2003 Mercury Sable: tire blowout or tread separation

Filed Oct 15, 2015 · Tires · 105,029 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable equipped with douglas x-trac 2 tires, size: p215/60/r16. While driving 65 MPH, the front passenger side tire blew out. As a result, the vehicle veered but the contact was able to regain control of the vehicle. The vehicle and tire were not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The dot number and VIN were unknown. The vehicle failure mileage was 105,029 and the tire failure mileage was 5,159.

Filed Mar 24, 2015 · Suspension · 105,000 miles · WV

Originally, 2 days prior, car felt like I was dragging something underneath. Got out and looked around car, didn't see anything. Left car for 2 days, then started to head to work. Was going only about 20mph when smoke poured out from under my car. A moment later my front passenger side tire blew. Had a friend come to help me change to the spare. He drove the car about 2 minutes back to my house and as soon as he parked it, he took the spare off because we heard a weird popping noise when he was jacking the car back up. Looked and the coil spring on the passenger side had broken and rubbed so violently against the tire that it had torn a 10-14" long hole in the tire and had burnt a ring around the inside of the tire. Thankfully I had 2 friends to replace the whole unit. I also was able to take my goodyear tire back to sam's and they prorated my tire (had less than 6,000 miles on them!!) and replaced it. Time will tell if the other one will go out but the federal safety agency needs to look at this problem. If I had been going faster, I most certainly would have been in a very bad accident. I am very thankful I had friends who were able to change the whole coil spring for me. But if this were to happen while traveling at a high rate of speed, the end result could be catastrophic.

Filed Jan 23, 2014 · Suspension · 91,000 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH, a loud noise emitted outside of the vehicle. The contact inspected the vehicle and noticed that the rear passenger side tire exploded due to a fractured coil spring. The vehicle was towed to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that both front clock springs, the coil springs, and the stabilizer spring bar needed to be replaced. The contact also stated that the failure occurred on the front driver's side several months later. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The approximate failure and current mileage were 91,000.

Filed Jul 1, 2013 · Suspension · 154,000 miles · ME

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated that while traveling approximately 10 MPH, the passenger side front coil spring failed and punctured the tire, causing a blow out. The vehicle was taken to a private dealer where it was determined that the coil spring had failed. The vehicle was repaired. The contact also stated that the failure occurred on the front driver's side several months later. The manufacturer was not contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 154,000. The current mileage was 156,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Apr 25, 2013 · Suspension · 100,000 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 MPH, a loud noise emitted outside of the vehicle. The contact inspected the vehicle and noticed that the front driver's side tire exploded due to the fractured coil spring. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that both front coil springs, the driver side tire, and sway bar needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 100,000.

Filed Apr 17, 2013 · Suspension · 72,000 miles · MA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated that after shifting into drive, a loud noise emitted outside of the vehicle. The contact inspected the vehicle and noticed that the front passenger's side tire exploded due to the fractured coil spring. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where both front coil springs were replaced. Also, the front passenger's side tire was replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 72,000.

Filed Jun 18, 2012 · Electrical · MA

I own a 2003 mercury sable, and approximately back in 2010 I experienced my first failure of the blower resistor motor. Then one month later I experienced another failure, being under warranty they replaced it, another month goes by and yet another failure, take it back and we tried to figure why it was failing. We then come up my car was mainly garaged, and I rarely drive in the rain. On the three different dates of failure we were experiencing heavy rain that I had driven in and upon the next day or two going out it failed. They then put silicone around and near everything. Now it is may of 2012 and I experience another failure, doing some of my own investigating I am shocked to know that this is a known issue for 2001 - 2004 ford taurus and mercury sable cars. And there is a tsb 04-15-3 on how to resolve this issue. To me this is a very potential fire hazard since when the water comes into contact with live electricity to cause the blow out can indeed cause a shock or even damage the blower motor. And if a person foot happens to be in the area when the short happens they could get an unexpected jolt and get hurt. This should be a mandatory recall event for this problem before someone gets seriously injured.

Filed Dec 9, 2010 · Suspension · 78,000 miles · ME

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, the contact heard a bang and the front of the vehicle lowered suddenly. The contact attempted to drive to the dealer but the front driver side tire blew. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where the front coil spring was being replaced. The failure mileage was approximately 78,000. Updated 01/18/11 *bf updated 01/31/11

Filed Mar 14, 2010 · Suspension · 95,000 miles · OH

While backing out of driveway, note* a driveway with not even a crack in it, the front driver side tire blew. Upon removing tire, part of the spring fell to the ground and the remaining spring was found to have punctured the tire.

Filed Jan 7, 2009 · Suspension · 90,000 miles · PA

Day 1 - failure or left front coil spring - speed approx. 30mph spring just popped with a loud jarring bang. Had vehicle towed to repair facility - repaired and replaced left front spring assembly. Next morning - failure - left rear coil spring. Resulting in tire blow out speed 5 MPH. Currently back at repair facility. Ford/mercury are known to have spring problems but evidently unless someone dies nothing will be done about it. Contacted ford about the problem the said no recall nothing we can do. Just look at the complaints - obviously this is not a freak occurrence.

Filed Jan 4, 2008 · Suspension · 50,577 miles · MA

My wife was backing out of our driveway when there was a popping noise and then a blowout on the left front tire.I was standing next to the mv at the time. The coil spring broke/shattered and a piece of it went thru the side wall of the tire putting a 6-8" gash in the tire. We have the pieces of the spring. Ford refused to reimburse us for the repair which was made at a ford dealer(northampton ford ). The vehicle had 50577 miles. In researching this on the internet I find that since 1999 they have had recalls and repair programs for this problem on various models but apparently they do not acknowledge it in the 2003 sable. Fortunatley she was not driving down the highway when this happened. I found two sites on the internet that had many reports/complaints of this in various ford vehicles. The following week my 82 yoa mother who drives a 2003 ford focus thought she had a soft tire, went to her local dealership and was told both front coil springs were broken. These repairs were covered and reimbursed by ford. I spoke with several mechanics and was advised that this is a common problem in ford vehicles.I was advised by a mechanic that the aftermarket manufacturers do not make replacement struts for the 2003 sable. All of this indicates to me that ford has a problem with the design and or manufacture of their coil springs which covers several years of vehicles. Had my wife been on the highway she probably would likely have lost control and had a very serious accident. Finding a broken coil spring after an accident like that you would probably not be able to prove that it (the broken spring which caused the blowout) was not caused by the accident. I am not aware of any other manufacturer having similar problems. I believe that the safety of the public is in jeopardy. Our vehicle is used exclusively by my wife a school administrator- no teen agers driving it who would be emulating the dukes of hazhard.