FORD WINDSOR BURST BRAKE HOSE

On leaving home during August and upon reaching the main road some 200 yards distant on applying the footbrake it was apparent that the pedal was touching the floor, fortunatly I was able to stop at the main road junction using the handbrake another 300 yards there is a steep downhill to Uxbridge.
The A.A. Mechanic arrived and found that the offside rear flexible brake hose had burst. There was no indication on the dashboard of any malfunction.
The vehicle was taken by the A.A. to our local Ford Garage on arrival they said 'NOT ANOTHER ONE' apparently one customer had the same problem twice.
To conclude the matter I sent a copy to Fords at Dagenham there customer services
denied there was a problem,when I pointed out that on the Internet several drivers have had the same problem there answer was nobody else had complained!!
And I said if there technical department needed any further details I would be happy to assist,the customer relations response was as far as they were concerned the matter was closed and doubted if the the Engineering Department would either!!

Out of interest, what year is your van ? is it a Mk6 or Mk7 Tranny ?

We have a few Windsor owners on here, and some of us have had some similar issues since these vans were new.

To anyone else unlucky enough to experience the "pedal to the floor" moment, don't forget to pump the pedal!

A single hose failure should not take out the brakes completely on any modern vehicle (i.e. any vehicle less than maybe 30 years old), because dual-circuit brakes have been mandatory for a long, long time.

You will (obviously) get half the braking if one circuit fails, and you will need to pump to compensate for the fluid lost from the failed circuit, but it should get you stopped under normal conditions.

To the OP - good to hear that you managed to get yours stopped without any damage or injury.

-mojo- wrote:............ don't forget to pump the pedal!

.............

Hi there,

On the only time it has happened to me (I think it was the Triumph Herald) my right foot was going up and down a lot faster than a rock-band could ever hope to achieve; and luckily I too was on a flat road, trying to slow down to turn across a dual carriageway and finally used the handbrake to get control.

It is one of life's "Scary Moments" that you wish you had never had and hope to never have again!

With regard to Gordon's original Post I suggest:

1) Contact the local Trading Standards Office and make a complaint against Ford. They are responsible for Product Recalls and even a Company like Ford will eventually bow to their pressure if enough people complain.

2) Copy your TSO complaint to the local Health and Safety Executive Office. After the "Ramsgate Enquiry" (where members of the public were killed going on to a ferry) the HSE paid more attention to what happens to the general public and may even take the lead on any enquiry.

In both cases the complaint should be accompanied by a statement about what happened, citing the comments made by the repairer and Ford's response; plus any anecdotal evidence provided by Internet sites.

I have to say though "Best of Luck" as most vehicle manufacturers hate recalls or improvement notices that they have to pay for!

Rather than admit liability they may just remove all the current brake pipes from circulation, replace them with some super-duper wear-resistance long-life version that costs a lot of money and insist that changing them every three-years is a maintenance requirement!!

Best regards,

Ian

Afternoon Gordon,
As Roli requested, will you please let us know what year amd model Transit base that you have and please update us on the current state of play for what is a worrying state of affairs. I take my Windsor over mountain passes and a failure just takes my breath away.

Regards mike

-mojo- wrote:To anyone else unlucky enough to experience the "pedal to the floor" moment, don't forget to pump the pedal!

A single hose failure should not take out the brakes completely on any modern vehicle (i.e. any vehicle less than maybe 30 years old), because dual-circuit brakes have been mandatory for a long, long time.

You will (obviously) get half the braking if one circuit fails, and you will need to pump to compensate for the fluid lost from the failed circuit, but it should get you stopped under normal conditions.

To the OP - good to hear that you managed to get yours stopped without any damage or injury.

Good point to make mojo - dual brake systems are exactly for that purpose BUT you will only get half the braking. Systems on non ABS vehicles tend to have a diagonal link of brake systems so if one fails then you'll have 1 front and 1 rear brake to stop with. ABS systems tend to be split front/rear. Any failure will result in the pedal travel increasing and (usually) a brake fluid level warning lamp will come on.