KnownCarProblems2008 Ford Mustang Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 347 complaints with NHTSA about the 2008 Ford Mustang, most often about the air bags (69% of complaints, typically around 39,500 miles). It is 9th of 27 Mustang model years by number of complaints and has 5 recalls.
⚠ Safety advisory3 recalls for this car came with a do-not-drive warning. See below and check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Most common 2008 Ford Mustang problems
Air bags
240 complaints · 69%Half of these problems showed up before 39,500 miles. Parts named most often: side/window, on-off switch assembly, frontal.
Takata recall. I was notified by Ford around june of 2015 about the possibility of a defective airbag inflator on the driver's side. It is almost april 2016, and as of today, Ford has no idea when service parts will be made available for the repair. This car is driven every day and I am disappointed at the lack of…
Takata recall. We received our recall letter in june of 2016 for passenger side air bag replacement. We waited a year and called Ford in july of 2017. They said that takata was out of business and they were hiring another company to make the replacement air bags. We just called again on september 29, 2017 and still no…
Transmission
30 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 10,500 miles. Parts named most often: driveline, automatic transmission, axle assembly, manual transmission.
Parking car into parking bay between building support and other car. With my foot on brake and at a stop I reached to place car in park when for no reason the car accelerated over a concrete parking stop, through a ditch, out of the ditch before striking another truck head on in the parking area across the ditch. My…
Tl contact owns a 2008 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that while driving at 25 MPH, the contact heard a grinding noise as the gear lever became difficult to shift from the first gear to the second gear. The contact had to apply excessive force to the gear lever in order to shift the vehicle into second gear. The…
Speed control
19 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 50,000 miles. Parts named most often: accelerator pedal.
Tl contact owns a 2008 Ford Mustang. While driving approximately 20 MPH the vehicle surged forward resulting in a crash. A police report was filed and within a few days the driver was taken to the hospital for injuries that were sustained during the crash. The vehicle was towed to an independent repair shop where it…
- first incident - september 2011 - while traveling 55mph on the highway, the car stopped responding to me pushing down the gas pedal. It was still idling, but no longer accelerating. The wrench light came on. I pulled off to the side in neutral and restarted the car. The problem has not repeated itself yet. - second…
Body and structure
15 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 37,500 miles. Parts named most often: body.
I was driving my recently purchased 08 Mustang (least year) in the heavy rains we were having. To my utter dismay, it starts gushing, nor leaking, gushing in through what seemed to be under my passenger side dash. It flooded my front passenger floor side so bad, it went through to the back passenger seat floor board.…
Shortly after the warranty on the vehicle expired I noticed paint bubbles on the front lip of the hood. I was still two years away from paying off the vehicle. I brought the car to the dealership where they took photos and recommended a complete hood replacement. Ford refused to fund even a portion of the cost to fix…
Electrical
15 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 42,500 miles. Parts named most often: starter assembly, wiring.
The contact owns a 2008 Ford Mustang gt. The contact stated that the electrical components within the vehicle failed and the odometer was three miles off. The dealer inspected the vehicle and advised that there was no failure. The manufacturer was notified and they offered partial assistance. The failure mileage was…
The contact owns a 2008 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that the key would release from the ignition switch independently. The failure occurred while driving or idling and no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The…
Brakes
13 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 49,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2008 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that the while driving approximately 40 MPH , the clutch and brake pedal failed without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician diagnosed that the brake, clutch pedal assembly and the master cylinder needed to be replaced. The…
Driving down martin luther king dr. While approaching a curve at 45 MPH vehicle stability and brakes gave out. Airbags deployed incorrectly and caused injuries to myself and a passenger. Seat belts are also no longing working. Brakes are
Engine
8 complaints · 2%Half of these problems showed up before 68,000 miles. Parts named most often: exhaust system, engine.
When accelerating the car went into limp mode while merging into traffic. The merge is right before a bridge so I had to creep across until I was able to pull off the side of the road. Engine did not stall but there was no control in the gas pedal. Happened again exactly one week later. Thankfully traffic was able to…
Tl contact owns a 2008 Ford Mustang. While driving approximately 10 MPH he heard a banging noise in the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was driven onto the emergency lane where he noticed an object laying in the road. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that the object was part of the exhaust…
Other or unspecified
8 complaints · 2%Half of these problems showed up before 66,000 miles.
My Mustang gt had a complete failure to the cars rear end after discovering a loud noise coming from the left rear at low and high speeds. There is no reason why a vehicle with 57000 road miles on it would have this type of a problem. This is a safety concern for anyone driving this year Mustang because it could very…
The catalytic converter on the driver's side of the exhaust pipe has cracked and must be replaced at a cost of almost $1400. It seems a part so expensive should last more than 75000 miles, which is approximately what the car has on it now. No one can tell me why it would have cracked, but a couple of muffler shops…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2008 Ford Mustang recalls
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the frontal air bag, an inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the driver and passenger air bag module, and replace either the module or the inflator, if necessary, free of charge. The recall began march 17, 2021. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 21s05.
Full defect summary
Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 2005-2014 mustang, 2004-2011 ranger, 2009-2011 mercury milan, 2006 ford gt, 2008-2012 fusion, 2007-2010 edge and lincoln mkx, and 2009-2010 lincoln mkz vehicles. These vehicles may be equipped with a driver or passenger frontal air bag inflator used as a replacement service part, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. Interim letters informing owners of the recall and that parts are not yet available began mailing march 1, 2017. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 19s01.
Full defect summary
Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 2012 ford fusion and mustang and lincoln zephyr and mkz vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in alabama, california, florida, georgia, hawaii, louisiana, mississippi, south carolina, texas, puerto rico, american samoa, guam, the northern mariana islands (saipan), and the u.s. Virgin islands, or "zone a." additionally, unless included in "zone a" above, ford is recalling certain 2009 ford ranger, edge, fusion and mustang, lincoln mkx, mkz and zephyr and mercury milan vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in arizona, arkansas, delaware, district of columbia, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, maryland, missouri, nebraska, nevada, new jersey, new mexico, north carolina, ohio, oklahoma, pennsylvania, tennessee, virginia and west virginia, or "zone b." additionally, unless included in "zone a" or "zone b" above, ford is recalli
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. Ford mailed interim letters informing owners that parts are not yet available on july 15, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 19s01.
Full defect summary
Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain model year 2007-2011 ford ranger vehicles, 2006-2011 ford fusion, mercury milan and lincoln zephyr/mkz vehicles, 2007-2010 ford edge, lincoln mkx vehicles, 2005-2006 ford gt vehicles, and 2005-2011 ford mustang vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in alabama, california, florida, georgia, hawaii, louisiana, mississippi, south carolina, texas, puerto rico, american samoa, guam, the northern mariana islands (saipan), and the u.s. Virgin islands, or "zone a." additionally, unless included in "zone a" above, ford is recalling certain model year 2007-2008 ford ranger, edge and lincoln mkx vehicles, 2006-2008 ford fusion, mercury milan and lincoln zephyr/mkz vehicles, 2005-2006 ford gt vehicles and 2005-2008 ford mustang vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in arizona, arkansas, delaware, district of columbia, illinois, indiana,
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front driver side air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on june 10, 2016. Even if interim repairs were performed under safety recall 14v-802, owners must bring their vehicles in for the final remedy. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 15s21. Note: this recall supersedes safety recall 14v-802.
Full defect summary
Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain model year 2005-2014 mustang vehicles manufactured april 6, 2004, to june 21, 2014, and 2005-2006 gt vehicles manufactured february 20, 2004, to september 22, 2006. The affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.
Air bags: frontal
Risk: During an air bag deployment, if a small female in the front passenger seat is not wearing the safety belt, and has the seat in the full forward position, there may be an increased potential for a neck injury.
Fix: Dealers will reprogram the restraint control module free of charge. The recall began on march 3, 2008. Owners may contact ford at 1-866-436-7332 or through email to www.ownerconnection.com.
Full defect summary
Ford is recalling 434,593 my 2008 mustang vehicles for failing to comply with one of the neck injury requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 208, "occupant crash protection," for an unbelted 5th percentile female sitting in the passenger seat while it is in the full forward position.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Fleet vehicle recall completion audit
Summary
On november 18, 2010, NHTSA's recall management division (rmd) opened an audit query (aq10-001) to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on safety recall campaigns.it was expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets perform necessary recall-related remedies on the vehicles owned and then rented/leased for use on the roadways.rmd queried three (3) major motor vehicle manufacturers (ford, chrysler, and general motors) and requested data regarding completion figures for fifteen (15) discreet safety recalls.analysis of this data demonstrated that rental car recalls completion was neither complete nor consistent.the rental
Tire valve cracking
Summary
On october 14, 2008, odi opened pe08-060 to investigate allegations of cracked and leaking snap-in tire valves in model year (my) 2007 vehicles manufactured by ford motor company.the valves were supplied to ford by topseal auto-parts, a subsidiary of the shanghai baolong automotive corporation in china.valves made by topseal for aftermarket sale were the subject of two recent safety recalls by tech international (08t-018) and dill air controls (08t-028), the latter of which was investigated by odi in pe08-036 and ea08-022.the defect conditions addressed by the aftermarket tire valve recalls both involved inadequate resistance to ozone cracking due to issues with the supply of anti-ozonant ch
Questions about the 2008 Ford Mustang
- What are the most common problems with the 2008 Ford Mustang?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: air bags (240 complaints, typically around 39,500 miles); transmission (30 complaints, typically around 10,500 miles); speed control (19 complaints, typically around 50,000 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2008 Ford Mustang have?
- 5 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from February 16, 2021 (air bags). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2008 a bad year for the Ford Mustang?
- It is 9th of 27 Mustang model years by number of complaints, with 347 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.