You MUST SEE this, SCARY pics inside...

[reddragon93]

yesterday morning, I wake up, it's beautiful outside, the weather is supposed to be 70+ degrees, blue skys, and it's Friday (and payday) on top of it all. all is good, I head outside to go to work. I am a technician at a Ford Dealership here in Richmond, Virginia. I jump into my 93LX and start the engine. I release the park brake and drop the T-5 into reverse. I ease off of the clutch and begin to roll out of my parking space. I have only gone a few feet when I come to a horrible grinding/crunching halt. my eyes dart to the mirrors to see what I've hit or run over. I only see my neighbor walking across the lot taking out his trash looking in my direction with a horrified look on his face. I jerk up the brake and jump out of the car to see what has happened. I know that the lot was clear, so what did I hit? nothing... I look in disbelief at my front wheel/brake/control arm assembly which has ripped loose from my tubular K-member and destroyed my front fender/apron area. I catch a ride to work and get a floor jack and some stands. This is so freaking unbelievable that I actually went to Wal-Mart at 7:30am to buy a camera and film so I could take some pics before I moved the car. if you look closely you can see that the metal tubing on the control arm actually ripped apart. the weld appears to be intact as the metal that came out of the jagged hole shown in the pics is still in one piece and attached to the portion of tubing on the control arm that goes down to the ball joint. This is unbelievably frightening. The only reason that I can think of to explain why I am not completely FURIOUS about the damage to my car is that I am SO THANKFUL that this didn't happen during rushour traffic, on a highway at 60 miles per hour, or an exit ramp or some place far worse than in my parking lot at home. I could have lost steering and braking control and veered into oncoming traffic or flipped or who knows what. I mean I could have been hurt or killed or done the same to some other innocent driver. the parts were installed brand new last october or november (only 5 short months ago). I just changed the oil last week and didn't notice any signs of cracking, either they were very small or I just missed them, because if you look closely you can see some rust on the rear broken portion of the control arm, which would seem to indicate that the cracks had existed for some time. I don't even know what to do now. I have contacted the manufacturer, but the owner is out of town until monday. I won't give their name, because even though this could have been deadly, they deserve an opportunity to respond. even if they offer to take care of the damages, do I feel safe driving on another one of their control arms??? was this a one in a million fluke failure, or an inherent design flaw? I have ZERO interest in lawsuits, but I do want my car repaired, and MOST importantly, I want my car to be SAFE. While these parts are intended to lighten the car for performance purposes, nowhere in the advertising did they mention "FOR RACE USE ONLY". In fact, while doing my product research I called the company in question and asked directly if these parts would be strong enough for regular use on my daily driver vehicle. No problem, again maybe this was just a random failure, but I don't know.... scary stuff in my opinion. be careful with your mods. I bought these parts based on the testimonials of numerous other mustang owners and racers and magazine articles that all stated that this companies products were only the finest quality. I could have bought cheaper parts from several other competitors (all using very similar designs) but I believed that YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR... well maybe not this time. I am still in shock or disbelief. and I can't wait to hear from the manufacturer on monday. check out the pics. have a good weekend.

sincerely,
chris