2008 Ford Taurus
This year drew an ordinary 175 complaints for a Ford Taurus — the model's median is 187. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.7% of them mention transmission, against 3.4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 175 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 187 |
| Involving a crash | 19 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 20.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 17.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the model's other years (5.2×).
- rack — 14.3% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: rack, pinion, rack pinion, assembly.
- move — 12.6% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: move, who unable, barely, fast.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY 55 MPH, THE STEERING WHEEL VEERED TO THE LEFT. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE RACK AND PINION NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF TH…
POWER STEERING WENT WHILE DRIVING IN WET ICY CONDITIONS. SEEMS TO GO IN AND OUT NOW, USUALLY OUT. CHECKED FLUID LEVELS AND THEY ARE FINE. SEEMS TO WORK MAKING LEFT TURNS WITH ENGINE AT HIGHER RPMS. EVERYTHING I'M READING POINTS TO THE RACK AND PINION STEERING…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V247000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Taurus was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Ford Taurus? What happened to yours?
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