1993 Ford E-150

The contact owns a 1993 Ford E-150. The contact stated that upon attempting to pull into a parking space and turning the steering wheel, she heard an abnormal sound coming from underneath the front driver's side seat and the steering wheel seized. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact contacted AAA who inspected the vehicle and informed the contact that the gear box had detached from the subframe. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the front driver's side subframe had three holes and one of the holes had expanded significantly and needed to be welded prior to fastening the gear box to the subframe. The independent mechanic informed the contact that they could not weld the subframe. The dealer was notified and informed the contact that the next availability was in approximately two months. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 200,000.

HELLO, MY NAME IS TED AND I CURRENTLY OWN 1993 FORD CLUBWAGON, AND I'VE HAD IT FOR NEARLY 5 YEARS. (PLEASE EXCUSE MY LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE CAR. I DON'T REALLY KNOW ABOUT PARTS OF VEHICLE.... ) ANYWAY, I'VE NEVER FOUND ANY PARTICULAR PROBLEM WITH MY CAR, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT IT TENDS TO LOSE THE WHEEL ALIGNMENT QUITE OFTEN, AND HEARD REALLY LOUD, DULL "THUMB" SOUND EVERY TIME I TURN THE STEERING WHEEL ALL THE WAY TO COUNTERCLOCKWISE. I'VE TAKEN MY VEHICLE TO FORD DEALERSHIP FOR THAT SPECIFIC PROBLEM BUT THEY COULDN'T RESOLVE THE PROBLEM. RATHER, THEY HAVE SUGGESTED AS IF IT WAS TO BE DISREGARD. FEW DAYS AGO, I PULLED MY CAR FROM THE PARKING LOT AND AGAIN, AS USUAL, I HEARD THAT "THUMP". BUT THIS TIME, THERE WAS A SMALL METALLIC PART FLEW OUT OF THE CAR. SO I BROUGHT THE CAR TO THE DEALER SERVICE CENTER AND FOUND OUT DRIVER SIDE FRONT FRAME WAS CRACKED !!!! THE CRACK RAN ALL THE WAY TO GEARBOX. AND OF COURSE, IN ORDER TO REPLACE THE FRAME COSTS FORTUNE, FOR IT WILL BE STRUCTURAL REBUILD. (THE ESTIMATE, SUM OF $6,000 OR UP, WAS MADE BY FORD DEALERSHIP). SO I CALLED THE MANUFACTURER'S CUSTOMER RELATIONS DEPARTMENT BUT UNFORTUNATELY THEY WEREN'T WILLING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I'M SO PERPLEXED ABOUT THE FACT THAT DESPITE I HAVE MAINTAINED THE VEHICLE WELL OVER THE YEARS, THE VEHICLE IS PRACTICALLY A JUNK. TO ME, IT'S CAUSED BY MANUFACTURER'S DEFECTIVE PART, FOR THE VEHICLE WAS NEVER INVOLVED IN COLLISION. NEVER. AND AS YOU WELL KNOW, CLUBWAGON ISN'T A CARGO VAN, IT'S RATHER LUXURIOUS PASSENGER VAN. I'VE NEVER OVERLOADED THE VEHICLE WITH STUFF NOR PUT 20 PEOPLE IN IT. THEREFORE FRAME WASN'T DAMAGED DUE TO MISUSE NOR EXCEEDING ITS CAPABLE LIMIT, I BELIEVE. I'VE ONLY SEEN OR HEARD OF INCIDENTS OF BROKEN FRAME OR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE CAUSED MAJOR ACCIDENT, NOT JUST PULLING OUT OF PARKING LOT. I'M POSITIVELY CONVINCED THAT THE MANUFACTURER IS TO BLAME, AND AS I SUBMIT THE COMPLAINT, I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE AN OPPORTUNITY TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR TI.