Lug nuts (class action Law-Suit)

I wil be launching a Class Action Law-suit Against Ford of Canada and Ford of USA and want anyone to submit their e-mail address as well as contact info to adampennington25@netscape.net in order to help me out in regards to this issue.

On August 20, 2007, My wife had experienced a sound coming from the front right passenger side of our 2003 Ford Windstar SEL wheelchair accessible vehicle. Upon further inspection, 3 of the 5 lugs had snapped off. When trying to take off the remaining 2 lug nuts, the remaining two lugs had snapped off.

As stated, this is a wheelchair accessible vehicle for our 3 year old disabled son who is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and we no longer feel comfortable driving this vehicle with him as we have done research and found that 1619 known cases of this have happened and obviously continue to happen.

We are encouraging all who have experience this problem or know of anyone who have experienced this problem, to contact us as we will need your assistance in resolving this issue and make sure that this does not happen to anyone else as we were lucky enough not to have the wheel fall off.

We have since purchased brand new Ford lugs and lug nuts and continue to have to re-tighten the lug nuts weekly as they back off. We currently are not operating the vehicle as this is a MAJOR safety concern and do not want an accident to result due to a defective part.

Your assistance is much appreciated and we hope to resolve this problem and prevent future loss to any FORD owners.

once again, E-mail me in regards to this situation at

adampennington25@netscape.net

Thank you

On August 20, 2007, My wife had experienced a sound coming from the front right passenger side of our 2003 Ford Windstar SEL wheelchair accessible vehicle. Upon further inspection, 3 of the 5 lugs had snapped off. When trying to take off the remaining 2 lug nuts, the remaining two lugs had snapped off.

We have since purchased brand new Ford lugs and lug nuts and continue to have to re-tighten the lug nuts weekly as they back off. We currently are not operating the vehicle as this is a MAJOR safety concern and do not want an accident to result due to a defective part.



As you wrote, luckily no one was hurt ... but I am sorry you had this vehicle problem.

If you proceed with legal efforts, I would strongly suggest you hire engineering as well as legal counsel. If the action goes to court, Ford will have engineers there ... you can bet. Let me be the "devil's advocate" and provide some questions that might turn up:

1. It is very interesting that 3 lugs snapped off leaving 2 in place ... and then the last two broke when someone (?) attempted to remove them. Why were the last 2 lugs to be removed? Were the last 2 lugs obviously damaged? (Possibly all the lugs were loose to begin with ... and then damaged with use.) If the 5 lugs were properly installed but later failed ... one would expect that all 5 would have simultaneously snapped? Who removed the removing lug fragments? Have all the 5 brokened and removed lug-fragments, and 2 nuts, been kept for court evidence and study?

2. There are a number of fasteners all over the vehicle that have to be torqued properly when installed. (Some can not be reused.) The torque value for the wheel lug nuts is available in a number of "public" places ... repair manuals, charts in tire installation shops, etc. I don't know the value for your model's lug nuts ... do you? I would guess approx 85 - 100 ftlbs of torque. ??? And you say that you have to "re-tightened ... weekly" the lug nuts on this vehicle because they "back off". You know you are going to have to produce this vehicle for study by the court. If new undamaged parts are properly (torqued) installed ... will the court observe that the lug nuts "back off" after a week of use?

Good luck with your decisions.

12Ounce

The last two remaining lug nuts were removed to replace the 3 lugs that had snapped. Upon removing the remaining two, the remaining 2 had snapped as well possibly due to fatigue caused by the previous 3 that had snapped or because they too were faulty.

I do not see why out of the blue wheel lugs would just snap.

At first I thought the 3 snapping and finally the remaining two may have been caused by over torque but after doing some research, it proves to be a common problem and not just coincidence one would imagine after 1619 known cases, how many out there are not known?, that is why there may be a case if others do come forward.


http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/wind_wheels.html

A lab will be able to tell if the lug bolts failed due to overtorque or bending ... or if there was some inherent problem in the bolt material.

BTW, I would not reuse the wheel that was involved. You may not be able to see (by eye) any damage to the bolt holes, but you can bet the holes are distorted.

