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2003 FORD EXPEDITION — Complaint #551158

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NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:DISC:PADS filed August 24, 2005

NHTSA complaint #551158 (ODI reference 10134038) concerns a 2003 FORD EXPEDITION and was filed on August 24, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 10, 2005. The vehicle had 27,100 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, air:disc:pads, 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 service brakes, air:disc:pads 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 2003 FORD EXPEDITION shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2003 FORD EXPEDITION
Component
SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:DISC:PADS
State
California
Mileage
27,100 mi

Complaint Description

BRAKING SYSTEM DEGREDATION, ALL FOUR BRAKE PADS AND ROTORS NEED TO BE REPLACED AT 27K MILES. DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF DRIVING THE NEW VEHICLE I NOTICED THAT THE BRAKING SYSTEM PERFORMED WORSE THAN THE 2000 EXPEDITION I HAD JUST TRADED IN. AFTER EXPLAINING THIS TO THE DEALER, THEY DECIDED TO REPLACE ALL FOUR BRAKE PADS AND ROTORS DURING THE FIRST MONTH OF OWNERSHIP. AFTER A ROUNTINE MAINTANENCE AT 26K MILES, I WAS TOLD THAT THE BRAKE PADS HAD 10% LIFE LEFT AND ALL FOUR ROTORS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE ROTORS WERE BEYOND SPECIFICATIONS FOR TURNING. I RETURNED TO THE DEALER AND THEY EXPLAINED TO ME THAT THE WARRANTY WILL NOT COVER THIS WORK AND THAT I WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THE REPLACEMENT. I AM AFRAID THAT I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO AVOID AN ACCIDENT DUE TO POSSIBLE TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE. THE DEALER AND MAKER SAID IT'S A MAINTANENCE ISSUE AND I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR IT'S REPLACEMENT. I HAVE HEARD OF OTHER PEOPLE HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THE 2003 EXPEDITION AND HAVE FOUND SEVERAL COMPL

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 551158
ODI Number 10134038
Date Filed August 24, 2005
Failure Date August 10, 2005
VIN 1FMRU15L23L

Similar SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:DISC:PADS Complaints for 2003 FORD EXPEDITION

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