[competentone]

I know Ford is considered to be the "most healthy" of U.S. auto makers, but checking the air in the spare tire of my '99 Taurus reminded me again why the company deserves the bankruptcy which will probably be coming to it eventually.

The company is either run by idiots, or
"jokers" who think it's "funny" to add design details to their cars to annoy the heck out of their customers.

Ford designed the spare so that one needs to remove the jack and lift out the tire itself to get to the valve to check the air. The clamp-down could have been just as easily designed with the jack under the spare so the air valve would be facing up -- that way, one would just need to lift the carpet and panel covering the spare tire well to check the pressure in the spare.

I've thought about redesigning the clamp so I could store the spare "upright" to be able to check the air quicker, but have been living with the access annoyance for years.

Of course, since the car seems to be designed to collect water in the spare tire well, I guess removing the spare and drying everything out needs to be part of the routine when checking the air in the tire -- yesterday, the spare tire was sitting in couple of cups of water!

There are multiple penetrations for the tail lights, plastic "trim lip," and key/lock assembly through the back of the car and trunk lid. The only thing that stops water seepage past these penetrations are gaskets. I had seepage over a year ago, but disassembled the tail lights and resealed the gaskets -- which fixed the problem for a while. Water is seeping somewhere again and collects in the spare wheel well.

I think I may just see about putting a drain in the spare well to let the water that seeps in seep out! (That's how the Ford dealership solved a seepage problem in a light when my Ranger was under warranty!)

The other day too, the switch controlling the side mirrors went bad again -- I got less than two years service out of the last one I put in.

It doesn't surprise me that the "Big Three" have become the "Bankrupt Three."