Today, I talked to a Ford Dealer and was told that they had had many complaints about this problem with the 2002 Taurus but no recall on it has ever been issued. This really is a manufacturing defect and Ford should take care of it without hesitation. The dealer also told me that it has someone come in to look at the issue, the cost would be $70.00 just to look. this person does not work for Ford by the way so that tells me that Ford Service departments are not equipped to handle these issues.