2003 FORD E-450 — Complaint #932695
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:AXLE:SPINDLE filed August 7, 2012
NHTSA complaint #932695 (ODI reference 10469547) concerns a 2003 FORD E-450 and was filed on August 7, 2012. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 15, 2008. The vehicle had 20,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Maine based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:axle:spindle, 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: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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 E-450 cohort independently describe similar suspension:rear:axle:spindle 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 E-450 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 FORD E-450. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 35 MPH THE CONTACT NOTICED SMOKE EMITTING FROM UNDER THE VEHICLE ON THE REAR PASSENGER SIDE. THE CONTACT WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE AND MERGE TO THE SHOULDER. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO STATED THAT THE SPINDLE HAD MELTED AND THE SHAFT ASSEMBLY NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE SECOND TIME THE FAILURE RECURRED, FLAMES WERE EMITTED FROM UNDER THE VEHICLE. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED TO THE SCENE AND A REPORT WAS FILED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO STATED THAT THE SPINDLE HAD CAUGHT ON FIRE AND NEEDED TO BE REPAIRED ALONG WITH THE SHAFT ASSEMBLY, TIRE AND BRAKES. AFTER THE REPAIRS, THE CONTACT NOTICED SMOKE A THIRD TIME. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT FURTHER REPAIRED FOR THE MOST RECENT FAILURE. REPAIRED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 20,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 932695 |
| ODI Number | 10469547 |
| Date Filed | August 7, 2012 |
| Failure Date | August 15, 2008 |
| VIN | 1FDXE45S43H |
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.