While driving approximately 20 mph on a rural road the spare tire fell out from under the vehicle, onto the road. I discovered the cable that holds the spare tire in place under the vehicle had broken.

- Springfield, IL, USA

The contact owns a 1999 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that water penetrated the vehicle causing the general electrical module, and fuse box, to corrode. The vehicle started on its own and caused the radio, heater, and all other electrical functions to fail. The vehicle was taken to the dealer numerous times for the failure. The dealer replaced the electrical module and the fuse box several times. The windshield was replaced, but the dealer wasn't able to locate determine where the water penetrated the vehicle. The manufacturer took a report 0478403130 and advised the contact to take the vehicle back to the dealer. The failure mileage was 30,000. The current mileage was 135,000. Updated 3/8/11 updated 11/28/11

- Redwood City , CA, USA

The contact owns a 1999 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that while driving 15 mph, he heard a loud noise from under the vehicle. The contact pulled over and noticed that the trailing arms which held the rear wheels had rusted and broke. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The dealer, when called, stated that they had never heard of such a failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were approximately 130,000.

- Hurican , WV, USA

The flared portion of the terminator fob on the retaining/retracting cable for the spare tire fractured and separated on my 1999 Ford Expedition eddie bauer (I am the original owner). As a result, the spare tire and the metal crosspiece retainer dropped onto the street pavement, and in front of oncoming vehicles, which swerved and avoided colliding with the loose spare tire. I am just glad, and fortunate, that the spare tire did not bounce into the air, or end up crashing through the windshield of an oncoming vehicle. There are numerous reports of similar, if not identical incidents of this spare tire cable breakage posted on the internet. According to the owners manual, the crank mechanism is driven using the jack handle, and it is supposed to "ratchet" when the spare tire becomes snug against the vehicle undercarriage, preventing over tension on the crank mechanism and cable. Upon inspection, there were no signs of rust, or corrosion, or attempted theft or tampering. A small collar portion of the terminator fob remained on the cable, while flared portion broke and slipped off of the end of the cable. There are not any additional safety devices on the vehicle that retain the spare tire in the event the cable fails. During the 2001 Firestone tire recall, the dealer replaced all five tires, which included the spare tire. Otherwise, the crank mechanism has not been used. I searched but failed to find a reported government recall of this cable at www.recalls.gov/search.html. to repair the cable end, I created my own terminator fob using an electrical split-bolt sized to the diameter of the cable. I fashioned a J shape in the cable to form a loop and placed a small screw through the loop to prevent pull-through, added a few drops of blue locktite to the threads of the split-bolt, and cinched up the split-bolt.

- Dallas, TX, USA

The contact owns a 1999 Ford Expedition. The vehicle has Firestone Wilderness AT tires. While driving 70 mph, the spare tire blew out. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to a repair shop and had the tire changed. It was also discovered that the fender was folded under the vehicle near the fuel line. The tire size and dot number were unknown. The failure mileage was 200,000. Updated 8/10/09 updated 08/13/09.

- Calvert, AL, USA

Windshield leaked into fuse box and GEM module, growing a fungus and needing replacement, creating electrical functions to turn on and off at will with the potential of causing a fire.

- Watsonville, CA, USA

Whenever there is a heavy rain or snow, several of the electrical systems in my 1999 Ford Expedition began to function irregularly. The components function whether the vehicle is turned on or off. Examples of the irregular activity include the radio turning on and off by itself, windshield wipers turning on and off by themselves, heat and air unit turning on and off by itself, interior lights turning on and off by themselves, and the running board lights turning on and off by themselves. Several times I have been driving in the rain and the windshield wipers will stop working for 1-2 minutes.

- Winston-Salem, NC, USA

1999 Ford Expedition water leak from windshield onto fuse box causing short requiring replacement of fuse box by Ford cost $362.01.

- Surprise, AZ, USA

1999 Ford Expedition collided head-on with another vehicle. Both were travelling at highway speeds. The Expedition immediately caught fire, including the passenger compartment.the fire wall failed and fuel apparently fed the fire.

- Pocomoke, MD, USA

The consumer would hear a popping/rumbling noise whenever the vehicle was reversed or if the steering wheel was turned to the left or right. Consumer had taken the vehicle to the dealer and they thought they had fixed the problem, the consumer continued to hear a noise and noticed that the front tires were rapidly wearing down. The consumer had gone to several Ford dealers and received different conflicting diagnoses from the several service areas of different Ford dealers, consumer feels there is a possible defect with the vehicle, also there was a noise coming from the rear, dealer replaced the clutches in the rear, there was a popping noise when backing up and making a turn, dealer lubed the steering, consumer was alos informed that lower ball joints were needed.

- Newark, DE, USA

On Sunday windshield wipers started goinig crazy.they started to go on and off for 5 minutes after several attempts to shut them off.finally my husband pulled over and turned the car off, and the wipers shut off.the dealer was not notified.on Tuesday at about 7:56 am I was driving to go to a gas station and as I was turning to the left I heard a loud sound that sounded like an explosion and the truck turned off.I tried tunring the car on since I have had problems with the car turning off before and I realized that the car was smoking fron the inside.I tried to open the door from outside they did not open. So in fear that the car would blow up that I tried to start the car and it started. I opened the door quickly before the car blew up.then the the plastic started to burn under the running board and by the time the fire dept came the inside of the car was on fire.the car was towed to the dealership.the inside of the car was destroyed.

- Latham, NY, USA