2008 Ford Crown Victoria

In its recall notice dated August 26, 2013, Ford Motor Company (Ford) notified NHTSA of a safety defect condition that may result in loss of steering in approximately 355,000 model year (MY) 2005 through 2011 Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis vehicles built at the St. Thomas Assembly Plant, MY 2005 through 2007 Lincoln Town Car vehicles built at the Wixom Assembly Plant, and certain MY 2008 through 2011 Lincoln Town Car vehicles built at the St. Thomas Assembly Plant and that are currently registered or were originally sold in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin (NHTSA Recall 13V-385, Ford Recall 13S08).Ford's recall addresses a corrosion related defect in the lower intermediate shaft that may result in separation of the steering column lower bearing and loss of steering control.Ford's recall will remedy the defect condition by instructing dealers to replace the lower intermediate shaft and to inspect and repair the upper intermediate shaft and steering column lower bearing as necessary.A retaining clip will be installed if the lower bearing has separated.Ford's investigation of steering column separations in the subject vehicles identified a defect condition in the lower intermediate shaft that could result in separation of the column lower bearing.According to Ford's August 26th defect report, severe corrosion of the lower intermediate shaft may cause the lower intermediate shaft swing link joint(s) to stiffen or seize.Ford determined that forces acting on the upper intermediate shaft because of seized swing links may eventually cause the upper intermediate shaft to collapse, which may result in separation of the column lower bearing and loss of steering control.Analysis of ODI complaints and Ford complaints and warranty identified 22 incidents of steering separation (12 complaints and 10 non-duplicative warranty claims) that may be related to the lower intermediate shaft defect condition.All 22 incidents involved vehicles in the recall region, where 419,210 or roughly half (52%), of the subject vehicles were sold.Ford's investigation also determined that column lower bearing separation may occur in vehicles that experienced upper intermediate shaft collapse in prior frontal impact collisions if the shaft was not properly diagnosed and repaired.Ford identified 13 steering separation incidents outside the recall region (6 complaints and 7 non-duplicative warranty claims) where 386,003 of the subject vehicles were sold.Ford did not find evidence of the lower intermediate shaft corrosion issue in these vehicles.Six of the vehicles had known prior collisions and the histories of the remaining 7 were unknown.To address concerns with possible steering separations in vehicles outside the region for safety recall 13V-385, Ford is conducting a Regional Program (13R01) to inspect and repair the steering assemblies of those vehicles as necessary.The lower intermediate shaft will be replaced only if it fails the inspection, the upper intermediate shaft will be repaired if it fails a Ford-specified measurement test.In the event the steering column lower bearings are found out of position, they will be re-seated and secured with a retaining clip.Based on Ford's field actions, this investigation is closed.The VOQs cited above can be viewed at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers: 10505992, 10479893, 10477192, 10475950, 10474596

In the subject vehicles, the mechanical connection between the steering wheel and rack and pinion steering assembly consist of the steering column and an upper and lower intermediate shaft.A disconnection of any of these components from the steering system can create a loss of steering control.Allegations of a loss of steering control incidents reviewed during the Preliminary Evaluation PE12-025 appear to be related to a separation of the upper and lower shafts within the steering the column. In response to the Office of Defects Investigation's (ODI) Information Request (IR) during PE12-025, Ford provided 2 complaints and 9 warranty claims related to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles (see Figure 1 for an exemplar picture).ODI has received 5 complaints related to the alleged defect, including 1 related to an incident reported in one of the Ford complaints.The incident rate involving subject vehicles is 7.7 per 100,000 vehicles (15 total incidents).Five of the 15 incident vehicles were associated with a prior history report of a frontal impact incident.ODI also analyzed field data for MY 2005 through MY 2008 non-CVPI Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis models and MY 2009 through MY 2011 CVPI models, which use a similar steering column and intermediate shaft design. This analysis identified 4 reports from Ford and 2 complaints to ODI, including 1 duplicative of a complaint provided by Ford, resulting in 5 total incidents and an incident rate of 1.1 per 100,000 vehicles for a vehicle population of approximately 436,000 vehicles. In the peer vehicle analysis, 4 of 5 incident vehicles had a prior history report of a frontal impact incident.ODI also identified 42 reports (39 reports associated with subject vehicles and 3 reports associated peer vehicles) of the lower steering column shaft bearing displacement that did not result in complete separations of the upper to lower steering column shafts (see Figure 2). Vehicles with this condition were identified during inspections of police fleets or during vehicle repairs for complaints of looseness, binding or noise in the steering system while turning.This Preliminary Evaluation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA13-004) has been opened to further assess the scope, frequency, consequence, and contributing factors to the steering column shaft separations.The VOQs associated with the opening of this investigation and a loss of steering control are: 10347404, 10474596, 10475950, 10477192, and 10479893.

