Fords ABS

I have searched many of the ford forums I could google looking for any kind of TSB or recall on the "tone ring / wheel sensor"? problems that seem plague Ford vehicles finding nothing, seems there should be one as common as the problem is.
The mechanic who ran the scanner on my wifes Taurus today told me what it was before he scanned "just to be sure", up on the lift, sure enough, cracked and slid down the shaft there it was.
Not only this, I couldn't find a "loan a tool" place to get an ABS scanner to scan for the problem. Then to cement my feelings on Ford products the Mechanic tells me that just replacing the "cheap pot metal" ring was not an option, that the whole shaft had to be replaced as a unit.
It seems a waste to replace a perfectly serviceable unit "axle shaft" because a cheap pot metal part that was pressed on to control a seperate unit breaks.
Great Idea Ford, why has there been no replacment for the ring ONLY "um" engineered, I guess I could have tried to JB weld the cracked ring in place but I try not to fly that way with the wifes car.
There is a safety issue as well, as the wife tells it, on her way home from work the ABS light came on so she pulled off the freeway and stopped at a garage, the mechanic told her that her brakes seemed to work fine the fluid was good and that she should be ok for her drive home, not 10 miles later she had to make not an emergency but a regular stop from freeway speeds and that the car dove and pulled hard to the left putting her on the edge of control and into the next lane.
Yet there is no TSB or recall on this problem? Again "great job Ford"!!!
My wife has not driven the car since and said she won't, once I get it fixed "probably today" the Taurus is gone, she's looking for a Toyota.
She bought it "the Taurus" less than a year ago, used, but from a ford dealer with all these really neat looking inspection papers and all, whooopti doo.
The mother inlaw traded her Taurus in on a toyota in 05 after nothing but problems in her brand new car, she has been a die hard Ford and Taurus fan for ever.
My wife and I will be glad to see the Taurus gone, AGAIN, THANKS FORD!

Hmmm, I'm not aware that cracked tone rings plague Ford vehicles, but I guess it wouldn't surprise me. Afterall, Ford does not make the halfshafts or tone rings, they are made by a supplier who likely supplies most manufacturers. While I'm not a professional so I don't work on cars daily, I've never seen a cracked tone ring on a Ford product, but I have experienced that situation on two GM products (both Saturns). However, like I mentioned, Ford doesn't make the halfshafts. And, both times I noticed cracked tone rings, the entire half shaft had to be replaced to remedy the problem.

When the ABS detects a fault, it illuminates the ABS indicator on the dash and disables the ABS system, so the pulling during the panic stop is likely due to something other than the ABS system. While that may not make you or her feel any better about the situation or the car, you are probably blaming the wrong part. For many years cars did not have ABS systems on them, people had to know how to modulate the brake pedal during panic stops. That's essentially what happens when the ABS indicator is on. The brakes still work. That's not really a safety issue worthy of a recall. And, for what it's worth, the ABS system is not made by Ford either.

I'm glad that you have had good experiences with Toyotas, although I'm not sure your post is really value-added. It's kind of like those protesters that stand on the street corners trying to convince people to adopt their beliefs. Are they really going to change someone's mind, and if they can change someone's mind that easily, is that really the type of person they want to recruit?

Good luck with your Toyotas. I hope they provide you with many years of great service. Hopefully you never experience the engine sludge issue that plagued their best-selling Camry, and hopefully you never get a flat Continental tire (or whatever brand tire comes stock on the car) while cruising down the highway.

-Rod

I have worked on the Ford product line since 1984. We have run into 1 tone ring that has cracked on its own. We have had a few bent from road debris being wedged between the sensor and the tone ring. The one you describe on your Taurus though, we have never had a problem with one on the Taurus. Is there a chance that the half shaft was replaced before your wife purchased it? I am not trying to say Fords are great. I am a General Motors person that happens to have worked on fords for years. SO good luck on the Toyota and look at the recalls and TSB's on them also. All manufacturers have their problems. There is no "perfect" car.

I've finally gotten around to add my 2 cents to the diatribe on Ford, its cars and the parts that go into them. It would seem to me that the toner ring failure was the result of some unusual combination of circumstances, and you happened to be the victim. Stuff just happens because it's a car, not a Ford or whoseawhatsits. Some manufacturing processes have such high tolerance requirements, the manufacturer would be happy with an inhouse failure or discard rate of 5%! You want zero percent to you. That's not reality. Would you feel any better about Ford and the ACTUAL manufacturer of the toner ring and half shaft, if you knew that it has been redesigned with a different, lower profile? Clearly, the redesign was in response to damage cause to it by flying debris. They did this I'm sure they did this for reliablity reasons, certainly not for their convenience, as it made it more expensive to make, or to generate parts sales. Perhaps some of the responsibility of some car part failures rest more on the driver and driving condtions, rather than on the manufacturer. It's a given that the rougher the roads you drive on, the more frequent and more severe the kind of suspension and tire repairs you will have.

As to the quality and integrity of the toner ring itself, well .... As I have some background in design and manufacturing of mechanical things, I can only speak to what I would do. Firstly, unless your mechanic has specific knowledge that the toner ring is a casting of low quality steel amalgumate, your "pot metal," I would expect it to be a low carbon steel, like 1010 or 1020, for its ductileness, machinability, and strength. I'd choose those metals because it can come in tubular stock, which would simplify and decrease the expense of manufacturing. The rings would be cut from the tubular steel, the teeth milled, and the ring pressed onto the half shaft. I would NOT want to press on "pot steel" due to its inherent, low tensile strength. In fact, I would expect far more failures of the rings if they were made of "pot metal." Since "pot metal" is cast, it would require more steps and more energy to create blanks suitable to be milled for teeth. I would recommend not using it if I were to design it. I think anything metal that breaks that one thinks shouldn't have, gets dubbed "pot metal," accurately or not. As such, anyone stating such on a "street corner" should be taken with a grain of salt.

The material the tone ring is made of is critical to the design, can't get away with steel stock. If you're curious, check out sites such as this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect). Such ferrous materials tend to be brittle by nature.

One might suggest installing the tone ring in a "protected" area such as internal to the hub bearing assembly. Some manufacturers have tried that. What happens? Customers complain that it costs them $300 for a hub bearing assembly. GM (and maybe others) even tried incorporating the speed sensor into the hub bearing. That made for an awfully expensive speed sensor repair, and unfortunately based on the number of those I saw, there was some flaw in that design as well. Seems the route of installing a discrete speed sensor to monitor a tone ring installed on a relatively inexpensive half shaft or brake rotor is not such a bad design afterall.

-Rod

Don't think I'm going to let this go without a reply, Rod. Bottom line for now is, the research you sent me on is not looking good for you. :D But, I was a curious sucker to go down that toner ring trail you got me on! :D Really interesting stuff!

Bottom line for now is, the research you sent me on is not looking good for you. :D

See, now you got me curious.

-Rod

P.T. Barnum, founder of the "Greatest Show on Earth" said, "There's a sucker born every minute!"

Sucker.

Eventually, I will put together a well composed, thoughtful and well researched response. But for now, I think I want to enjoy my brief moment of having the upper hand, while I try to keep you in suspense. Or, you could take the same path as I and learn for yourself what I did, and then, come groveling back! :D