At least mine didn't snap while driving. Found out by accident it was cracked all the way through. I called Ford company rep to no avail. He only suggested contacting NHTSA.gov online which I did. The rep also said it's up to the government to investigate, then decide about recalls. I suppose they are waiting til people get killed before issuing a recall. It boggles my mind knowing how little they care about the consumer. The problem is so bad that one of the junk-yards we contacted said they are getting 2 or 3 requests per week for that axle. How long will it take Ford to smarten up? In the meantime I'm stuck without transportation.

I loved my wordstar, but looking for a newer vehicle. I gave it to my daughter and bought the ford taurus XL crossover. Yesterday she called extremely upset, she had just gotten off the interstate AND pulled in the gas station. Kla-plunk!! The rear end fell out, and axle on the left hand side broke off!!!

Unbelievable.

THe van runs well, and other than maintenance was a good vehicle.

While searching for possible repair I found all the other people who had the same problem. FORD is so lucky my daughter was not injured, but what a close call. Please send information where I can let FORD know.

Overall, I've been satisfied w/ my 2001 Ford Windstar LX. Outside of routine electrical and mechanical repairs, it has held up pretty well; that's why I was shocked when my rear axle literally snapped in half as I was backing out of my driveway yesterday. For the past few weeks the car's rear end had been making loud noises similar to the noise you hear when your shocks are worn out especially when I would hit any kind of a bump or a pothole. I even made an appointment w/ my mechanic to get new shocks on 12/12 because it was getting so bad but, alas, I never had the chance to have it looked at.

The people at Ford need to do somethng about this right away. There are literally thousands and thousands of Ford Windstars on America's roads and highways. I feel fortunate that my axle snapped in my driveway and not on Route 22 (which is filled w/ Christmas shoppers these days) or the Garden State Parkway, which I drive on daily to get to work. Until Ford takes this seriously and does something, it's Russian Roulette out there!!! If you see a Ford Windstar out ther on the roads or highways---keep a safe distance, you never know.

Noticed handling problems and took it into the shop, which replaced the front struts and rear shocks. They reported that the rear end was so far out of alignment they had to install $40 worth of shims to bring it back in line.

A week later, on the highway, the vaq started to vibrate uncontrollably so I slowed down but as I got to 50 mph the rear end suddenly began to swing violently from side to side. I was able to stop on the shoulder without killing anyone else on the highway or myself, but it was pretty much a miracle that I didn't end up in the ditch or trees. After getting it towed to the dealership, they reported that the rear axle had snapped. They described the problem as old, possibly as old as the car based on the rust inside the crack.

I ended up replacing the rear axle assembly and the two rear tires, which had rubbed against the wheel wells. Parts and labor came to about $1100.

I have a 2001 Ford Windstar and started to notice shifting while driving and the brake lights were always on even though I had new brakes. One night when driving home I felt the car go into a fish tail. I was on a gravel road and was not speeding so my husband looked under the car to find that the axle was crack and hanging by the thread. I drove slowly to the shop to have it looked at cause I have never wreaked or had any problems other than this..it just didn't add up. Sure enough the guy told me it was broke and dangling barely...his exact words was I can't let you drive this car out of here you and your kids could be killed. FORD WAKE UP BEFORE SOMEONE DIES THIS CAR IS UNSAFE......MY AXLE BROKE TWO FEET FROM THE DRIVER"S REAR WHEEL JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER VANS. MY KIDS COULD HAVE BEEN IN A VERY BAD ACCIDENT!!! PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU ARE DRIVING THIS KIND OF VAN PLEASE HAVE IT CHECKED......IT IS LIFE OR DEATH!!!!!!!!!!

For about a month or so my Windstar had been making funny noises - creaking etc. I thought that maybe there was an issue with the exhaust system. Finally a few days before the axle broke there was a funny feeling when driving the car that it was fishtailing a bit - again didn't think anything about it as it was a little bit windy out and it didn't seem to happen again. On the night of Sept 30th 2009, I was driving home and got home about midnight. I pulled in my driveway and I was a little bit close to one of my other cars so I wanted to pull the car over a little bit to have more room. As I put the car in reverse I heard a loud bang - like I hit something. I got out of the car and saw nothing. I got back in the car and my brake warning light was on so I assumed that something happened with the brakes. When I put the car back in reverse I heard a loud dragging as I gave it some gas and felt that the car didn't move. I put it in park, got back out and then noticed the left rear tire tilted inward at the top. I looked under the car and the entire axle was broken. It broke approx 2 ft from the left rear tire. The right rear wheel was almost completely dislodged from underneath the car. The next day I had it towed to a local station. The tow driver was amazed and said he never saw anything like it. Same from my mechanic who was able to locate a used part from a 2002. He checked that axle and actually told me that he saw a small crack starting on that one. He welded that part to make sure I would not have any problems again and completed the repair. I had called Ford on Thurs and they told me there were no recalls on that issue and basically no programs available to help with paying for the repair. If this happened 10 minutes before the time it did, I would have been on a major highway going 55, 60 and the result could have been a lot worse than $864.73 to pay for it. FORD WAKEUP - YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED. Hopefully no one has gotten injured as a result of this faulty axle and obvious manufacturing defect.

