Buckle up!
www.geocities.com/windstarguy

New recall notices announced September 7, 2001 for 1999, 2000, 20001 Windstars. Read about it here

Ford is marketing safety as a strong feature of the Windstar, so what about it?

When minivans were introduced, they embodied a very serious contradiction. On the one hand, they were designed to haul a lot of people. On the other hand, they were designated "trucks" for safety standard reasons and so did not have to be built to the more rigorous safety standards reserved for passenger cars. Ironic? Stupid? True? Yes.

Times have changed a little and so have customer expectations. Ford are placing a lot of emphasis on the Windstar's safety features, and this is both common sense in design and good sense in marketing. Safety is the #1 reason we even considered a Ford Windstar.

The 7-passenger Windstar includes 6 head restraints, 6 shoulder belts, and 1 lap belt (for the rear bench middle passenger). Incredibly, on some 7-passenger minivans, head restraints for the rear seat passengers are still optional! The Windstar ads claim 40 safety features, but here are some of the standard features that suggest Ford is taking the safety issue seriously:
- orange rear turn signals (studies show they're more visible)
- 6 head restraints
- ABS brakes
- 5-star front end crash rating

Other related features we like include the rear wiper that automatically makes one pass when your front wipers are on and you put the vehicle into reverse, the 2nd Generation airbags, solar-tinted glass and excellent visibility, side impact beams, and daytime running lights that use the white high beam bulb rather than the orange parking lamps. (We trust that the rear gate latch is sturdy and will not pop open on impact. I wish it included an inside latch release, though.)

The fact that Ford is making such a big deal about the 5-star front end crash rating puts them in an interesting position with their next generation of minivans, because if they don't earn 5-stars that would be a step back, wouldn't it? So maybe they've painted themselves into a bit of a corner, but it's a good corner to be in because the way minivans are used, safety should be the priority.

To see what kind of recall history the Windstar has, visit the NHTSA.

We heard a firsthand account of a head on collision in a Ford Windstar from a visitor to our site. Their '95 Windstar was totalled in a head-on highway crash Christmas '98, but everyone survived, albeit a few bones were broken. But the front end crumple zone worked as designed and the Windstar maintained enough structural integrity to prevent a potential tragedy.