This is a real big problem with Ford products because they do a very poor job of making repair parts available after a few years. As a result, there are a lot of aftermarket parts suppliers making retrofit kits with regular coil springs.
Even if your air bags are not leaking yet, they will eventually. Big repair bills on GM products are common and must be expected, but to avoid another one, I'd visit an independent tire and alignment shop to see what they have available with coil springs. I've driven a number of car models that were available with both systems, and I never felt a difference in ride quality. What you WILL lose is the automatic height adjustment, and as a suspension and alignment specialist, that is real important to me. Coil springs sag with age, and that will adversely affect tire wear, even when the alignment is set correctly, but they are pretty inexpensive to replace.
As for that warning light, just remove the fuses for that system. There may be two of them. In case a fuse blows for a safety system, a second fused circuit is needed to run the warning light.
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Sunday, January 12th, 2014 AT 8:28 PM