Vehicle Recalls

I recently had a problem with my Ford Crown Victoria. Upon doing some research, I found out that the problem that I have is part of a recall that Ford had put out. My vehicle falls under all of the criteria of the recall but Ford doesn’t want to fix it. I filed a complaint with the National Traffic Safety Administration. My question is, has anyone had any luck with filing a complaint with this agency? Or am I just “spinning my wheels?”

Could you elaborate more on everything you just mentioned? All you have told us so far is that you have a Crown Vic of unknown vintage with some unknown problem covered by some unknown recall from who-knows-when that the Ford dealer doesn’t want to cover. Many recalls, notably ones that are not safety related, are only covered for a specific period of time. Could you fill in the blanks so we can help you?

What’s the year of your Crown Vic? And what is the particular problem you have? With that info I may be able to help you a little more.

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What year car ?
What problem ?
Which recall ?

Some recalls have a deadline.
Many recalls have a reimbusment clause if you’ve paid for the needed repair.
Careful, a TSB ( technical sevice bulletin ) is not a recall but just a ‘what to do if’ rapair instuction.

I’ll read the paper work and tell you if a Ford dealer should perform the service.

Part of the OP’s “Internet Security Plan” is not to post any details about anything at all.

Boy, I guess so.
I’d also like them to tell me the VIN so I can run it through ‘open recalls’.
But I think I’m dreaming.

NHTSA does not mediate complants. It isn’t their function.

This is a 1998 model with 123,xxx miles on it. The drivers side lower ball joint is what broke. Luckily I had just gotten off of the interstate and was in a restaurant parking lot when it broke. The lower ball joint is a one piece assembly like they specifically describe in the recall, and the vehicle was originally titled as a fleet vehicle which was also listed specifically in the recall. Also, there was a recall notice sent out in 2008 (which is the year that I bought the car) for a wiring harness for the speed control that could possibly catch fire. I haven’t approached that one yet.

You don’t wait three years or more on a recall …
then turn around and cry foul on the manufacturer !!!
Get your butt into the dealer for the cruise harness, it’s a ten minute job.

I’ll look into the ball joints though

You still have not provided the VIN # !
You must, to know if yours falls within the narrow parameters of the recall.

Recall # 98-S-37 published Dec.1998 is still active.

BUT
It is only for those police, fleet, and taxi vehicles ( P71 in the vin ) produced at the St. Thomas assembly plant through 12/14/1998.

Specs outside that info could be why your dealer said NO.

C’mon, cough up that VIN.

The VIN is 2FAFP74W4WX173002. As for the wiring harness, I was never sent a notice about the recall. I only found out about it when I was looking at the recall for the lower ball joint. I am not trying to cry foul to the manufacturer, but what I find funny is that last spring I bought a 1996 full size Dodge pickup truck from a private owner and soon after received a notice that it had not had some recall work done. The notice was sent by Chrysler Corp. and they fixed all of the recalls (none of them safety issues) without batting an eye. And I only bought this truck as a farm truck and it has 250,000 miles on it. So no, I am not trying to get something for nothing, but I think that it’s a big coincidence that my car was titled as a fleet vehicle, and the part that broke is part of a recall. If I have to pay for it then I will. I will just stay away from the Ford vehicles.

Looks like you’re out of luck with the ball joint issue (P74). “Titled as a fleet vehicle” could mean “rental car”. The easy way to tell which ones are covered is to look for an emblem on the trunk lid that says “police interceptor”. I didn’t know there was a recall on some Crown Vic ball joints, but I have heard of a couple of failures. I have always chalked them up to people simply neglecting to regularly inspect their front end, and an inspection of the front end would have shown this need if it broke at the ball-in-socket. Personally, I would expect a car of this age and mileage to need some front end work and not complain too loudly about it. On a 14 year old vehicle with well over 100k miles on the clock, they can easily and legitimately chalk this failure up to age and wear and tear. Any vehicle can wear out a ball joint, so simply avoiding Fords will not solve that issue.

I say go ahead and pursue the speed control wiring harness issue. This is a well known Ford recall, and they will do this one for you, no questions asked. It takes less than five minutes to install the harness. Just don’t wait for the harness to short out and burn your car, garage, and house to the ground. No sense in that.