1998 Ford Windstar — reported problems

CarFaultIQ holds 1,702 evidence records for the 1998 Ford Windstar, drawn from official sources and owner complaints.

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 1,898 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

  • Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)342 (18.0%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 1996–2003.
  • Suspension236 (12.4%)Official recall records for this system: 9, covering model years 1995–2003.
  • Brakes224 (11.8%)Official recall records for this system: 6, covering model years 1995–1999.
  • Engine184 (9.7%)
  • Steering154 (8.1%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1998.
  • Tires & wheels140 (7.4%)

Other / uncategorized: 41 classifications (2.2%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

  • Owner complaints (28,166 records, model years 1995–2003) are most frequently classified under: brakes, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and engine.
  • Safety recalls (138 records, model years 1995–2003) are most frequently classified under: suspension, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and brakes.
  • Transport Canada recalls (110 records, model years 1995–2003) are most frequently classified under: seat belts, electrical system and body & structure.
  • Manufacturer communications (2,376 records, model years 1995–2003) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), engine and electrical system.
  • Investigations (106 records, model years 1995–2003) are most frequently classified under: brakes, body & structure and suspension.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

  • 398reports included a mileage
  • 96,266average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

  1. 1995 3,530 records for 1995
  2. 1996 1,593 records for 1996
  3. 1997 385 records for 1997
  4. 1998 1,702 records for 1998
  5. 1999 1,878 records for 1999
  6. 2000 1,937 records for 2000
  7. 2001 1,891 records for 2001
  8. 2002 1,494 records for 2002
  9. 2003 1,600 records for 2003

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

  • 54mention a crash
  • 65mention a fire
  • 59mention an injury
  • 3mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

  • Safety recalls NHTSA 14
  • Manufacturer communications NHTSA 236
  • Investigations NHTSA 10
  • Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 9
  • Owner complaints NHTSA 1,433

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.

Symptoms and warning lights in these systems

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