I own a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria sedan. I recently discovered, that one of the bolts connecting the upper control arm to the frame, was missing the nut to secure it and it had backed itself out of the mounting bushing. The bolt had backed out about 2.5 inches when I discovered it. This left only one bolt holding the upper control arm to the car's frame. The car has only 24,000 miles on it and was recently purchased used, at a local dealer. The car is in excellent condition, except for the bolt problem. I suspect that the bolt came loose on its own because I noticed that the factory applied blue thread lock to the other upper arm bolts, but I found no trace of the compound on the bolt that backed out of the bushing. The bolt caused damage to the mounting hole of the frame mount as well as damaging itself. The bolt is slightly bent and several threads are worn off.the rubbing action of the bolt elongated the mounting hole too. This mount is welded to the frame at the factory and I fear that I will be stuck with a mount that is worn, even though I am going to replace the worn bolt and missing nut with a Ford factory replacement part.I am complaining because I am concerned that this problem could occur to other vehicles.I did not notice any problems prior to discovering the bolt falling out. If this bolt let loose while I was driving at highway speeds, I don't know if I would be writing this to you. I was a certified mechanic for several years and I worked on Ford vehicles at two of their dealers. I have never seen this happen to a mounting bolt on the upper arm assembly, during that time or since then. If I didn't just happen to open the hood and take notice of the problem, I'm sure I wouldn't know anything was wrong until it was too late. The bushing is not worn out and the rest of the suspension is tight, so I can't blame worn suspension parts.

- Burlington, NJ, USA