1998 FORD WINDSTAR Recalls — Canada & USA

The 1998 Ford Windstar has 9 recalls, the most serious being a rear axle that can crack and fracture from corrosion over time, causing a loss of vehicle control and raising the risk of a crash. This axle issue has a long repair history: earlier attempts to fix it with reinforcement brackets were sometimes misinstalled, meaning prior repairs may not have fully resolved the problem. The axle fracture risk appears across multiple filings covering vehicles in salt-belt states, Canadian provinces, Virginia, and Puerto Rico, where road conditions accelerate the corrosion or stress that leads to cracking. On the safety equipment side, vehicles with the optional integrated child seat in the second-row bench may have a headrest lockout mechanism that fails to hold the headrests in the down position when the child seat is deployed. If a headrest is pushed up while the child seat is in use, a child seated there gets less head protection in a crash. There is also a brake-related service campaign covering vehicles built during a specific production window: front brake caliper mounting bolts may not have been fully tightened at the factory. Braking performance is not reduced, and loose bolts typically produce a noticeable noise or vibration that alerts the driver.