Aluminum wheels should aways be retorqued after 50 miles of driving after installation. I've become very anal about it ... and occassionally grab the torque wrench and recheck all the family vehicles ... and the utility trailer. This is because once I allowed my family to drive away after I mounted a spare wheel ... the lug nuts were only finger tight, ... I had gotten distracted and never put a wrench on them. Luckily they were headed to the tire store to get the main tire repaired. The owner called me to tell me what he had found ... a wheel nearly falling off. I had carelessly put the folks dearest to me at risk. No one to blame but myself ... but a lesson well learned.

Interesting. I searched the NHTSA website for lug/nug complaints on my 98 Windstar and discovered 53 incidents were reported.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/complaintsearch.cfm

Selected- Vehicle search
Entered- Year/Make/Model
component- wheels:lugs/nuts/bolts

Looks like 4-crashes were reported, but no injuries.
This surprises me.

Well Im very sorry to hear that has happanded. Glad everone made out OK.


My feelings though is a lug stud is something that can me over torqued. If that happands, they will brake. Unless you have never had the wheels off before I would belive they were eather over tightened, or undertightended last time a wheel was changed.

As for having to retighten them. Thats normal depending on how they were installed. 90% of the people run the stud in with a nut. Works well, but in use the studd seats it self a little more and the nuts loosen. Normal to have to retorque them for a wile.

My fear that the only one that will make out in this is the lawers

Over the years, I have seen some lugs that have failed - but always due to overtightening at some point in the past. I'm surprised to hear of broken lugs due to *loosening* of the wheel nuts.

I'm pretty careful with my wheel lugs. For example, I just got new tires on my '00 Windstar last week. I took the van home - and removed each wheel and re-torqued the lugs myself by hand, using a torque wrench. I don't trust the shop with an impact wrench, even if they do use a torque stick.

Personally, I've never had problems with lugs loosening on my Windstar (which has the OEM aluminum alloy wheels).

If a particular vehicle is requiring lug nug tightening on a *weekly* basis, I suspect something else is going on.

- Were the replacement lugs *completely* seated when pressed into the hub? I've seen situations where lugs don't completely seat - which can cause problems later on that manifest themselves with loose lugs.

- Are aluminum alloy wheels involved here? Alloy wheels work with lugs nuts differently than steel wheels. I've had at least one vehicle where the owner's manual called out different lug nut torque specs, dependent on whether steel or alloy wheels were in use.

Another thought: The original van in question is described as "wheelchair accessible". I've seen some FWD minivans modified for wheelchair use: It often involves removing the original floor of the vehicle and fabricating a new, lower floor and entry structure. This involves significant structural and suspension modifications. Any thoughts on the possibility that this could have something to do with the problems the original poster saw?

A month or so ago. I had to replace my front brakes. One of my lugs nut snapped off.. So I am running 4 out of 5. I guess I need to replace... The funny thing about this. I never torque my lugs nuts down very tight. So I was wondering why it broke in the first place.. I never had a problem with low torque on lugs nuts.It seemed over time they ended up tighter. I run them in hand tight then use a four way with one quick snug. Thats all.. Most likely the heat from the front brakes causing the metal to break down for some reason...I guess i need to address this issue ASAP.. Thanks for your post...

FWIW, two of my lug nuts snapped off when I tried to undo them when I first got the car - but they had been on tight, dry and unloosened/tightened for three years before that. (95 Windstar).

96 Winstar.
I had the Same thing. One Morning wife take off but here's "Rattling".
Pop off Hub Cap, 3 Lugs broke off, 2 remaining.
Went to "Schucks" to get 3 New, in taking tire off, 1 of the remaining 2 broke off also.
Didnt seem right to me. I dont want to get involved in your lawsuit, but good luck with it. While your at it, bring up the Blown head gasket and damper door problems with the windstar as well.

Hello

I have one word------TORQUEWRENCH--------

Over tightening is just as bad as under tighting. Over tightening will stress the stud and cause it to fatuge and crack. Under tightening will cause due to flexing.

Regards

Dan

Ive owned cars for 30 years. first time ive had lugs just magically snap. tight, loose, whatever.