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2002 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #659299

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NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS filed February 27, 2008

NHTSA complaint #659299 (ODI reference 10219320) concerns a 2002 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on February 27, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 25, 2008. The vehicle had 62,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to NN based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:springs, 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 EXPLORER cohort independently describe similar suspension:rear:springs 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 2002 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2002 FORD EXPLORER
Component
SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS
State
NN
Mileage
62,000 mi

Complaint Description

I FOUND AN ~3" LONG PIECE OF UNKNOWN STEEL IN MY GARAGE. NOTICED THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE VEHICLE WAS ABOUT 2" LOWER THAN LEFT. THE UNKNOWN STEEL WAS PART OF THE TOP OF THE COIL SPRING. ALSO, THE BOTTOM OF THE SPRING WAS BROKEN AND THE SPRING HAD COME TO REST ON THE LOWER SWING ARM. TOTAL OF 3 BREAKS ON THE RIGHT SIDE SPRING. WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS PLACED ON A LIFT THE RIGHT SIDE WAS FOUND TO HAVE TWO BREAKS, ALSO NEAR THE OPT OF THE SPRING. CALLED LOCAL DEALER AND WAS TOLD THEY HAVE REPAIRED 'A FEW OF THEM'. REPAIR GARAGE COULD NOT OBTAIN AFTERMARKET SPRINGS, THEY WERE TOLD THEY WERE ON NATIONAL BACKORDER. LOCAL DEALER WAS OUT AND RECEIVED 2 TODAY, WHICH WERE INSTALLED. I HAVE PLACED ~95% OF THE ~62,000 MILES AND VEHICLE WAS NOT ABUSED IN ANY FORM. OLD PARTS AND PICTURES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. *TR

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 659299
ODI Number 10219320
Date Filed February 27, 2008
Failure Date February 25, 2008
VIN 1FMZU72E02U

Similar SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS Complaints for 2002 FORD EXPLORER

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