1992 Ford Taurus problems
Owners have filed 1,009 complaints with NHTSA about the 1992 Ford Taurus. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 23% of complaints. Next are brakes (10%) and transmission (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,009 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 62 and 26
- Injuries and deaths
- 60 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 120,000 miles 39 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 9 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 39 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 120,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 62 complaints mention a crash; 26 complaints mention a fire; 60 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1992 ranks 12th most-complained-about out of 29 model years of the Ford Taurus with enough data (375 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
I have owned the car for less than one month. I bought it from an as-is dealer with one-year warranty on the transmission. We found smoke came from under the hood on january 21, and had my car checked by a mechanic. The reported problem was power steering leaking and then the related pressure and return hoses were replaced. It seemed ok. But on january 26, my car was suddenly on fire when we were driving with our teacher. We had to call 911 to smother the fire.
Backing out of a parking space, foot on brake, put into drive, vehicle went into open throttle position, impact 12:00 position, rpms unknown.
The vehicle stalled all around town but not on the highway. The stalling occurred daily. Number of failures were too numerous to count. *scc possible ignition problems.
Tl*the contact owns a 1992 ford taurus. While the contact was driving approximately 5 MPH, he heard a loud noise and the rear corners of the subframe fell off of the vehicle. The subframe bolts on the rear end of the vehicle were covered with rust which caused the steering wheel to become unstable. The contact referenced recall 98v323000 (component: structure: frame and members) but the dealer stated that his VIN was not included in the recall; he was informed that he would be responsible for all repair costs.