2008 Ford TAURUS X - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2008 Ford Taurus X has received high ratings in various crash scenarios with a 5-star rating for both the driver and passenger sides in front and side crashes. The rollover rating is 4 out of 5, indicating a relatively low risk of rollovers. Additionally, the car comes equipped with standard electronic stability control, enhancing its safety features. However, it lacks forward collision warning and lane departure warning systems.

Despite its safety features, there have been 152 complaints reported for this model, along with 2 recalls and 1 investigation. It is crucial for owners of this vehicle to stay informed about any potential issues and ensure that the necessary actions are taken to address them promptly.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

152

Recall Count

2

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2008 Ford Taurus X 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2008 Ford Taurus X 4-DR. w/SAB

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2008 Ford Taurus X 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2008 Ford Taurus X 4-DR. w/SAB Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2008 Score 2009 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2008 Score 2009 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2008 Score 2009 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated

Complaints for the 2008 Ford TAURUS X

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"i was driving home on city streets when the power steering went out. car became almost impossible to turn, even using all my strength. i could not have reacted to any obstacle that suddenly presented itself, and i could hardly make turns, even at very low speeds. it was a dangerous situation."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2020-03-10
Complaint:
"steer hard right and left at slow speed in city driving. at first it steers hard then smooth and you can over steer . the steering rack has been replaced & steering pump has been replaced as well. have not fixed the problem.getting worse"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2018-01-02
Complaint:
"2008 ford taurus x 135000 miles vehicle started being difficult to turn either way. my wife and 4 kids were almost in an accident because of it. all fluid levels were good. changed out the rack and pinion and the power steering pump and the problem is still occurring. it occurs mostly at low speeds, but also occurs at higher speeds. this is obviously a huge issue because there are multiple reports online of other people having the same issue. we obviously need to be able to steer to drive and also quickly avoid any hazards on the road and we can't do that because of this issue."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2018-12-06
Complaint:
"power steering has now failed twice once in 2012 and now in 2017. complete rack & pinion was replaced in 2012 with 34800 miles, 2nd failure is now 1/22/2017 at 108000 miles. now replacing steering rack and return line. 1st case exiting highway at 70 mph could not turn wheel or turn right. could only make left turns. 2nd case leaking fluid and making noise while driving around town. 1st was very scary, thought we would crashing exiting express way. call ford cs and they would not do anything due to 4 years but less than 360000 miles. 2nd was less scary but did not have control of vehicle and took 5 days to get service by a local repair shop, to far to drive to a ford dealer. not very happy with this happening twice and very expensive over $3000 out of pocket expenses for this vehicle. *tr"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2018-11-01
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford taurus x. while driving 70 mph, the power steering failed. the vehicle was taken to a mechanic who diagnosed that the power steering pump needed to be replaced due to a hose within the steering column prematurely deteriorating without warning. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 57,000."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-01-08
Complaint:
"steering wheel always been like i needed a wheel alignment and balancing but then got tires checked out ok then steering wheel got hard to turn to the left and found out the rack and pinion very dangerous because i was driving home and tried to turn left and almost broke my wrist"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2018-02-05
Complaint:
"2008 ford taurus x. consumer writes in regards to vehicle steering locking up. *smd consumer sent additional correspondence. *smd the consumer stated the steering wheel would not turn at times, when merging into traffic or pulling out of a parking space. the dealer replaced the steering pump and rack and pinion. *jb"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-05-12
Complaint:
"when turning from either a parked or stopped position the steering feels as though it is stuck in whatever direction i am steering and i have to help the steering go back into a straight position this i feel is a huge safety issue because i not only drive this vehicle back and forth to work i also have children that ride in it as well. needs to be addressed and fixed at the manufacturers expense if not and there is an accident that results in a fatality there is a huge lawsuit coming your way ford"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-04-10
Complaint:
"experienced intermittent "shudder" in steering system when cornering and/or maneuvering into parking spaces; this condition progressively got worse and finally, there was a sudden total loss of power assist to the steering system almost resulting in loss of control of the vehicle. noticed large puddle of atf/power steering fluid under vehicle when parked. upon inspection, discovered that power steering reservoir was empty and the steering rack housing had leaking seal where main steering shaft entered housing leading to catastrophic failure of the steering rack assembly. this is the second time the steering rack catastrophically failed on this vehicle (see: nhtsa id number: 10468922; date complaint filed: 08/02/2012; date of incident: 07/30/2012; component(s): steering). brought vehicle in to ford dealer (brondes ford, maumee, oh) for service. entire steering rack assembly was replaced again at a cost exceeding $1,000. ford should be required to recall this vehicle for steering rack due to the numbers of complaints on the nhtsa site alone due to the very nature of this failure - anything steering/suspension/brake-related should be subject for immediate consideration for recall. ft"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-02-08
Complaint:
"as i was out running errands and backing in to park my 2008 ford taurus x, it became very difficult to turn the steering wheel in either direction. the steering was very stiff and required a good bit of effort. i immediately called the dealership repair shop and was instructed to bring in the car for evaluation. ford determined that i needed to replace the steering column (rack & pinion) as well as the power steering pump & reservoir. prior to the initial complete power steering failure in december of 2014, i had complained to ford numerous times about the steering and had had the rack & pinion unit & power steering pumps replaced (at 100268 miles) in february of 2013! in december 2014 they quoted an astronomical price to again repair my car, at which point, i took it elsewhere and ordered the parts on-line. fast forward 6-months later (june 8, 2015) and my steering has again failed with the same issue - power steering failure. the parts are still under warranty and the repair shop has replaced the pump - which they stated was not working at all, but my steering is still not functioning. this is the third time i'm making this repair, clearly it's a symptom and not the real issue. when is ford going to address this problem?!"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2014-08-12

Recalls for the 2008 Ford TAURUS X

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain model year 2009-2012 ford flex, 2008 and 2010-2012 ford taurus, 2008-2009 ford taurus x, 2008 mercury sable, 2009 and 2011 lincoln mks vehicles. the driver frontal air bag may improperly inflate during second-stage deployment in the event of a high speed crash. as such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) number 208, "occupant crash protection.""
Consequence:
An improperly inflated air bag increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Remedy:

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the driver's frontal air bag module, as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on June 13, 2016. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 16C06.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > FRONTAL
Date of incident: 2016-04-26

FORD Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

FORD ranks 1 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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