RPO83

By Harry Stoffer
Automotive News

WASHINGTON — Federal safety officials are expanding an investigation of Ford Windstar minivans to determine why wheel-mounting studs are breaking at an unusually high rate.

2003 Ford Windstar
The Ford Windstar minivan is under a federal investigation to determine why wheel-mounting studs are breaking at an unusually high rate.

The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers the 1997-2000 model years.

If a defect is found, the agency estimates that Ford will have to recall as many as 1 million vehicles.

The agency and the company have collected 123 complaints about broken studs. In 69 cases, the wheels came off vehicles. The complaints include 11 reported crashes with five injuries, NHTSA says.

After obtaining warranty claims and other records, the agency says it found nearly 1,500 other incidents that could be linked to this alleged defect.

The agency has upgraded its investigation from what it calls a preliminary evaluation to the next level: an engineering analysis.

The agency took this action after Ford reported that it has been unable to determine the problem’s cause.

In other action, NHTSA is investigating complaints that some Honda vehicles have defective ignition-park interlock systems.

Motorists reported that they could remove keys from ignitions when shifters were not in park or that shifters could be moved from park with the ignitions turned off. Some vehicles also rolled away after they had been parked.

Federal safety regulators received 10 complaints about 1998-99 Honda Accords, including six that involved crashes.

The agency also received three complaints of rollaway crashes involving three 2002 Honda CR-Vs. Two injuries were reported.

The investigations could involve 300,000 vehicles.

In a similar case, NHTSA is investigating whether a 1998 recall of nearly 700,000 cars built by the former Chrysler Corp. covered all defective vehicles.

The company had agreed to repair ignition-park interlock systems on 1995-98 Dodge Stratuses, Plymouth Breezes and Chrysler Cirrus and Sebring cars.

The new probe will determine whether DaimlerChrysler also should recall 200,000 cars from the 1999 model year. NHTSA has received six complaints about ignition-park interlock malfunctions in the vehicles.

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