ON OCTOBER 14, 2008, ODI OPENED PE08-060 TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS OF CRACKED AND LEAKING SNAP-IN TIRE VALVES IN MODEL YEAR (MY) 2007 VEHICLES MANUFACTURED BY FORD MOTOR COMPANY.THE VALVES WERE SUPPLIED TO FORD BY TOPSEAL AUTO-PARTS, A SUBSIDIARY OF THE SHANGHAI BAOLONG AUTOMOTIVE CORPORATION IN CHINA.VALVES MADE BY TOPSEAL FOR AFTERMARKET SALE WERE THE SUBJECT OF TWO RECENT SAFETY RECALLS BY TECH INTERNATIONAL (08T-018) AND DILL AIR CONTROLS (08T-028), THE LATTER OF WHICH WAS INVESTIGATED BY ODI IN PE08-036 AND EA08-022.THE DEFECT CONDITIONS ADDRESSED BY THE AFTERMARKET TIRE VALVE RECALLS BOTH INVOLVED INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO OZONE CRACKING DUE TO ISSUES WITH THE SUPPLY OF ANTI-OZONANT CHEMICALS TO TOPSEAL FOR A PERIOD FROM JULY TO MID-NOVEMBER 2006.THE AFTERMARKET VALVES WERE COMPOUNDED WITH A BLEND OF EPDM AND NATURAL RUBBER, USING A RELATIVELY LOW PERCENTAGE OF EPDM (EPDM PROVIDES INHERENT RESISTANCE TO OZONE CRACKING).HENCE, THE NEED FOR ANTI-OZONANT CHEMICALS AND THE PROBLEMS WITH CRACKING WHEN THOSE CHEMICALS WERE MISSING OR OUT OF SPECIFICATION IN SOME LOTS OF VALVES.BOTH RECALL CAMPAIGNS INVOLVED INSPECTION PROGRAMS TO IDENTIFY AND REPLACE VALVES WITH VISIBLE SURFACE CRACKING.ALTHOUGH THE TOPSEAL VALVES SUPPLIED TO FORD ALSO APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE ANTI-OZONANT SUPPLY ISSUES IN MID TO LATE-2006, FORD INDICATED THAT ITS VALVES WERE MADE AT A DIFFERENT TOPSEAL PRODUCTION LINE AND WERE COMPOUNDED WITH A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF EPDM RUBBER TO MEET MORE STRINGENT SPECIFICATIONS FROM FORD.ODI'S ANALYSIS OF COMPLAINT AND WARRANTY DATA PROVIDED BY FORD SHOWED THAT PROBLEMS WITH CRACKED TIRE VALVES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER FOR MY 2007 VEHICLES PRODUCED FROM DECEMBER 2006 THROUGH MARCH 2007.FORD RESPONDED BY IMPLEMENTING CHANGES IN ITS MATERIAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR SNAP-IN RUBBER TIRE VALVES AND ALSO INCREASING THE QUALITY AND ACCEPTANCE STANDARDS FOR VALVES IMPORTED FOR USE IN ITS VEHICLES.WHILE THE COMPLAINT AND WARRANTY CLAIM RATES ARE ELEVATED FOR SUBJECT VEHICLES PRODUCED FROM DECEMBER 2006 THROUGH MARCH 2007, THE RATES OF LEAKING VALVES ARE WELL BELOW ONE PERCENT OF PRODUCTION FOR EACH OF THE PEAK MONTHS FOR ALL OF THE AFFECTED MODELS.A SUBSTANTIAL MAJORITY OF THE SUBJECT VEHICLES ARE EQUIPPED WITH TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS (TPMS) WHICH WARN THE DRIVER WHEN ANY TIRE PRESSURES DROPS BELOW 25 PERCENT OF RECOMMENDED INFLATION PRESSURE. AS OUTLINED IN A LETTER TO ODI DATED APRIL 6, 2009, FORD HAS AGREED TO SEND LETTERS TO OWNERS OF CERTAIN MY 2007 AND 2008 FORD, LINCOLN AND MERCURY VEHICLES TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CRACKING CONCERN. LETTERS WILL BE SENT TO OWNERS OF VEHICLES BUILT FROM NOVEMBER 2006 THROUGH MAY 2007.OWNERS CAN OPT FOR A FREE DEALER INSPECTION.VALVES EXHIBITING SURFACE CRACKS OR AIR LEAKAGE RELATED TO OZONE ATTACK WILL BE REPLACED BY FORD UNDER ITS NORMAL WARRANTY TERMS.FORD EXPECTS TO SEND THE LETTER BY APPROXIMATELY MID-MAY 2009. BASED ON THE USE OF TPMS IN THE MAJORITY OF SUBJECT VEHICLES AND THE RELATIVELY LOW RATES OF REPAIRS ASSOCIATED WITH LEAKING VALVES AND RESULTANT TIRE DAMAGE, ODI BELIEVES THAT THE ACTIONS FORD HAS AGREED TO TAKE WILL PROVIDE EFFECTIVE AND EXPEDITIOUS RESOLUTION FOR VEHICLES THAT WERE BUILT DURING THE PERIOD WHEN VALVES WITH INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO OZONE CRACKING WERE MOST LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN USED IN VEHICLE PRODUCTION.FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF THIS MATTER WOULD NOT BE AN EFFICIENT ALLOCATION OF AGENCY RESOURCES.ACCORDINGLY, THIS INVESTIGATION IS CLOSED.THE CLOSING OF THIS INVESTIGATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FINDING BY NHTSA THAT A SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT DOES NOT EXIST.THE AGENCY WILL CONTINUE TO

Complete instrument cluster failure, no lights illuminate except turn signals. Speed, rpm’s, fuel level, temperature, are completely off instrument cluster is completely dark when driving at night, told that the solders on the cluster are bad. (Defective?)

