KnownCarProblems2001 Ford Taurus Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 1,037 complaints with NHTSA about the 2001 Ford Taurus, most often about the suspension (50% of complaints, typically around 71,000 miles). It is 4th of 20 Taurus model years by number of complaints and has 9 recalls.
Most common 2001 Ford Taurus problems
Suspension
515 complaints · 50%Half of these problems showed up before 71,000 miles. Parts named most often: rear, front.
While driving at any speed the consumer heard a loud noise coming from the from right passenger side. The vehicle was taken to the dealership. The mechanic found the front coil spring on the passenger side had failed.
While reversing, suddenly there was a crashing noise. Upon exiting the vehicle the consumer noticed that the right side of the vehicle was lower than the left side. The vehicle had to be towed to a mechanic because vehicle can't be driven. The service man indicated that the rear coil spring was corroded and cracked.…
Speed control
99 complaints · 10%Half of these problems showed up before 120,000 miles. Parts named most often: accelerator pedal, cruise control, linkages, cables.
Tl contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. While the contact was driving approximately 35 MPH, the accelerator pedal began to stick and the engine rpms increased to 4,000. There was also a burning odor inside of the vehicle. The contact and front seat passenger attempted to release the accelerator pedal manually; however…
The contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle abnormally increased acceleration and failed to slow down until after applying the brake pedal several times. The failure occurred seven times. The malfunction would occur whenever the cruise control was activated or deactivated. The…
Brakes
97 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 43,500 miles. Parts named most often: foundation components, pedals and linkages, antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip, power assist.
We noticed the lower half of the car is covered with small rust spots 44000 miles. We do not have an estimate on fixing this problem. At 39000 miles we began experiencing a rattle under the right front passenger floor board. This has been inspected and nothing has been found so far, however the rattle continues to…
Tl contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. While driving 35 MPH, the contact heard a loud rubbing noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the shop and it was discovered that the rear springs failed and punctured the tires. The contact spoke with the manufacturer requesting assistance with the…
Engine
66 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 74,500 miles. Parts named most often: engine, exhaust system, cooling system.
While having the oil changed consumer was told that the head gasket was blown. There was no defects noticeable by the consumer. It was the second incident concerning head gasket.
While driving at a 50miles per hour speed on bronx river parkway new york the theft light came on the dashboard cutting off all the electricity and shutting off the car forcing me to go on the road shoulder. Fortunately was no accident but it was a life threatening situation. Since then this situation happen 4 to 5…
Air bags
66 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 70,000 miles. Parts named most often: frontal, side/window.
After starting the vehicle air bag warning light illuminated. The warning light would stay on until the vehicle was shut off. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
During a 25 MPH vehicle collision front air bags did not deploy, and the front seat belt unlocked. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
Transmission
58 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 86,000 miles. Parts named most often: automatic transmission, manual transmission, driveline, axle assembly.
Car became increasingly difficult to shift out of park. At this time the brake lights were working. Found a work around on the internet that worked. Also found a recall (04s12) for same problem but my VIN was not covered and Ford will not fix. However, they do not sell the stop light switch (which is most likely the…
Nhtsa# 15190 01-f-071-000 automatic transmission loose third gear operation. Consumer states having problem with the automatic transmission which broke on august 8, 2002. Dealer charged over two thousands dollars, four months later vehicle has the same problem with the transmission. Please provide further information.
Wheels and tires
42 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 43,000 miles. Parts named most often: tread/belt, sidewall, rim, lugs/nuts/bolts/studs.
Tl contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. While driving 35 MPH, the contact heard a loud rubbing noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the shop and it was discovered that the rear springs failed and punctured the tires. The contact spoke with the manufacturer requesting assistance with the…
Tl contact owns goodyear assurance comfort p195/60/r15 tires. The contact experienced tread separation just after 40,000 miles. The contact purchased the same tire for a 2001 Ford Taurus and a 2001 Ford focus. Both the vehicle dealer and tire store stated that the problem was tread separation but the tire manufacturer…
Visibility and wipers
39 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 80,500 miles. Parts named most often: defroster/defogger/hvac system, windshield wiper/washer, windshield, glass, side/rear.
