- Federal safety regulators have opened a probe into an estimated 63,000 2004 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans after reports that the seat anchors failed to secure the third-row seat to the vehicle.
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received seven complaints about the vehicles.
- Such an investigation sometimes leads to a recall.
WASHINGTON — Federal safety regulators have opened a probe into an estimated 63,000 2004 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans after reports that the seat anchors failed to secure the third-row seat to the vehicle.
"The stowable third-row seat is secured to the vehicle by two latches or anchors on each side of the seat cushion and also by two hinges/supports on the rear face of the seat cushion," said NHTSA in its failure report summary. "The side anchors are mounted to the rear wheelwells. The complaints allege that the rear wheelwells were severely corroded with some complaints indicating that an anchor mount completely detached from the vehicle."
NHTSA says the seven complaints involved Freestars and Montereys "which were in use in salt-belt states." It says there have been no crashes, injuries or fatalities associated with the issue. Ford did not respond to requests by Inside Line for a comment about the investigation. Such an investigation sometimes leads to a recall.
One unidentified Freestar owner posted the following complaint on the NHTSA Web site: "Upon opening the folding third row seat, the bottom latch failed to engage with the seat. Further inspection showed that the entire latch panel had rusted away from the body of the car and was sitting in the wheelwell. There is now a hole in the side of the van and the third row seat is unusable."
Inside Line says: If you own a 2004 Ford Freestar or Mercury Monterey, be aware that an official federal safety investigation is in the works.
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gamilitarymom says:
10:18 AM, 12/30/2011
I bought my 2004 Monterey new on Veteran's Day (11 Nov) 2003. I have lived in various places across the country and have used it as a psuedo truck during military moves as well as for everyday use. It now has 150,271 miles on it. I did all scheduled maintenances on time and it is still running great. Sure hate that the Mercury brand has been retired.
wikiwiki says:
01:19 PM, 12/28/2011
There is a reason why Ford no longer makes minivans. I had a 2003 Windstar Limited and it was a massive turd.
carchatter1 says:
11:59 AM, 12/28/2011
I own a 2004 Mercury Monterey bought new in 05 and besides some minor problems I have had good luck with it over 88,000 miles. Granted it isn't an exciting vehicle to drive, but it's quiet, dependable, has all kinds of nice features, and was cheaper to buy than the other manufacturers basic models.
I live in Georgia so theres no salt on the roads, but visiting family in Buffalo the car is salted like crazy. In fact there's so much salt on the roads that the whole car is coated with a white crusty layer of it that I wash off ASAP. Mine looks factory new underneath still. I wouldn't doubt that the wheel wells rusted through on some of these cars, I've seen it happen on all kinds of cars up there over the years.
northsparrow says:
09:56 AM, 12/28/2011
A few questions:
a) How many of these things had mechanical components that actually lasted long enough for rust to start eating away the bodies?
b) What is the difference between a Salt-Belt State and a Rust -Belt State?
c) Have the Feds ever had reason to probe a Ford Probe from around the same era?
fandiesel says:
08:56 AM, 12/28/2011
My brothers Freestar has already gone to the crusher with 91,000 mi. on it. In his words, that was a very good day !