NHTSA ID

11536418

Incident

Jun 6, 2023

The contact owns 2008 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to reverse while the transmission was shifted into reverse(R). The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who replaced the linkage. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 115,000.

NHTSA ID

11522491

Incident

Apr 17, 2023

Mileage

115,000 mi

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH in a dark area with the high beam headlights activated, the headlights became inoperable. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the low beam headlights were activated to continue driving. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The contact stated she replaced the headlights and the fuse but the failure continued. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 121,924.

NHTSA ID

11488095

Incident

Sep 27, 2022

Mileage

121,924 mi

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced a loss of power steering assist. The contact inspected the steering column underneath the hood and noticed that the steering shaft was corroded. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V385000 (Steering) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 141,000.

NHTSA ID

11480958

Incident

Aug 23, 2022

Mileage

141,000 mi

The right front wheel hub broke at the weld when turning in a parking lot. The part is available for inspection. Had this happened at freeway speed, the right front wheel would have departed the vehicle. The safety hazards are obvious. I attempted to contact customer service and they did not reply.There was no warning sign and the part has not been inspected. I am not a welder. It appears this part had a bad weld from the start. I suspect it was welded by a machine and there may be more just like it from the same production run.

NHTSA ID

11476597

Incident

Jul 16, 2022

I purchased this vehicle a week ago and I also downloaded car fax and it states my vehicle was due for a recall in 2014 but the previous owner next got it.

NHTSA ID

11418934

Incident

May 28, 2021

2008 FORD INTERSEPTER GAS TANK STRAPS AND TANK FELL. VEHICAL WAS TOWED TO A FORD.

NHTSA ID

11339379

Incident

Jun 10, 2020

Mileage

107,000 mi

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2008 FORD CROWN VICTORIA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT 70 MPH, THE STEERING WHEEL INDEPENDENTLY TURNED 180 DEGREES. THE CONTACT REGAINED CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE, AND PULLED OVER AND PARKED THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT INSPECTED THE VEHICLE AND BECAME AWARE OF A LOOSENED STEERING SHAFT BUSHING. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE RESIDENCE. NEITHER THE DEALER NOR THE MANUFACTURER WERE NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 166,000.

NHTSA ID

11330032

Incident

Jun 19, 2020

Mileage

166,000 mi

This SKU is a Radiator Fan. The customer communication requested return of unsold inventory to inspect the electrical connections. An electrical connection issue may lead to the fan not working potentially throwing a check engine light for overheating.

Replacing the original equipment SYNC/Navigation system with either an aftermarket SYNC/Navigation kit or modifying original SYNC/Navigation parts to provide additional features is not recommended nor supported on any Ford, Mercury or Lincoln vehicle. Only approved Genuine Ford accessories or originally installed systems are supported and certified to function correctly with other vehicle systems. If you suspect a system has been modified, the following resources can be used to verify original equipment: Monroney Label (Window Sticker), Professional Technician Society (PTS) OASIS tab  select SYNC or HVBOM. For Genuine Ford accessories use: PTS Workshop Tab  select Dealer Installed Accessory or Accessory Installation.

The Powertrain Control/Emissions Diagnosis (PC/ED) manual has been revised for diagnosing electronic throttle bodies (ETBs). The ETC_ACT and ETC_DSD PIDs should not used to diagnose possible ETB concerns. The IDS has a limited refresh rate when reading these PIDs and cannot display quickly enough to validate a concern. The PCM automatically monitors these inputs more accurately and will set diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) when appropriate. Using these PIDs for diagnostics will lead to inaccurate results and improper ETB replacements. If a concern is intermittent and no DTCs are present, refer to historical DTCs and the PC/ED, Section 3 No DTCs Present Index chart for further information.

Inpected or repaired under 13R01 - Requests for recall service action under 13S08

For 2005-2012 Crown Victoria, 2005-2011 Grand Marquis and Town Car vehicles, Regional Program 13R01 applies to vehicles not registered in corrosion states and not included in Safety Recall 13S08, where operation in high corrosion areas for an extended period may lead to corrosion in the lower intermediate steering shaft swing link. This may result in a compressed upper intermediate steering shaft and separation from the steering column, which can result in a loss of steering control. Vehicles covered under 13R01 that were inspected or repaired without replacement of the lower intermediate shaft, and have relocated to high corrosion areas, may experience subsequent corrosion of the lower intermediate steering shaft swing link.

4R75E Transmission - Grinding/Whine/Vibration/Gear Slippage - Serrvice Kit available