We've had many problem in the past year. First in the peak of winter the heater core had to be replace. Following a month later with the engine making a horrible rattling, when the car in in idle it would stop all together, the car has been brought to a Ford dealer...which estimates the cost to be $4700.00 to fix the…
The contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 35 MPH the heating unit failed to operate. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on two separate occasions, and the thermostat was replaced. The failure mileage was 74,000. The current mileage was 94,600.
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2001 Ford Taurus recalls
Suspension: coil springs
Risk: If this occurs, the tire may rupture resulting in a rapid air loss, which could result in a crash.
Fix: Dealers will install protective spring shields. In addition, ford is extending the warranty coverage of the front coil springs in all other states, for fracture only, up to 10 years of service or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first. If the vehicle has already accumulated more than 150,000 miles, this coverage will last until july 31, 2005. If either front coil spring fractures, dealers will replace both front springs at no charge to the owner. An interim notice was sent to owners on august 2, 2004. Parts are now available for the 2000-2001 my vehicles and owners were sent a letter on january
Full defect summary
On certain passenger vehicles originally sold in or currently registered in the states of connecticut, delaware, illinois, indiana, iowa, kentucky, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, missouri, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, rhode island, vermont, west virginia, wisconsin, and the district of columbia, the front coil springs could fracture due to corrosion associated with salt used on the roadways during the winter. A fractured spring could move past the spring seat and contact a front tire.
Lights: switch
Risk: In addition, if the switch and/or associated wiring fail in the open position, the brake lights will not actuate and the driver will not be able to shift the vehicle out of "park" if they fail in the closed position, the brake lights will remain on, which will not allow the speed control to be activated. This could also cause the battery to discharge.
Fix: Dealers will remove the stop lamp switch and associated wiring assembly and install a newly designed stop lamp switch and wire assembly. Owner notification is expected to begin on april 5, 2004. Owners should contact ford at 1-800-392-3673.
Full defect summary
Certain passenger vehicles are being recalled to correct a problem with a malfunctioning stop lamp switch and/or associated wiring. This malfunctioning could render the stop lamps inoperable or cause them to stay on all the time. This could cause confusion to a following driver, which could lead to a crash.
Brakes: pedals and linkages
Risk: This could result in a customer experiencing an "unintended vehicle speed increase" or a perceived "unable to stop" condition.
Fix: Owners will be instructed as to the proper way to set the position of the pedals and to take their vehicles to a dealer to have the spacing between the brake and accelerator pedals measured. If the spacing is found to be less than 50 mm, the dealer will adjust the pedals to increase the distance between them to greater than 50 mm. Owner notification began october 28, 2002. Owners who do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact ford at 1-866-436-7332.
Full defect summary
Certain passenger vehicles equipped with adjustable padels are being recalled in order to adjust the brake and accelerator pedals to a minimum of 50 mm of lateral separation. Simultaneous application of both the brake and accelerator pedals could result in an increase in engine RPM.
Visibility and wipers: motor
Risk: Loss of visibility while driving increases the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will inspect the date code on the wiper motor. Motors built with the suspect time frame will have the wiper motor gear case cover replaced. Owner notification began august 20, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact ford at 1-866-436-7332.
Full defect summary
Vehicle description: passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and light and medium duty pickup trucks. A switch located in the plastic cover of the wiper motor gear case could malfunction and overheat, potentially resulting in loss of intermittent wiper function, loss of wiper park function, complete loss of wiper function, or ignition of the plastic cover material. Switch malfunction is most likely to occur when the intermittent setting of the wipers is being used, or when snow or ice obstructs the blades from returning to the "parked" position at the bottom of the windshield. These vehicles were built at the following assembly plants: atlanta plant from 2/11/00 through 7/31/00; chicago plant from 2/14/00 through 8/4/00; kansas city plant from 2/26/00 to 9/4/00; kentucky truck plant from 2/18/00 to 8/31/00; michigan truck plant from 2/23/00 through 8/3/00; norfolk plant from 2/21/00 thro
Seat belts: buckle assembly
Risk: In the event of a vehicle crash, the vehicle occupant may not be properly restrained, possibly resulting in personal injury or death.
