[arcosine]

Hi Dave,

My mother's Ford Torus had a recall, seems Ford saved a few cents by not putting enough paint on the coil springs. They would rust in spots, causing a fatigue crack to develop and the spring would break, puncturing the front tire. The recall put small plates to restrain the broken spring from contacting the tire. Looks like you had good luck with your Windstar, but I can name a few reliability acronyms for F.O.R.D.

My girlfriend at the time also had a Torus with less than 50k miles. The front spring broke and gouged the tire side wall. A few months later she called me up, the car was making a weird sound. When I opened the hood I saw a 10 inch crack in the transmission case. She had to pay for both these repairs. MY Saturn has a built in feature, the horn sticks and since the wire can't handle the continuous current, it heats up enough to start the car on fire. This is a recall that the owner pays for, so my car has a burnt wire and no horn. Hondas are good, I had a rusted gas filler and seat belts replaced for free.