PS - My mechanic also told me that it seemed to him that the load on the rear end is not dispersed equally as he thought it should be - that there seemed to be more resistance and load on the left side(closer to where the crack happened) than on the right side.

I had been hearing a dull squeaky, clicking noise from the left rear of my van for approximately a month. I took my van to the mechanic on 8/31/09 and they told me I needed new tires, an alignment and some front end work. I told them again that the noise was coming from the back, so I wasn't sure why I needed front end work and not back. I paid $767.00. On 9/2/09, I took the van back because I was hearing the same noise. The test drove the car and didn't hear anything. They told me to bring it back if I heard the noise again. On 9/7/09, I brought the van back. They put the van on the lift, took the tires off and said they couldn't find anything. The more I drove the van, the more I heard the noise. I noticed that the van would "fish tale" or shake more when ever I went over a bump, even if the bump was small. I took my van to a different mechanic to see if they could find something wrong. I told them that it felt like I needed an alignment, although I wasn't sure how this could be since I had just had one on 8/31/09. Before the mechanic even got in the van, she point out to me that the top of the left rear tire was bent inward, causing the van to lean to one side. The mechanic then put the van on the lift. As I watched through the window in the waiting area, I saw the mechanic call her supervisor and a third person to the van. She pointed to the rear of the van and they all looked like they were in shock. By the look on their face, I thought maybe an animal of some sort had gotten caught up in the wheel of something. The supervisor came and got me and said that he had never seen anything like it. I said, "Seen anything like what?" He then showed me a crack on the axle almost in the middle, but closer to the left wheel. I didn't think the crack was that bad, but then we walked underneath the car to the other side of the axle. My first response was shock, disgust and anger. The crack was so deep that if I had gone over one big pothole, my daughters and I could have been injured. I then became infuriated at the place where I took my van initially, because I thought there was no way they could have missed that crack when they changed the tires. I took my van right back to the initial mechanic and reamed them out! When they put the car on the lift, they said that they definitely would have noticed a crack that significant if it had been there before. They suggested that there may have been a hairline fracture/crack when I initially brought it, but it worsened as I drove. I left the van overnight. My father suggested that I call Ford to see if there was a recall on the axle. I went on line and was amazed at the amount of cases I found that were very similar to mine. There is no way that all of these incidences are coincidences. Something has got to be done! The total amount to have it replaced was $926.00, but I had a coupon, so the total spent was $836.00. I called the Ford place and the person that I spoke with said that Ford won't do a recall unless there are at least 2,000 complaints. That's bull! I wonder how many have actually died in a 2001 Ford Windstar because the axle broke on them. Unfortunately, they didn't live long enough to write a complaint. Ford ought to be ashamed of themselves!

Update from Sep 23, 2009: When are they going to take this issue seriously?

Another rear axle cracked in half. Just like all others about 2 feet from left side. Was taking the the car to the mechanic for yearly inspection when got there notice drivers side rear tire was not straight mechanic looked underneath a couldn't believe it. Now have to wait for part and to see how much because he never had to order a part like this. Contacted Ford to see what is going to be done about all the complaints and "they will do an investigation" but couldn't tell me the results of any other investigations. So basically not their problem.

I have just came home from vacation in AZ and my van the hole time on vacation was making this noise I didn't know what it was till we backed in our driveway and the driver side tire was cocked in at the top so my husband jacked the van up and the rear axle was snapped in half I have to say ford needs to pay for all the repairs!!!! I am going to be uploading pic's of this I have to say that we have GUARDIAN ANGELS watching over us to make it home this van was driven on vacation 5,200 miles THANK GOD IT DIDN'T HAPPEN ON THE HIGHWAY!!! MY HUSBAND DOSE MECHANICS AND HE HAS SEEN THIS HAPPEN TO OTHER FORD WINSTARS AND IT BRAKES IN THE SAME SPOT ON ALL OF THEM FORD NEEDS TO OPEN THERE EYES AND FIX THIS PROBLEM BEFORE A FAMILY DIES FROM FORD WINSTAR VANS!!!!!!!!!