Fix: Dealers will replace the driver and right front passenger seat belt buckles. Owner notification began may 4, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact ford at 1-800-392-3673.
Full defect summary
Vehicle description: passenger cars. The seat belt buckle tongue may not fully eject from the buckle assembly when the release button is pushed slowly. This condition could also result in a partial latch of the tongue in the buckle.
Lights: switch
Risk: A short circuit could lead to either the brake lamps staying on, or to a loss of brake lamp function, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the brake lamp switch and wipe down the adjustable pedal assembly to remove excess grease. Owner notification began march 22, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact ford at 1-800-392-3673.
Full defect summary
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equipped with adjustable pedals. If the grease from the adjustable pedal assembly enters the stop lamp switch, it can contaminate the contacts leading to carbon build up, and potentially, a short circuit.
Lights: back up lights
Risk: Under the requirements of the standard, the chmsl shall be activated only upon appplication of the service brakes. Also, the vehicle could roll increasing the risk of a crash, if the shift lever can be shifted out of park without depressing the brake pedal.
Fix: Dealers will install a jumper/resistor assembly at the spoiler that provides an electrical resistor to ground and corrects the chmsl and brake-shift interlock conditions. Owner notification began march 19, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact ford at 1-800-392-3673.
Full defect summary
Vehicle description: passenger sedans with factory or dealer-installed deck lid spoilers with LED center high mounted stop lamps (chmsl). Vehicles produced with spoilers were manufactured from march 1 through october 31, 2000; and vehicles with spoilers installed by dealers were manufactured from january 1 thorough december 30, 2000. With the ignition switch in the start or run positions and the hazard warning lights operating, the chmsl can illuminate (at reduced intensity) even though the service brakes have not been applied. This does not meet the requirements of fmvss no. 108, "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment." also, in some cases the vehicle brake-shift interlock would not function properly, allowing the shift lever to be moved from park without applying the brake.
Equipment: owners/service/other manual
Risk: In the event of a crash, the child seat may not be properly attached increasing the risk of injury to the child.
Fix: Owners will be provided with owner guide inserts revised to provide the required information, and instructions for affixing these inserts to their owner guides. Customers will also be advised that if they prefer, their dealer will affix the inserts to their owner guides.
Full defect summary
Vehicle description: certain sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, and passenger vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of fmvss 225, "child restraint anchorage systems." the affected expedition/navigator owner guides do not identify the locations of seating positions equipped with tether anchorages, and do not provide instructions for securing child seats to these tether anchorages. The f150 sc owner guides do not provide the procedure for securing child seats to the tether anchorages. The taurus/sable owner guides do not identify the center rear seating position as having latch compatible lower anchorages.
Seat belts: anchorage
Risk: The anchor may not hold the child safety seat in position during an accident, increasing the risk of injury to the occupant of the child safety seat.
Fix: Dealers will remove and re-install the bracket nut using a torque retention material (red loctite). Owner notification began september 11, 2000. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact ford at 1-800-392-3673.
Full defect summary
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The child safety seat anchor latch (iso-fix anchor) fasteners do not have adequate residual torque. The anchors are secured to the floor pan with a reinforcement plate that has two studs that extend upward through the floor pan and the iso-fix anchor. The sealer on the floor pan could cause a soft joint and, even if the nuts are properly torqued, road vibrations could cause the nut to work its way completely off the stud.
