Problems with 2003 Ford Windstar SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC

Moisture on road, red brake light on. yellow abs light on no speedometer , no cruise control. van pulls to right when brakes applied. *tr

Dt*: the contact stated the brake and abs lights illuminated without incident. an independent repair shop determined there was no problem with the vehicle and reset the codes. the lights illuminated again and the dealership determined the abs master cylinder needed to be replaced. also, the door ajar light stayed illuminated, but was not been inspected by a mechanic.

My wife was in the process of parking her 2003 ford windstar in a parking lot. as she went to apply the brakes, the pedal went down to the level of the gas pedal causing her foot to engage both the brake and the accelerator at the same time. the car lurched forward and she hit a post (thankfully not a person). probably did about a $1000 in damage. the reason i am writing is that this is the second time this has happened. the first time was about a month after we bought the vehicle. the same type of situation in a parking lot. at that time i called the ford dealer where we bought the car and inquired if there had been any bulletins about such a problem. i was told no. now my wife could have been at fault but i believe there is a real problem with the brake system as i have experienced the same situation myself. when letting off the gas pedal at low speed and then touching the brake pedal, there feels like a loss of brake pressure momentarily. what then happens is that the brake pedal depresses to the level of the accelerator pedal and the driver then engages both brake and accelerator at the same time. instead of stopping, the car lurches forward because the acceleration overrides the soft (temporary) brake pedal pressure. i'm thinking there is a problem with the brake system pressure at idle when the car is moving. hence the pedal depresses further than usual and the side of the driver's foot then also pushes the accelerator down in addition to the brake pedal. the fact that this happened when the car was new and still happens today makes me think it is a engineering problem coupled with a design problem. the pedals may also be too close together which increases the likelihood of this problem happening. note: the car's brakes work fine otherwise and we do normal service on the vehicle. *jb

While driving the van the abs and brake lights come on for no apparent reason. sometimes they go off for a little while and then come back on during driving. sometimes they come on and stay on during driving. dealer said i have no abs brakes while the light is on but since i live in florida and don't drive in the snow it doesn't matter. they charged me $85.65 to tell me what i already knew and wanted to charge me over $300 to do a diagnostic test to which they said they may not find the solution to the problem anyway. doesn't seem safe to me. i do drive up north to see family hopefully the abs brakes don't go out on me then. *tr

The abs brake system does not function as designed by ford. the issue is caused by heat in the abs (anti-lock brake system) ecm (electronic control module) (2c219) module causing expansion of a large aluminum plate (heat sink) in the ecm which is attached to the ecm main circuit board at all points. the expansion occurs when the unit gets warm especially in the summer months and causes intermittent electrical connection in the unit because the fragile board is being stretched and malformed. the code most commonly scanned is code c1185. there is a yellow abs brake light lite on the dash. when this light is on, the system has failed and the abs does not work. *tr

Abs problem. it occurs intermittently as soon as warm weather starts. i have had it checkout by several local auto repair shops and they say it is a existing problem with the abs unit. i have had the switch on the master cylinder replaced, still the same problem. ii have contacted ford with poor results. they say there is not a problem with the abs. *tr

Abs module does not work, and shows a constant alarm light. cost to repair is $2k door locks failed and have to be opened manually. cost to repair is $500/lock power steering unit constantly noisy, hard to steer vehicle. no repair cost known. door open light constantly on. no repair cost known. interior lights do not come on when doors are opened. no repair cost known. *js

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. the contact stated that the antilock braking system (abs) warning light was illuminated. the abs would activate on the front driver side tire when braking intermittently. the vehicle was taken to the where the failure was located at the electronic control module. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 50,000 and the current mileage was 112,000.

Advance trac system activates for no reason, this causes the brakes to apply bringing the van to a halt. i have had this vehicle back to the dealer four times. once they replaced the anti-lock brake module. although this has occurred numerous times, they cannot find anything wrong. i am able to shut the system off and continue driving. this will happen shortly after i make a right or left turn and it is intermittent. *jb

The abs/brake light is illuminated at the same time. it is random when it happens, but it happens every time the automobile is driven. it has been taken back numerous times to the dealership where i am told that this is a common problem and to date nothing can be done to fix it. also the emergency brake engages itself when backing up. again i am told that this is a known problem with no solution to fix it. *tr

I am experiencing a problem with my antilock brake and brake light warnings on my dashboard. i have been experiencing this problem since approximately 2006. my particular ford windstar has not been included in the most recent recall for such problems. *tr

I have a 2003 ford windstar van i have owned the vehicle for over 3 years and the abs light will not turn off on my dash. i ran a system check and it is not reading the error i need to know if there really is a defect and if ford needs to recall this . *tr

Exhibiting intermittent anti-skid brake system and red brake lamp on at times while driving. *jb

Abs and parking brake light on instrument panel come on sporadically had a ford shop diagnose it as a bad abs module. has not been repaired because of the unavailability of the part. this part monitors the pressure to each brake unit to prevent the vehicle from sliding in an emergency. luckily there have been no accidents, injuries, or death at this time. *jb

