Ford Explorer Sport broken inner tie rod (long)

[EatonEggbeater]

Hi folks, sorry for the big pictures.

The wife was driving the new Explorer home Friday. She was in stop and go traffic leaving a parking garage and bumped a curb. No damage to the wheel, didn't seem to be a big deal-until she got out of the garage. She heard a new noise, but the car drove fine until she got to our house.

Car was having lots of trouble, sliding around the street. Wife called saying the snow had slicked up the street; be careful.

She got the car into the garage, she was seeing an 'Terrain Warning' or something like that.

I see this, and say "get in the Honda and follow me to the Ford dealer" thinking a sensor or SW messup.

Miserable time getting the car out of the DW, only got 50 feet before it wouldn't move.

Got our to see the Pass. wheel all the way into the wheel well.

Dealer is saying bumping the curb could have done it, but also admitted that it looks like something pulled the tie rod out of place.


Top down:

Another TD:

Closer of outer side:

Behind wheel shot:

Give me your guesses, I have one but would like to hear from you folks. The car was over 2 weeks late on delivery, and had a dent on the Passenger door when I went to look at it. (Fixed to satisfaction)

Yes, it's not an SVT, but it's the closest to one in the current Explorer world.

And I may start a thread on ExplorerForums as well. (Have carfax request coming after I commit this thread.)

Thanks!

Mike

 

[mikecobra01]

I honestly dont see how hitting a curb couldve done that, especially if it didnt even damage the wheel.

To me its one of those "freak accidents", or the inner tie rod could have just had a hair line fracture or crack in it from the factory.

Thankfully that didnt break going 70 mph down the highway, that wouldnt have been pleasent.

Goodluck!

 

[DriftwoodSVT]

Yeah, that doesn't look like curb bump damage.

 

[kevinatfms]

5000lbs of truck into anything and your gonna bend something till it breaks. i cannot see the photos since i am at work so im assuming that the tire took the force of the impact with the curb. the force required to break a tie rod isnt much and in most accidents(incidents?) it would be the first thing to let go.

one other thing, as she was headed into the curb it would dictate how it broke by steering wheel position. if the wheel was counter steered into the opposite direction of the slide to compensate, she would have hit the wheel on the opposing side of the wheel causing a massive shock load into the steering rack/inner tie rod causing the break.

what do you plan on doing? you admitted that the wife hit something so getting any compensation is out the window. chalk it up as experience learned, get it fixed and move on. tell the wife to drive more carefully.

good luck.

 

[EatonEggbeater]

5000lbs of truck into anything and your gonna bend something till it breaks. i cannot see the photos since i am at work so im assuming that the tire took the force of the impact with the curb. the force required to break a tie rod isnt much and in most accidents(incidents?) it would be the first thing to let go.

one other thing, as she was headed into the curb it would dictate how it broke by steering wheel position. if the wheel was counter steered into the opposite direction of the slide to compensate, she would have hit the wheel on the opposing side of the wheel causing a massive shock load into the steering rack/inner tie rod causing the break.

what do you plan on doing? you admitted that the wife hit something so getting any compensation is out the window. chalk it up as experience learned, get it fixed and move on. tell the wife to drive more carefully.

good luck.

Not so sure at this point, Kevin. It really has been making the both of us wonder about the offroad capabilities of this thing if a simple curb bump can cause that kind of damage. Imagine a stump or log on a trail?

Funny thing is that it held all the way home (blessing, actually) and gave up when the wife was in the driveway.

She's incredulous on the damage as she was in stop and go traffic, waiting to leave the garage. Just went a bit too far right and bump! (Not at all sliding, the garage, like many in the city, was built well before cars were as wide as they are now.) It gets me when I see folks driving Suburbans or Excursions (not often!) in those places. The make it, though. Tight turn leading to the garage cashier; I bet that same curb gets hit by 20% of the folks through there in a week.

The only thing that makes sense would be if she somehow got a post of some kind behind the control arms and backed the car into it trying to get off of it. Looks like it was bent by her backing onto something, or something pulling the tie rod forward. Dealer said the same thing, said it was the metal wrapping most curbs get. The thing is that there's no post like that in the garage she uses, and the curb was on the other side of the tire.

The dealer has it now, they'll look at the rack as well to see if it's all good. Word on the street is that these guys aren't the best folks to be using. Take into advisement that someone ran something into that side of the car before we got it. Nobody 'fessed up, of course. Damage fixed well, I thought.

I never looked at the wheel and suspension, though. Whatever hit the car could also have hit the wheel. They'd have had to align the car so it'd track right.

Thanks for the in depth reply. Thanks everyone else as well.

 

[ESVEETEE]

I wonder if the delivery truck secured the vehicle using the tie rod....

Then maybe your wife's minor accident finished the job?

 

[EatonEggbeater]

I wonder if the delivery truck secured the vehicle using the tie rod....

Then maybe your wife's minor accident finished the job?

Kinda how it looks to me.

They'd have had to align it before they let it go, so it looks like a coverup at this point. I'd also think that a bent tie rod would only last a certain amount of time.

Anyone else seen a tie rod damaged this way by a botched tow job? Is this even reasonable to assume?

TIA.

Mike

 

[ibleedblue65]

I wonder if the delivery truck secured the vehicle using the tie rod....

