How dangerous is it to drive with broken stabilization (sway?) bar?

We have a 96 Ford Windstar minivan. The mechanic said the stabilization bar is broken. How dangrous would it be to drive even around town with it? I believe highway driving is out of the question, but am wondering if it would be okay to drive at slow speeds (Under 30 MPH) just around town until we get the money to get this fixed?





I tried looking on line to get a price estimate. Are stabilization bars the same thing as anti roll and sway bars?|||A front stabilizer bar is the same thing as a front sway bar. You wouldn't catch me driving a top heavy vehicle without a sway bar and solid end links. Ford has had more than their share of roll-overs with their roof heavy four wheel SUV's and vans *with front sway-bars. A van is the worst of the worst as far as top heavy goes. If you must drive it, "creep" around corners in town and stay away from speeds over 25 MPH.





You most likely could find one at a dead-car and truck cemetery for $15.- $20.00. They're super easy to install.|||Very. You shouldn't drive until it's fixed. It does exactly what it says on the can: it stabilises the car. Without it, your car could veer off course even at low speed, and cause an accident. Don't risk it. You might be out of pocket for a while but that's better than being killed or seriously injured, or having someone else's death or serious injury on your conscience.|||very dangerous. if the nose of the car dips to suddenly the cars momentum with make it spin out. i am a master certified machanic ive seen this happen before. plus it happed to my wife. she wasent exacly driving on a broken sway bar. the sway bar broke wile in a turn and the sudden drop in teh front end made the rear end fly out with its own momentun. she ended up 75 yards off the road in the woods about 60 yards past the turn it self. only travalling at about 35 mph. its very dangerous. dont do it. that was in a small car aswell. a van with a much higher center of gravity would probly flip over. and the chance of that with a broken sway bar is pretty good too.|||Well there are two different components. There is a sway bar which would go across the front and back and the sway bar is connected to stabilizer links that are bolted to the control arms. It should be ok to drive. You will just have to go easy on turns and changing lanes|||it,s very dangerous.it can throw you off the road and maybe hurt you really bad dear. if you feel you have to drive it that way for awhile then watch out for pot holes and take the turns really slow. i doubt that the bars itself is broke. it,s probably just the bushings.