1997.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked when he noticed that the front driver's side tire was flat. The vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop and the contact was informed that the front driver's side coil spring fractured and punctured the tire. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 123,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable gs. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH, there was a loud bang and the front passenger tire blew. The contact almost lost control of the vehicle as she merged onto the shoulder and rolled into a ditch. There were no injuries and the vehicle was not damaged. The tire was removed and the spare was installed. The vehicle was then taken back to the dealer where the tire was originally purchased and after inspection, the technician advised that the coil spring caused the tire damage. The dealer was notified of the coil spring failure and advised that there were no recalls for the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted who confirmed that there were no recalls and offered no further assistance. The failure mileage was 113,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that the vehicle was not balanced and dropped to the floor abnormally. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the technician advised that the front coil spring was fractured and caused damage to the brake pad and blower. The front coil spring, brake pad and blower were replaced. After the repair the front coil spring fractured a second time. The vehicle was not further repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 59,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated that the front coil spring fractured and punctured the tire. The dealer advised the contact that the vehicle was not included in the recall associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number:04v332000 (suspension:front:springs:coil springs). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The current and failure mileages were 70,000. The vehicle was awaiting repairs. Updated 08/31/11
Tl*the contact owns 2002 mercury sable. The contact stated while driving, she heard a loud noise, and noticed the passenger front tire was flat due to the coil spring which broke in half and punctured the passenger front tire. The failure occurred while driving at a low speed into the driveway. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who replaced the front coil springs, the stabilizer link, and tire. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer would not assist with the repair, because the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign id number: 04v332000 suspension: front: springs: coil springs. The failure and the current miles were 104,000.
My wife entered our 2002 mercury sable wagon to go to work today. As she sat down in the car, the left front tire exploded. When we removed the tire to see what happened, it was apparent that the coil spring in the suspension had broken and a sharp point on the spring punctured the tire. The car was stationary when this occurred, thankfully.
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. While driving approximately 5 MPH the contact stated that it became difficult to control the steering wheel and then noticed the passengers front tire blew out. The contact inspected the vehicle and also noticed the front coil spring had broken. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated previously that the rear coil springs had also broken. The approximate failure mileage was 44,372.
On may 25, 2010, the left rear strut and spring broke, and punctured my tire. One year later, almost to the date, the left front strut and spring broke and punctured that tire also. Luckily for the second incident, the car was parked. I would hate to think what might have happened had I been driving the car at the time. The rod was right inside the tire, and I'm sure it would have created an accident! Ford/mercury has no recall on my VIN, although there are recalls on the ford taurus, which is basically the same car. It is also not part of the ford customer satisfaction guarantee as some of the taurus' are. I think ford/mercury should have taken the appropriate action to have these repaired.
Left front spring broke gouging an 8 inch tear in tire side wall causing a blowout and damage to anti-lock brake system. Transmission mount was also damaged. If this had happened at highway speeds, loss of steering control and braking could have caused serious injuries. Ford denies any responsibility. I was told that ford had admitted frequent spring failure on its 1999 to 2001 taurus/sable vehicles and installed guards to protect the tires from blowout. This is second spring failure in 2 years. The first time was the right rear spring broke damaging strut and gouging tire but not causing deflation. Two spring failures on the same vehicle in 2 years indicate that it is not an isolated incident. This is time bomb waiting for someone to get seriously injured.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. While driving approximately 5 MPH in reverse, the contact smelled burning rubber and stated that the tire was rubbing against the vehicle. The contact inspected the exterior of the vehicle and discovered that the front passenger side coil spring was fractured. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and the entire front end assembly was replaced. The contact stated that the rear springs and shocks were also replaced approximately two years prior to the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 88,000.
We were pulling out of a parking space, heard a "whoosh" and found the front right tire had deflated. Called aaa to have it pumped up or the spare put on. When the driver attempted to take the tire off, it was stuck. The coil spring had come loose and punctured the tire. The coil was sticking through the tire like a meat hook. We had to cut the rest of the rubber on the tire to release it. We had the vehicle towed and are awaiting the repair estimate. Doing research, it appears this is a long-standing problem on ford vehicles, specifically the mercury sable and taurus. Recalls on 1999-2001 models were not extended beyond those years, despite similar problems. We feel we were very lucky in this instance, as the previous day, we had a 230 mile business trip. It could have been a disaster at 72mph.
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