Windstar Probe Expands;

Federal regulators are investigating the Ford Windstar that can be found at Los Angeles Ford Dealers and other dealers after there were several complaints from a number of states that the vehicle would lose control due to corrosion problems. The models include those produced from 1999-2003. Ford is a major competitor to GM whose Chevy minivans can be found at a Cincinnati Chevrolet dealership.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expanding its investigation and focusing on the front subframe on the right side of the vehicle that has been implicated in 87 complaints and 3 crashes so far. The government investigation was opened on July 20. An evaluation of up to 900,000 vehicles will be performed.

Vehicle problems that result from a defect may not be picked up by Ford or other automakers and they require the investigation of government or other authorities in order to be revealed. Volkswagen dealers offer VW Deals on many VW models which do not have manufacturing defects to date. The NHTSA performs investigations on models that have a number of complains over a short period of time.

Of the Ford Windstar, one complaint said, “My wife was driving at a slow speed in a parking lot, and all of a sudden there was a loud bang and she could not steer the vehicle.” A Ford spokeswoman said that the company would be cooperating with all aspects of the investigation. The investigation may lead to a recall by the automaker which would be one of the few recalls Ford has had in the past several years.

Ford built 2.3 million Windstar models from the period of 1994 to 2003 and the model was discontinued on that same year. The Windstar has previously been involved in 10 different recalls that affected 3.6 million vehicles. The model was discontinued because of the numerous problems with manufacturing and other issues.