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2000 FORD EXPEDITION — Complaint #408691

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NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM filed May 21, 2003

NHTSA complaint #408691 (ODI reference 10019057) concerns a 2000 FORD EXPEDITION and was filed on May 21, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 1, 2002. The vehicle had 59,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:springs:air suspension system, 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 EXPEDITION cohort independently describe similar suspension:rear:springs:air suspension system 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 2000 FORD EXPEDITION shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2000 FORD EXPEDITION
Component
SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM
State
Illinois
Mileage
59,500 mi

Complaint Description

AUTO LOAD LEVELING SUSPENSION FAILED JUNE 2002. DEALER FOUND WIRING PROBLEM THAT CAUSED SHORT AND CAUSED SENSOR TO FAIL. WHEN SYSTEM FAILS, SYSTEM DROPS REAR OF CAR DOWN ON AXLE WITH NO SUSPENSION. VEHICLE IS VERY UNSAFE TO DRIVE ESPECIALLY OVER ROUGH ROAD AND WHEN CORNERING. I COMPLAINED TO THE DEALER AND FORD THAT THIS WAS A MAJOR PROBLEM AND WOULD BE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS IF TOWING A TRAILER WHEN THIS HAPPENED. IN MAY OF 2003 SYSTEM FAILED WHILE TOWING A FAIRLY HEAVY TRAILER. TRAILER TONGUE HIT THE PAVEMENT. VEHICLE WAS VERY UNSTABLE TO DRIVE AND GET SAFELY OFF THE ROAD. THIS TIME THE PROBLEM WAS A RELAY THAT FAILED. VEHICLES WITH THIS LOAD LEVELING SYSTEM NEED TO BE RECALLED AND MODIFIED TO FREEZE THE SYSTEM IN IT'S CURRENT STATE WHEN A FAILURE IS DETECTED AND NOT TO LET OUT ALL OF THE AIR IN THE SUSPENSION. THERE NEEDS TO BE A WAY TO DISABLE THE SYSTEM AND MANUALLY ADD OR REMOVE AIR FROM THE AIR SHOCKS IN THIS SITUATION. I PREFER TO REMOVE THE "AUTOMATIC" CONTROL FROM THIS SYSTEM

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 408691
ODI Number 10019057
Date Filed May 21, 2003
Failure Date June 1, 2002
VIN 1FMFU18L2YL

Similar SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM Complaints for 2000 FORD EXPEDITION

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.