this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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Cars - For Car Enthusiasts
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I haven't really had a "bad" car yet. My oldest car was my first, a 2003 Ford Taurus. Wearables needed to be replaced but outside of that, the only thing I can say that would make it the "worst car" is that the cruise control lever broke and got stuck while I was driving it, so essentially my throttle was stuck open while I was going about 70 MPH. I tried not to panic, and shifted into neutral (it was also an automatic) so I could shut the car off and then coast to safety.
Doesn't cruise control deactivate when you press the brake?
It would, yes, if the physical mechanism for controlling wasn't stuck. After I pulled over I looked in the engine bay and noticed that the plastic bit that was mounting it snapped and the wire was stuck.
That sounds scary AF. Props to you for maintaining presence of mind and avoiding a catastrophic accident. I heard similar runaway vehicle stories from Ford owners when electronic throttle bodies were first introduced.
Same. My grandma had a Taurus and that thing ran forever. She sold it to a teenager when she could no longer drive and they immediately wrecked it the next week.
You still see the Taurus on the road even though they quit making them years ago. There’s a reason it was one of the best selling cars, and a reason why they quit making them (because no one who bought one needed a new car or any service).
Was it a pre-96 boxy taurus? Those were excellent for the time and very reliable because they had to be to be competitive. 96 brought the doughy redesign that triggered a decline. It held the top sales figure a little longer, but mainly due to continued fleet sales. The transmission was a weak point, the fuel economy was lacking, and "Taurus" was kind of your father's brand. The redeeming benefit was that the 2000 redesign only changed half the car, so they were quite repairable by having a 10 year run. The door skins are identical for the 3rd and 4th gens.