Not saying anything about your wife, but there IS such a thing as over driving the road conditions....even with good tires I've gotten plenty of cars to hydroplane, of course it is EASIER to do with low tread or NO tread. I've also seen and been in vehicles that with the latter 2 tire conditions, driven according to a recommended non-agressive driving style, not lose control or hydroplane. I've been a tech for almost 20 years and 1 thing I've come to see is that people like to put blame everywhere but to themselves, i.e., bad/inferior parts, tech did the work wrong, etc., etc. Anyway like I said 1st nothing against your wife or anybody else, just a little rant.
Oh, by the way Tauruses do steer and handle unlike ANY other car on the market,
I don't know how long you've had your s but it took my mom a few months to really get used to the way our 1st Taurus drove and handled.