NHTSA Complaint #11433456 — 2016 FORD EXPLORER

The tie rod on my 2016 Ford Explorer BROKE. Luckily my husband was just backing it out of our garage He heard a loud noise sounding like he had run over something metal and the car would not move. He got out to take a look and the right front wheel was turned completely sideways The dealership told us to bring it in. We had to hire a flat bed truck to get it there.so that was at our expense.When the flat bed truck driver came from another repair shop to help us, he immediately said "Oh,you have a broken tie rod huh?" We did not know. He said there is a rubber boot around the tie rods and our tie rod broke.My husband told the garage dealership this.They said they had never heard of that. BUT in taking it apart they discovered that was the case. We were without a car for 3 weeks as they had troubles locating a part. I wanted both sides fixed but they only fixed the one. They did give me the old part. It is a rusty, horrible looking piece of crap. It looks like it is 100 years old. It absolutely BROKE. Here is my concern. What if my husband and I and our friends would have been in the car driving 65 down the highway? I know what would have happened. There would have been deaths and severe injuries.THANK GOD it happened in our drive at home. We had no warning.Had there been an accident the report would have been "the driver and his passengers were killed after the driver lost control of the car". Never probably would have found this MAJOR LIFE THREATENING flaw in the car. How many accidents have there been with that conclusion. Did the driver really lost control or was there a major safety issue? I am scared to death to get in this car and go anywhere,Now we get a recall notice regarding possibility of a rear toe link fracture. REALLY? AND PARTS ARE UNAVAILABLE ACCORDING TO THE LETTER? Are we to park the car and wait for the parts to become available? we need a car to drive. Ford needs to replace or reimburse for these damaged vehicles. I feel very, very unsafe.