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
Speed control cable damage
Summary
On june 21, 2013, ford initiated customer satisfaction program 13b04 to address a concern with speed control cable damage in certain model year (my) 2000 through 2003 taurus and sable vehicles equipped with 3.0l 4v duratec engines and built at the chicago assembly plant.in the dealer letter for the program, ford indicates that the speed control cables on affected vehicles may be susceptible to damage or becoming partially disconnected during under hood vehicle maintenance (e.g., replacing a battery or changing the air filter) and that a damaged speed control cable could interfere with the throttle's full return to idle when the accelerator pedal is released.ford's program instructs dealers t
Rear coil spring fracture
Summary
Odi's analysis identified a high complaint rate for the rear coil springs in the salt belt states (approximately 250 per 100,000 vehicles).approximately 59 percent of the complaints alleged that the coil spring failure caused damage to the adjacent rear tire, with about half of these (30 percent of total complaints) alleging that the damage resulted in air loss.because air loss from a rear tire can result in changes in vehicle handling characteristics, odi examined field data, test data and interviewed consumers to assess the safety consequences of such failures in the subject vehicle population.analysis of all available field data did not identify any crashes or injuries resulting from the
Rear coil spring fracture
Summary
The office of defect investigation (odi) opened preliminary evaluation, pe05-054, based on 131 vehicle owner questionnaires related to alleged rear coil spring fractures.since opening the investigation there have been an additional sixty-three (63) complaints alleging rear coil spring fracture.an analysis of the vehicle owner questionnaires (voqs) submitted to odi reveals that 42% of the complainants allege that the adjacent tire was punctured as result of a rear coil spring fracture. Additionally, an analysis of the complaint data received by odi from ford reveals the following: there were a total of 553 unique vehicle complaints of coil spring fracture. 30% of the complaints allege that th
Brake/accelerator pedal application
Summary
Ms. Rodman reported that after her vehicle was inspected for the recall, her mother experienced a sudden acceleration and crashed the sable into a light pole.previously NHTSA had conducted an investigation for this issue (pe02-035) that resulted in the recall (02v-266) of 369,000 my 2000-2002 taurus and sable vehicles equipped with adjustable brake and accelerator pedals to insure that the separation between the pedals was at least 50mm..a review of odi's database for complaints regarding recall 02v-266 did not identify any recall remedy complaints other than the petitioner's.ms. Rodman?s vehicle was inspected by odi using ford?s special tool and her vehicle was found to exceed 50mm.also, th
Brake light switch failure
Summary
Ford conducted a recall in march, 2001 to correct a defect affecting the brake light switch in my 2000 through early-2001 taurus and sable vehicles equipped with power adjustable pedals (recall 01v-078).rq03-008 was opened to investigate complaints concerning the remedy and scope of 01v-078.odi's analysis identified concerns with post-repair failures in recalled vehicles,failures in my 2001-02 vehicles with adjustable pedals that were not included in recall 01v-078, and failures in my 2000 vehicles with fixed pedals.(note: the manufacturer failure data in this resume includes all crashes and injuries, but the complaint information is limited to my 2001-02 vehicles that were not included in t
Frontal air bag non-deployment in crash
Summary
This investigation identified a total of 427 reports alleging non-deployment of the frontal air bags.of the 427 reports, two incidents (fatal crashes) have been identified as severe frontal crashes in which the frontal air bags did not deploy.a defect trend has not been identified at this time.further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist.the agency will take further action if warranted by the circumstances.see attached summary report.
Frontal air bag non-deployment in crash
Summary
Ford motor company has identified 260 reports alleging frontal air bag non-deployment for any (severity) frontal or near-frontal crash on model year 2000-2001 ford taurus and mercury sable vehicles.additional crash reports are contained in NHTSA's fatality analysis reporting system (fars) database.the single odi report listed in the report summary is NHTSA's special crash investigation's case no. Ca00-020 that involved a high-speed crash non-deployment involving a driver fatality and front passenger injury.this preliminary evaluation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis (ea03-010) and odi will collect additional information on certain crash reports and conduct further study of this i
Brake/accel pedal separation
Questions about the 2001 Ford Taurus
- What are the most common problems with the 2001 Ford Taurus?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: suspension (515 complaints, typically around 71,000 miles); speed control (99 complaints, typically around 120,000 miles); brakes (97 complaints, typically around 43,500 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2001 Ford Taurus have?
- 9 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from July 15, 2004 (suspension). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2001 a bad year for the Ford Taurus?
- It is 4th of 20 Taurus model years by number of complaints, with 1,037 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.