2003 Ford Windstar problems
The 2003 Ford Windstar has 2,057 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (33%) concerns brakes. Next are electrical system (14%) and suspension (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 2,057 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 33% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 54 and 31
- Injuries and deaths
- 49 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 99,000 miles 1,718 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 | 71 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 70 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 206 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 210 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 314 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 269 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 229 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 161 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 81 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 59 |
| 200k+ miles | 48 |
What the data shows
Of the 1,718 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 99,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 89,000 miles (586 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 54 complaints mention a crash; 31 complaints mention a fire; 49 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the Ford Windstar with enough data (502 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 8 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.
A vehicle turned left infront of me. Having no time to apply my brakes, my vehicle front end struck the right side of the other vehicle at approximately 45-50MPH. It was a direct frontal impact to my vehicle of such force it killed the other driver. Neither of my airbags deployed.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. While driving 45 MPH, the contact crashed into the passenger side of another vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed. As of november 26, 2007, the insurance company was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The driver sustained a back injury and the front passenger suffered bruises to her shoulder and chest. The rear seat passengers sustained bruises to their chests and shoulders. The current and failure mileages were 46,000.
My husband and I were driving our 2003 ford windstar when it was hit by another vehicle traveling at a high speed. The impact was on the passage side back wheel and caused our van to roll over. However, the passenger side aid bag did not deploy. Also, the latches that connect the rear seats to the floor released from the two seats at the middle row.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. The contact was pulling into a parking spot when suddenly, smoke began emitting from the hood. The contact opened the hood and saw that the engine compartment was on fire. The fire department extinguished the fire and the police took a report shortly after. The vehicle was then towed to an authorized dealershi.p, where the contact was informed that the fire was caused by the speed control deactivation switch (recall 09v399000).
The ABS light, advanced trac control indicator light, and dash lights are flashing on and off intermittently for several seconds. Alarms beep and the engine loses power. This has occurred multiple times over the past several weeks. Then coming onto the freeway this morning it occurred again and the engine shut off. It would not restart. After almost getting hit by another vehicle as a result of the engine shutting off, I was able to pull over and turned off the key.