Most common 2001 Ford Taurus problems
Share of the 1,037 complaints; one complaint can involve more than one system. "~" is the median mileage when the problem started.
Ford Taurus complaints by model year
Best Taurus years: 2019, 2017, 2016. Years to avoid: 2005, 2013, 2002, 1995, 2000. Compare all years →
2001 Ford Taurus recalls (9)
Suspension › Front › Springs › Coil springs
On certain passenger vehicles originally sold in or currently registered in the states of connecticut, delaware, illinois, indiana, iowa, kentucky, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, missouri, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, rhode island, vermont, west virginia, wisconsin, and the…
Remedy: Dealers will install protective spring shields. In addition, Ford is extending the warranty coverage of the front coil springs in all other states, for fracture only, up to 10 years of service or 150,000 miles,…
Exterior lighting › Brake lights › Switch
Certain passenger vehicles are being recalled to correct a problem with a malfunctioning stop lamp switch and/or associated wiring. This malfunctioning could render the stop lamps inoperable or cause them to stay on all the time. This could cause confusion to a following driver, which could lead to a crash.
Remedy: Dealers will remove the stop lamp switch and associated wiring assembly and install a newly designed stop lamp switch and wire assembly. Owner notification is expected to begin on April 5, 2004.
Service brakes, hydraulic › Pedals and linkages
Certain passenger vehicles equipped with adjustable padels are being recalled in order to adjust the brake and accelerator pedals to a minimum of 50 mm of lateral separation. Simultaneous application of both the brake and accelerator pedals could result in an increase in engine RPM.
Remedy: Owners will be instructed as to the proper way to set the position of the pedals and to take their vehicles to a dealer to have the spacing between the brake and accelerator pedals measured.
Visibility › Windshield wiper/washer › Motor
Vehicle description: passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and light and medium duty pickup trucks. A switch located in the plastic cover of the wiper motor gear case could malfunction and overheat, potentially resulting in loss of intermittent wiper function, loss of wiper park function, complete loss of wiper function, or…
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the date code on the wiper motor. Motors built with the suspect time frame will have the wiper motor gear case cover replaced. Owner notification began August 20, 2001.
Seat belts › Front › Buckle assembly
Vehicle description: passenger cars. The seat belt buckle tongue May not fully eject from the buckle assembly when the release button is pushed slowly. This condition could also result in a partial latch of the tongue in the buckle.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the driver and right front passenger seat belt buckles. Owner notification began May 4, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive…
Exterior lighting › Tail lights › Switch
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equipped with adjustable pedals. If the grease from the adjustable pedal assembly enters the stop lamp switch, it can contaminate the contacts leading to carbon build up, and potentially, a short circuit.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the brake lamp switch and wipe down the adjustable pedal assembly to remove excess grease. Owner notification began March 22, 2001.
Show 3 more recalls
Exterior lighting › Back up lights
Vehicle description: passenger sedans with factory or dealer-installed deck lid spoilers with LED center high mounted stop lamps (chmsl). Vehicles produced with spoilers were manufactured from March 1 through October 31, 2000; and vehicles with spoilers installed by dealers were manufactured from January 1 thorough December 30,…
Remedy: Dealers will install a jumper/resistor assembly at the spoiler that provides an electrical resistor to ground and corrects the chmsl and brake-shift interlock conditions. Owner notification began March 19, 2001.
Equipment › Other › Owners/service/other manual
Vehicle description: certain sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, and passenger vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of FMVSS 225, "child restraint anchorage systems." the affected expedition/navigator owner guides do not identify the locations of seating positions equipped with tether anchorages, and do not provide…
Remedy: Owners will be provided with owner guide inserts revised to provide the required information, and instructions for affixing these inserts to their owner guides.
Seat belts › Front › Anchorage
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The child safety seat anchor latch (iso-fix anchor) fasteners do not have adequate residual torque. The anchors are secured to the floor pan with a reinforcement plate that has two studs that extend upward through the floor pan and the iso-fix anchor.
Remedy: Dealers will remove and re-install the bracket nut using a torque retention material (red loctite). Owner notification began September 11, 2000.