Then maybe your wife's minor accident finished the job?

That's what it looks like to me. Someone snatched it by the tie rod just going by how and where it's bent.

 

[13COBRA]

I wonder if the delivery truck secured the vehicle using the tie rod....

Then maybe your wife's minor accident finished the job?

This was my first though.

But also, if she had the steering wheel turn all the way to lock, and she hit the curb, there is a shot that she hit it just right and bent/broke the tie rod.

I think the poor delivery is more likely..but you'll have a hard time proving that unless every truck/SUV delivered to that dealer has some sort of tie rod issues.

 

[kevinatfms]

This was my first though.

But also, if she had the steering wheel turn all the way to lock, and she hit the curb, there is a shot that she hit it just right and bent/broke the tie rod.

I think the poor delivery is more likely..but you'll have a hard time proving that unless every truck/SUV delivered to that dealer has some sort of tie rod issues.

you can actually find this out. each delivery has a shipping manifest for each vehicle dropped off to each dealership. both the receiving dealer and truck driver signs off on no damage/issues on receipt. if the car is damaged it should have been noted and either fixed at the dealer(will show on oasis) or sent back to ford for evaluation/repair(more than a certain $$ amount).

O.P. go to your dealer and ask for an oasis using the VIN number, it will tell you of any discrepancies during delivery or after, as long as it was repaired under warranty/denied receipt by dealer.


one story but not trying to throw off the thread. we had a shelby gt delivered with the nose scratched up due to not being secured. we denied delivery and it went back to ford. they fixed the stripe issue about 6 weeks later(stripes were on backorder). car was reshipped to us and upon reciept noticed that the car had been tied down using the radiator support which was bent. we accepted the car as is, put it on the lot. guy bought the car and about 3 weeks after he bought it the radiator developed a leak.
in all, he was charged with installing a new radiator, support bracket and coolant due to the fact they couldnt figure out how it got bent(no other damage to the vehicle). the inspector assumed he hit something in the road which bent the support. lesson learned on that one. :bored:

 

[EatonEggbeater]

O.P. go to your dealer and ask for an oasis using the VIN number, it will tell you of any discrepancies during delivery or after, as long as it was repaired under warranty/denied receipt by dealer.

I just spoke with the Ford service advisor; they say that they see that the tire had marks where it was hit, and can't in good conscience bill this one to Ford.

Can I get an Oasis report on line somewhere, or is the dealer it?

BTW, I was asking for a Carfax in the CF thread sticky. I guess they show different things.

It does look like somebody tied it over the control arms and got the tie rod at the same time.

Dealer wants $500.

Mike (Thanks, as always)

 

[13COBRA]

you can actually find this out. each delivery has a shipping manifest for each vehicle dropped off to each dealership. both the receiving dealer and truck driver signs off on no damage/issues on receipt. if the car is damaged it should have been noted and either fixed at the dealer(will show on oasis) or sent back to ford for evaluation/repair(more than a certain $$ amount).

I understand that. But typically the people that check in the cars are more concerned with apparent damage, such as body panels. There's a good chance that no one looked under the car to look at the suspension.

I've traded trucks with dealers only to find that there was scratches on the roof from the truck going under a low overpass. I would like to believe that every vehicle delivered is gone over with a fine tooth comb, but that just isn't the case.

 

[EatonEggbeater]

Got an Oasis report (Thanks, Kevin).

It showed nothing except a Synch update.

I didn't see it, though.

I'll have them match the new part on the passenger side up with the existing part on the drivers side.

If it was towed wrong on one side, it was probable they did it on both.

Thanks for the help.

Mike

 

[wht93gted]

My new ram, back in 06, must've been secured to the delivery truck by strapping down across the CV joint.

I never checked it at the dealer, and everything operated fine when I test drove it. But when I got home and gave the truck a once-over, the CV boot was ripped to shreds. It looked like a rabid beaver went to town on it.

Probably just a freak thing; glad your wife was able to safely make it home and not on the highway.

 

[EatonEggbeater]

Probably just a freak thing; glad your wife was able to safely make it home and not on the highway.

Yah, thanks.

Just got the car home, under $400 in cost. Service manager made sure the left one was good too.

Being a Trust-but-verify type (moreso that the wife wasn't in the car) on the way home I hit a bunch of curbs.

Nothing bent this time. Got some funny looks for others, though. (for different reasons this time.)

 

[svtsmo]

I wonder if the delivery truck secured the vehicle using the tie rod....

Then maybe your wife's minor accident finished the job?

this. when i worked as a salesman at a local ford dealer, i sold a brand new focus that was delivered from another dealer with 30 miles on it. the kid who bought it got 5 minutes down the road and the wheel collapsed in. tie rod was bent and snapped from it being tied down using the tie rod :nonono:

 

[mrlrd1]

That tie rod BENT. NO WAY did you drive it off the lot like that :lol1: Nobody could have adjusted the toe enough to compensate for that severe of a bend.

The tie rod failed because you hit a curb, end of story. Seen it hundreds of times. You're lucky that's all that was damaged. Ball joints bend, control arms bend, subframes, etc etc from seemingly minor impacts.

As for offroading? You bought a FWD based VOLVO!!! :lol1: