My mechanic has informed me of a dangerous situation with my automobile that could lead to an accident. All the ball joints in the front end are worn excessively. He says the excessive wear is a result of the dust seals disintegrating allowing dirt and water to enter the ball joints. He indicated that this is probably a result of the use of inappropriate or defective materials for the seals. I am going to have the ball joints replaced. I will ask the mechanic to keep the old parts for me.

- Kountze, TX, USA

To whom it may concern! my 1997 Ford Thunderbird is not listed why? I have a lot of problems with the smog stuff every year I pay a lot of money. When temperatures are hot outside over 90 the engine light comes on and says service engine, or when I go up a long hill and my car overheats the engine light comes on and says service engine and it is always about an oxygen sensor or other smog related items that always cost $300 to $650 I am going B broke being on a fixed income. Ford can't fix my front end vibration I had all alignments done wheel balancing 4 times nothing helps. My steering wheel vibrates also. Please help! manfred gauer.

- Lawndale, CA, USA

Front ball joint popped out of socket while driving. Dealer has replaced control arm and ball joint twice, and problem reoccurred. The front suspension collapsed completly and the rear lower ball joint broke. Tension arm bushing and lower control arm on right side failed causing the vehicle to pull when applying brakes. The left front swaybar failed. The left front wheel bearing failed.

- Buffalo, NY, USA

Unsafe unintended acceleration on more than one occasion/steering shakes consistantly.

- Lansing, MI, USA

Steering shudders, dealer and Ford engineer can't fix after 7 attempts. Ford should be slapped for this. They have stopped trying to fix it and will not refund my money for this piece of ignorantly designed junk.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

This tbird is a rare bird that was ordered and delivered without a limited slip differential. Tbirds have 4 wheel independent suspension and when driven on sloped streets will easily lift one drive wheel high enough to lose traction when the car is turned into another street or driveway that has a slightly different plane. This happened to me twice. The first time I was making a U turn on a sloped street and didn't have enough room to complete the turn. I stopped, put the car in reverse, stepped on the gas and promptly ran into a large bush abou 3' in front of me. I thought the transmission had failed so I called aaa. The tow driver moved the car a few feet and everything worked fine. I called the san diego dealer that does my service and the experienced service writer was surprised - neither of us had ever seen a tbird without limited slip so we assumed limited slip didn't work in reverse. The next time I was turning into a driveway to back up and turn around on a hillly street and I lost traction and started rolling backwards. Both times I heard a whining noise that turned out to be the drive wheel that was barely touching the street surface. So I took the car in and the dealership determined it did not have a limited slip differential. They couldn't get off their premises fast enough even though they had not sold me the car. Friendly Ford has simply stonewalled me. Ford motors repeatedly has stated it is not a defect and the dealer ordered the car without the limited slip differential and I should look to him for satisfaction. The factory person did indicate that a tbird without the limited slip differential was very rare. Apparently this problem has been widely known at Ford since this platform was used for so many years. Both times the car moved several feet after losing traction and did not regain traction until the surface planes changed.

- San Diego, CA, USA

While driving at any speed the vehicle vibrates. Also, upon applying the brakes and coming to a stop, the vehicle vibrates real badly and jerks/loss of power without prior warning.

- Brownburg, IN, USA