NHTSA defect investigations
Federal safety investigators have looked into 8 possible defects involving the 2001 Ford Taurus:
Brake light switch failure
Ford conducted a recall in March, 2001 to correct a defect affecting the brake light switch in my 2000 through early-2001 taurus and sable vehicles equipped with power adjustable pedals (recall 01v-078).rq03-008 was opened to investigate complaints concerning the remedy and scope of 01v-078.odi's analysis identified concerns with post-repair failures in recalled vehicles,failures in my 2001-02 vehicles with…
Brake/accelerator pedal application
Ms. Rodman reported that after her vehicle was inspected for the recall, her mother experienced a sudden acceleration and crashed the sable into a light pole.previously NHTSA had conducted an investigation for this issue (pe02-035) that resulted in the recall (02v-266) of 369,000 my 2000-2002 taurus and sable vehicles equipped with adjustable brake and accelerator pedals to insure that the separation between the…
Speed control cable damage
On June 21, 2013, Ford initiated Customer Satisfaction Program 13B04 to address a concern with Speed Control Cable damage in certain model year (MY) 2000 through 2003 Taurus and Sable vehicles equipped with 3.0L 4V Duratec engines and built at the Chicago assembly plant.In the dealer letter for the program, Ford indicates that the Speed Control Cables on affected vehicles may be susceptible to damage or becoming…
Rear coil spring fracture
The office of defect investigation (odi) opened preliminary evaluation, pe05-054, based on 131 vehicle owner questionnaires related to alleged rear coil spring fractures.since opening the investigation there have been an additional sixty-three (63) complaints alleging rear coil spring fracture.an analysis of the vehicle owner questionnaires (voqs) submitted to odi reveals that 42% of the complainants allege that the…
Frontal air bag non-deployment in crash
Ford motor company has identified 260 reports alleging frontal air bag non-deployment for any (severity) frontal or near-frontal crash on model year 2000-2001 Ford taurus and Mercury sable vehicles.additional crash reports are contained in NHTSA's fatality analysis reporting system (fars) database.the single odi report listed in the report summary is NHTSA's special crash investigation's case no.
Brake/accel pedal separation
Rear coil spring fracture
Odi's analysis identified a high complaint rate for the rear coil springs in the salt belt states (approximately 250 per 100,000 vehicles).approximately 59 percent of the complaints alleged that the coil spring failure caused damage to the adjacent rear tire, with about half of these (30 percent of total complaints) alleging that the damage resulted in air loss.because air loss from a rear tire can result in changes…
Frontal air bag non-deployment in crash
This investigation identified a total of 427 reports alleging non-deployment of the frontal air bags.of the 427 reports, two incidents (fatal crashes) have been identified as severe frontal crashes in which the frontal air bags did not deploy.a defect trend has not been identified at this time.further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed.the closing of…
What 2001 Ford Taurus owners say
Suspension all 515 →
I received a recall notice from Ford motor company on 4/7/08 that my 2001 Ford Taurus was being recalled to have front anti-corrosion shields installed on the front springs. On 4/8/08 the lt front spring rusted through and punctured the left front tire. Had I been driving at the time I would have been pulled into oncoming traffic. I contacted Ford customer service and was told sorry the car was out of warranty by 3900 miles even though it was a recall problem. I tried to explain that 4/7/08 was the first notice I received and was told that they had been trying to recall the car since 2004 but had been sending the notices to the previous owner. I purchased the car in 2006. It did not matter that was the first notice I had received. I was told that it was my fault because I had purchased a used vehicle. …
Tl* - the contact's vehicle was in a crash due to the strut failure. The contact said that she was driving 40 MPH under dry conditions when the failure accurred. The contact's vehicle spun and then hit a tree. She stated that she had a mechanic look at the vehicle. And mechanictold her that the coil spring was the cause of the failure. She also stated that she had the crashed car in driveway. Update (June 17, 2008): ms. Edward said that she was driving around a curve when she suddenly lost control of her 2001 Ford Taurus and struck a tree. The mechanical told her that it was a rear (not front) suspension spring had failed. The crashed vehicle was towed back to her house and sat there since (not repaired).
