1997 MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS User Comment / Complaint

Just left highway rest stop in kentucky, no signs of coolant leakage or any problems. within 5-7 miles at 65mph, a beep, beep sound, then temperature gauge rose immediately to high , began to slow vehicle & turned heater on. steam was scene from under the hood as we approached a construction area. we barely made it to a closed weigh station. failure was sudden & catastrophic. had we remained on the highway, an accident would have surely occurred, no shoulder was available. two hours waiting for a tow truck, which finally took the vehicle to the nearest ford dealer. being a sunday, we had to obtain overnight stay in a hotel. monday the dealer diagnosed the problem as a cracked intake manifold. dealer replaced the part, including thermostat & coolant. dealer kept the old parts. dealer said no recall was made for this part. i believe this was a manufacturer's defect which has very serious or deadly consequence & should be reimbursed/corrected by recall of all of these plastic manifolds. please help. thank you