Just took car in for oil change and mentioned about the 'very noticeable rattle' sound that occurred going over any pavement crack/bump/etc... sounded like something is broke! Dealership said Control Arm and Bushings were worn.... and when I searched, found multiple very similar complaints.... The car has not been driven hard and I have heard this sound for a few months... agree shouldn't happen at 35K miles (or less). Dealership quoted $357 to fix, but not sure whether they would replace both or not. Haven't decided whether to fix now or later yet.

well...to tell the whole story I heard a clunking sound when I went over bumps. I took it to my normal mechanic and he couldn't figure out what it was...so all in all I drove it some more and eventually I couldn't take it anymore and I took it to the dealership were I was told that both front control arms needed replaced. Such a learning experience...I won't be using my mechanic anymore. So a few hundred dollars later ( which I could TOTALLY afford...not ) And hopefully I will get my car back just in time for my second letter to come in about the power steering recall! YAY! At least it's a recall...so I can't complain too much. But it is really frustrating when you have a relatively new car and are already having to replace stuff like that! NOT COOL! Had a mercury sable before this and didn't have a problem until at least 120,000...lets just hope I don't have to witness the power steering problem before I get it in...that's just scary!

The control arm bushing failed after 3.5 years with only 56,000 miles on the vehicle. Operation of the vehicle became very annoying and noisy. Every time the accelerator was depressed a clunking sound would be heard, and going over any bumps would cause a loud rattling noise. The fix was to replace the control arm which resulted in a cost of $435. After reading other complaints, it sounds like the dealer could have repaired the problem by replacing only the bushing, which would have been cheaper.

I heard a loud noise when I would go over bumps, the car had 37,500 miles on it. It turned out that metal plates were hitting each other because the lower control arm bushing had completely released from the control arm, and two metal plates were then banging into each other, which could cause serious problems if let go. The repairman said he sees this with this type of car all the time. I was very disappointed and it cost a lot of money, and i was outside of the warranty, and had to pay for it all. I am now waiting on the right side to fail at any time. Also, if you get it repaired anywhere than the dealer you can't get a new bushing separately, you have to get a whole new control arm, which is more expensive.