Speed control & acceleration all 99 →
I was entering onto the freeway, and when I accelerated to reach 60mph, the vehicle continued to accelerate without my foot on the pedal, and had to use my brakes continuously to keep from crashing into other cars until I could get it safely pulled over to the emergency lane, and forcing the stop with all I had. The whole car was shaking. Quite scary. Had it towed to the dealership, and the diagnosis was that the cruise cable broke and got caught on the accelerator cable which caused sudden and unintended acceleration. While researching this issue, found others who experienced the same thing. Why there isn't a recall on this, I will never know. If there are numerous complaints of malfunctions resulting in possible crash, don't you think the manufacturer would put the consumer first, investigate it, and make it right? I will never buy another Ford.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while attempting to park, the vehicle lunged forward and crashed into a coffee shop. A police report was filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was notified of the failure, but was unable to determine the cause. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 40,000 and the current mileage was 62,476. ..updated 04/16/12 the consumer stated on December 24, 2011, while driving 35-40 MPH, the vehicle began to accelerate on its own and the engine began racing. When the consumer arrived to his destination, the engine was still revving loudly. The consumer placed the vehicle in park. However, the engine continued to rev. He pressed hard on the accelerator and the engine stopped revving. Updated 05/30/12
Brakes all 97 →
Tl contact owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 25 MPH, the brake pedal was engaged and the vehicle continued to accelerate. The contact turned the ignition switch into the off position which caused the vehicle to slow down. The vehicle resumed and operated normally. The failure occurred sporadically. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for the recall related to the failure which was associated with the NHTSA campaign id number 02V266000 (service brakes, hydraulic: pedals and linkages). The consequence of the recall defect was an unintended acceleration. The technician inspected the vehicle and stated the vehicle did not require repair under the recall. The failure persisted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 20. Updated 07/21/11 the consumer stated he crashed into a parked vehicle. Updated 12/05/11
Tl* the contact's mother owns a 2001 Ford Taurus. The contact stated while her mother was turning into a parking lot, when depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle hesitated and accelerate forward. The driver shifted the gears to park and turned off the ignition to come to a stop. The contact stated no warning lights were illuminated. Upon investigation the contact associated the failure with NHTSA campaign number: 02V266000 (service brakes, hydraulic). The vehicle was taken to local dealer bellingham Ford Lincoln located at 1820 james st, bellingham, wa 98225, [phone], where it was diagnosed with the brakes needing to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired as of yet. The manufacturer had been aware of the failure and filed a complaint (cas-25346332). The failure millage was 143,553.
2001 Ford Taurus engines & fuel economy
| Engine | Transmission | Drive | MPG city / hwy / combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0L 6-cyl | 4-speed automatic | FWD | 17 / 25 / 20 |
EPA ratings. Class: Large car.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2001 Ford Taurus a good car?
Based on 1,037 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2001 Taurus rates avoid: 3.5× as many complaints as a typical year of the Taurus at the same age. It is one of the Taurus years we suggest avoiding. Complaint counts don't account for sales volume or individual maintenance, so have any used car inspected before buying.
What is the most common problem with the 2001 Ford Taurus?
The suspension — 515 complaints, 50% of all complaints for this model year, most often about rear › springs › coil springs. Next are the speed control & acceleration (99) and brakes (97).
How many recalls does the 2001 Ford Taurus have?
There are 9 recalls for the 2001 Ford Taurus, the most recent from July 15, 2004 (coil springs). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer — check whether yours has been done with the VIN recall check.
What are the best and worst years of the Ford Taurus?
The best years by complaints, compared at the same age, are 2019, 2017 and 2016. Years to avoid or approach with caution: 2005, 2013, 2002, 1995 and 2000. See the full Ford Taurus years comparison.
At what mileage do 2001 Ford Taurus problems happen?
The median mileage reported in complaints is about 73,000 miles; 27% of problems with a recorded mileage started before 50,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.