Braking distance suddenly increased. *tr

Dt: the contact stated the traction control and the anti lock brake system worked together. this caused the brakes to be applied for no apparent reason. there was no warning ,and it happened to different wheels at different times. the vehicle has been to the dealership, and they made an adjustment to the system, but this did not repair the problem. the vehicle is being taken back to the dealership tomorrow. *ak

Our 2003 ford windstar began experiencing intermittent electrical failures. on may 27, after driving normally, we stopped for about 30 minutes. then the van stalled several times on a short trip. after another 10 minute stop, it operated normally again. several times during the next week, although the car did not stall, the power to the steering and brakes went out. we had an appointment with our local ford dealer to service the van on june 7. however, on june 6 the power systems failed, causing the car to crash into a road side mailbox. no personal injuries occured. nothing was done to correct the failure. at our expense, ford would have had someone look at the vehicle to see if they could determine the exact cause of the accident. we choose to deal with our insurance company instead. the car was totaled and repossessed by state farm insurance.

Constant illumination of abs and brake light on dash, even after several trips to local mechanic for repair. *tr

Abs and brake light continue to come on and off. i took my 2003 ford windstar to the dealer and the dealer stated the brake fluid was low and that was causing the problem. the light cam back on shortly after. i checked the brake fluid and it was not low. this problem has occurred on and off since i have owned the vehicle. (purchased new). i have had other electrical problems as well. windows do not work all of the time. also ran this by ford. they wanted $80 for each electric issue. would of cost me $400 just to see what was causing the problem. i did my own research on line and found out this was a very common problem. seems to me the dealer did not really need to run the diagnostic and should have had a good idea as to what was causing the problem. i have not had a fire yet but may not be around of this issue does cause a fire. seems odd a recall has not occurred yet. typical though, usually it takes a death to get government agencies to respond. maybe this time you can act sooner rather than later. *tr

My yellow abs brake light and my red brake light indicator come on whenever my brake lines begin to heat while driving. i have also had intermittent problems with the over drive light coming on and off, and the odometer and the speedometer failing. this has occurred since the windstar van was new. the previous owner had tried to have the sensors replaced but it continued to happen, and still happens now with me. i am concerned that if the brakes do fail or need repair, i won't know as the lights are always on, anyway. i am also concerned with the possibility of fire due to a short, or being ticketed as i never know when the speedometer will begin to fail. i was told by an independent mechanic that there was an unspecified electrical short causing these issues, and that it would difficult or impossible to trace. i am experiencing both problems 1 & 2 as described on the following website. **** http://www.fordwindstarrecall.info/ **** the issue of the abs brake light is critical in that the abs brake system does not function as designed by ford. the issue is caused by heat in the abs (anti-lock brake system) ecm (electronic control module) (2c219) module causing expansion of a large aluminum plate (heat sink) in the ecm which is attached to the ecm main circuit board at all points. the expansion occurs when the unit gets warm especially in the summer months and causes intermittent electrical connection in the unit because the fragile board is being stretched and malformed. the code most commonly scanned by professional mechanics is code c1185. seen by us owners as a yellow abs brake light. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. the contact stated that the parking and abs warning lights illuminated. the dealer stated that the abs control module needed to be replaced. as of september 10, 2007, the dealer had not repaired the vehicle. the failure mileage was 20,000 and current mileage was 51,000. updated 12-12-07. *kb updated *jb

The abs and brake lights turned on in the dashboard, and i noticed that the stopping distance has increased every time the lights come on (they turn on on the warmer days). this has been happening since 1 year after i bought the new vehicle till now. also the brake sometimes slips. what i mean is the even though the brake is pressed and i am stopped at a red light the lights would turn on and the brakes disengage and reengage causing the vehicle to move forward about a foot. the first time this happened was 4 years ago but now i am used to it and keep plenty of space between my vehicle and the vehicle in front of me. it is a ford windstar 2003. *tr

Brake failure, third time in two month period. *ak

The brake light is always on for abs and emergency brake. they are often spongy and don't operate well. this issue has been ongoing. the car has been looked at dozens of times but no issue can be identified.

The accelerator pedal and brake pedal are too close. when pushing the brake pedal somehow the accelerator is pushed, causing the vehicle to accelerate. once, caused a collision, where consumer's vehicle hit a parked vehicle in a parking lot. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. the contact stated that the brake systems abs module was defective. the abs brake light started coming on and the dealer confirmed that it caused the failure to occur. the vehicle was not repaired when the complaint was filed. the vin was not available. the failure mileage current mileages were 115000.

There is a noise in the rear break drums caused by moisture. *mr there was a noise in the rear brake. the dealer stated that the problem was due to moisture and not to worry. the transmission was problematic, and the rear brakes had started to not stop properly. the rear brakes were readjusted, and a new transmission was added. the noise in the brakes had returned. *scc *jb

Abs light on 2003 ford windstar comes on in warm & hot weather.*tr