Other suspension problem on the 2002 Ford Taurus
1 crash 1 of the 313 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other suspension problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Ford Taurus report other suspension problem at a median of 82,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 63,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 287 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 46,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 127,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 80,882 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
5% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45,918 miles | 62,883 miles | 81,639 miles | 105,000 miles | 126,800 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Sagging of rear suspension. The first time I noticed this problem was when I took the family on a ski trip 2 months after purchase. Anytime after that I go on a trip, with 200 lbs worth of weight for the three rear passengers and three suitcases that barely weight another 200 lbs. This so called family car which I purchased for safe traveling with my family and which is advertised as a safe family car is a misnomer. Reason: the rear suspension immediately sags low with the weight I mentioned. I've taken it to two dealers three times and the service advisors states the rear suspension is normal. I've driven and owned many cars before and I never had such a problem (although I had seen that problem in the old k cars with chrysler.) point: in an emergency maneuver I believe it would become a dangerous situation with this condition . The car drives unstable, takes bumps really bad, and in slight highway turns over 45 MPH, the car is hard to control; all due to this extra weight. Please advise me. *tt
I had a flat tire 6/12/2005. Here the perimeter of the tire was ?sliced due to bad drivers side spring. My car is a 2002ford taurus veh id#[xxx]. My brother in law had the same problem w his ?2000 taurus but the front spring. The dealer said his was covered under a gov warranty but mine was not covered. The car was towed to the dealership and we had a$233 bill to repair something that could have been fatal. Immediately after the repair the car started making a loud knocking noise and car was back in dealership 6/21 fro $400. Repairs to replace both rear struts. This car only has 42,000 miles on itl. *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Dt: contact stated there recall 04v332000 was issued for model years 1999-2001, contact's vehicle was a 2002, but it was manufactured in july 2001, based on the VIN this vehicle did not fall under this recall campaign. The left front coil springs fracture, causing the front left tire to rupture. The tire did not puncture until the vehicle was parked in the driveway. Contact's wife was driving the vehicle on a bumpy highway where construction was going on. She did not recognize any strange noises from the vehicle. The end of the spring was sticking through the tire, and there was a groove on the inside sidewall of the tire. This was where the end of the spring punctured through the tire. *ak
Also reported on the 2002 Ford Taurus
Strut, shock or spring failure
Blower motor or climate control failure
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Other visibility problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 313 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other suspension problem happen on the 2002 Ford Taurus?
Across 287 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 82,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 63,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other suspension problem on the 2002 Ford Taurus?
313 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.7 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed