Rear axle beam on my 2002 Ford Windstar fractured. Noticed vehicle handling was poor, rear end of vehicle swaying while driving straight, tires squealing around turns. Mechanic found axle beam had fractured. Costly repair, could have been more serious if a loss of control had occurred. Fortunate to have occurred at low speed.

- Bayville, NY, USA

Our 2002 Ford Windstar with approx. 107,000 miles had the rear axle beam break in half. The week before the break we noticed that the car felt like it needed an alignment at highway speeds. Luckily the part broke pulling out of the driveway at slow speed. The vehicle was not drivable after the break and needed to be towed. I fear that if the break happened at highway speeds we would have lost complete control of the vehicle. We have never taken this vehicle off road, used it to tow anything or been in an accident where damage would have been done to the axle beam.

- Flanders, NJ, USA

2002 Ford Windstar had a sudden, catastrophic rear axle failure-a near complete crack through the axle causing the driver's rear tire to collapse inward, while driving at 40 mph on a straight road. The rear axle and the rear tire had to be replaced, the axle was $530, and the tire $100. This was with the work done by my husband. The car is in otherwise good running condition, has always been serviced by professionals. The mileage was 98,000 miles and the vehicle has always been lightly used, no heavy loads, no towing, just basically football practice with the kids.

- Cortlandt Manor, NY, USA

I have a 2002 Ford Windstar with 67712 miles. The car started making metallic creaking noises from the rear end whenever I made sharp right hand turns. Inspection showed that the rear axle beam had a 2 inch crack in it. I had to have my mechanic replace the rear axle. My searches on the web revealed that this is a very common defect with the Windstar.

- Springfield, MA, USA

Rear axle broke, which could have caused a serious accident if I were on the highway. I was driving down the road, everytime I turned to the right I would hear a squeaking noise. I did not think much of it until I started to smell something when I looked in the rear view mirror I noticed smoke coming from the rear driver's side wheel. I pulled over and called aaa. Thank god, when the van was looked at we found that the rear axle was broken and the wheel was rubbing against the inside of the wheel well. When stopped the tires on the back of the van looked as though the tires were bent in as a direct result of the broken axle. I am so happy my children were not in the van because this could have resulted in a very bad accident. Ford needs to step up and fix this problem, I have seen quite a few complaints regarding this issue.

- Tarentum, PA, USA

2002 Ford Windstar SE rear axel severed....based upon my research many others have experienced the same issue between 2000 and 2003. I also contacted several Ford dealer who have informed me that they have sold an extraordinary amount of these rear axles. Please make Ford issue a safety recall on these axles. They will not take voluntary responsibility for this obvious defective part. Someone is going to get killed if this defective part fails at 65 miles per hour. You will also be responsible if you do nothing about this!

- Ramsey, NJ, USA

2002 Ford Windstar rear axle cracked. Consumer thinks that someone should look into this problem with the rear axle. The mechanic noticed the left rear tire was leaning in.

- Waynesburg, PA, USA