Nine out of ten times that's caused by misalignment. A few times it is caused by a tire pull. Sometimes you can tell by when the problem started occurring and if it came on gradually or appeared suddenly.
When the alignment is the cause, the main angle is called "camber", and is usually the first one that gets adjusted. Camber has the biggest effect on pulling to one side. Unfortunately, the designers at Ford left that important adjustment off on a lot of their cars. For those, "what you got is what you get", and you have to make the best of it. I can't remember if your model has camber adjustments. Regardless, if you want to start the diagnosis yourself, switch the two front tires side-to-side. If the car pulls to the other side, it's a tire pull. If none of them have broken belts, you can switch them front-to-rear and keep the tires on the car.
If the pull stays the same after switching the tires, the car needs an alignment. The mechanic will inspect the steering and suspension systems first for worn or bent parts. Fords have a very bad history of ball joints and tie rod ends separating leading to loss of control and crashes. Your car should be inspected anyway at least once per year, and immediately anytime you hear a new squeak or clunk. Once those parts pass inspection, a lot of newer alignment computers allow for a quick alignment inspection that takes just a few minutes. That will allow the mechanic to tell you very quickly if the pull is due to an alignment problem, and if a standard four-wheel alignment is all that's needed.
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Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 AT 5:18 PM
