NHTSA Complaint #11434787 — 1997 FORD E SERIES

This vehicle was made by Ford as a partially complete vehicle and converted to 4 wheel drive by Quigley Motor Company Inc. The Quigley torque arms installed appear to commonly fail from some of the earlier years and a design change has been made (from C-channel arms to tubular). The design and construction of the C-channel torque arm (connecting the front axle to the frame of the vehicle) is prone to failure from low cycle fatigue near the welds. Upon failure, the structural integrity of the vehicle is compromised which results could range from handling issues to loss of control of the vehicle (if more than one torque arm fails or failure of one leads to cascading failures in other components, the front axle could become disconnected from the vehicle while in motion leading to an accident.