The front coil spring on my wife's 98 Windstar snapped Saturday just off our driveway. I hosed clamped and wired the two pieces together to creep it into the garage. I was going to take it to a shop a couple of blocks away and had resigned myself to spending a chunk of cash. I remembered hearing/reading something about Ford fixing broken springs so I checked Ford's web site but saw nothing on my van. When I called the nearest Ford dealer, 60+ miles away, they said no problems. Just have a tow company haul it right down, they would put new springs in it the next day free of charge, and even pay the tow fees. They also asked if the spring had taken a tire out with it, as they would replace the tire free too!! On top of that, they will put new struts in for $160. Everything that can go bad on a Windstar has done so on this piece of junk. Transmission, peeling paint, intake manifold, steering cylinder etc. But, just this once I feel like Ford has treated me right.

I wonder if this is in relation to the recall I had on my Taurus where the dealer installed front coil spring shields in case the front springs broke (and possibly going through a tire). Nice that Ford picked up the tab on that one. What part of the US are you located? Salt belt?

It's good that Ford picks up this tab, but it's unfortunate that you had to stumble upon this "silent" recall. The other thing that bothers me is that you basically have to wait until the spring breaks to get it fixed. I don't think that is a chance I would want to take while driving down the highway.

wintonboy -

While I've had no spring problems on any of my vehicles, I've read about similar problems for my Contour. Based on what I've read on-line, policy about who pays tends to depend on the individual dealer. Sounds like your dealer has done the right thing.

New struts installed at the dealer for $160? That's a bargain. Where is this dealer located?

This is pretty well documented in existing TSBs so it's not really a silent warranty:

01S19 DEC 01 Recall - Spring Shield Installation Supplement
01S19 JUN 01 Recall - Front Coil Spring Fracture
01M03 JUN 01 Recall - Front Springs Failure

The frustrating part though is that apparently you have to wait for a failure before they replace anything. They've known this is a pretty significant issue and often takes out the front wheel with it, but as far as I've heard they haven't issued any kind of large recall to replace them.

This is pretty well documented in existing TSBs so it's not really a silent warranty:

01S19 DEC 01 Recall - Spring Shield Installation Supplement
01S19 JUN 01 Recall - Front Coil Spring Fracture
01M03 JUN 01 Recall - Front Springs Failure

The frustrating part though is that apparently you have to wait for a failure before they replace anything. They've known this is a pretty significant issue and often takes out the front wheel with it, but as far as I've heard they haven't issued any kind of large recall to replace them.
What year models does this cover.???

I believe all 3 apply to the 97-98 years, and the spring failure TSB applies to 95 & 96 as well.

NHTSA01I007000
Recall 01I007000, 1995-1998, the extended warranty was listed as 10 years, unlimited mileage, automatically transfers to subsequent owners of the vehicle at no charge.

Alignment is not included in the free repair.
Cause is corrosion....namely in areas where salt is used on the roads in the winter.....

The spring has to fail to be covered, and if 1 breaks, both are to be replaced.

$160 for strut replacement is a good price, but that is with the spring replacement, which is doing most of the work already.

I would want to have the upper strut bearings replaced also, as they are taking all that stuff apart anyhow.

They will refund owner paid repairs if an emergency repair was made away from servicing dealer.......as in.... fails on the road while you are on a trip.
Program Code 01M03

When I read about this several years ago......I made a point to hose down things up in there when washing the car....particularly in the winter.

This dealer is Lundgren Motors in Virginia Minnesota. The quality of their service never ceases to amase me. The Windstar is the only one of our 5 fords that I do not do all the repairs on myself. Lundgrens mechanics and service managers are always willing to discuss problems and possible fixes. If I had more time. I could talk about the time the Windstar's tranny blew right in front of another Ford place, and the rotten treatment we got there!

93 Escort 217,000 miles
95 Escort 85,000
93 Ranger 4X4 110,000
86 F150 4X4 192,000

The repairs on the Winstar have been more than the total spent on the other four combined!