1994 FORD TAURUS — Complaint #389322
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:CONTROLS:FOOT CONTROL/VALVE filed January 15, 2003
NHTSA complaint #389322 (ODI reference 10002723) concerns a 1994 FORD TAURUS and was filed on January 15, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 16, 2001. The report was geocoded to Ohio based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, air:controls:foot control/valve, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD TAURUS cohort independently describe similar service brakes, air:controls:foot control/valve failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1994 FORD TAURUS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
MY CAR STALLS OR JUST STOPS IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC, IT WILL GO FROM 60MPH TO 0MPH. THIS HAS HAPPENED OVER 20 TIMES. I TOOK IT TO PEFFLEY FORD FOR REPAIRS, THEY CHARGED ME $669.36 AND 6 DAYS LATER MY CAR CUT OUT ON ME AGAIN AND THEY TOWED IT TO THEIR SHOP. THEY REFUSED TO LOOK AT MY CAR WITHOUT ME PAYING MORE MONEY FOR REPAIRS AND THE TOW TRUCK. I HAVE SPENT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON REPAIRS FOR MY CAR AND I FEAR FOR MY LIFE EVERY TIME I GET INTO THAT CAR. I NEVER KNOW WHEN IT WILL CUT OUT AND I CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY A NEW CAR. I FOUND OUT THAT 8 PEOPLE OWNED THAT CAR BEFORE ME, WHEN I BOUGHT THE CAR, THE SALESPERSON SAID THAT IT WOULD BE SAFE FOR MY TWO YOUNG GIRLS TO RIDE IN HE WAS WRONG. I HAVE ALL OF MY SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION AND WILL SEND COPIES TO YOU. PLEASE DO SOMETHING BEFORE ONE OR ALL OF MY FAMILY END UP INJURED OR DEAD. THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE, KAREN JUDKINS.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 389322 |
| ODI Number | 10002723 |
| Date Filed | January 15, 2003 |
| Failure Date | October 16, 2001 |
| VIN | 1FALP57U5RA |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.