A symmetric representation of the three-body Coulomb continuum wave function as a product of three two-body Coulomb wave functions is modified to allow for three-body effects whereby the Sommerfeld parameter describing the strength of interaction of any two particles is affected by the presence of the third particle. This approach gives excellent agreement with near-threshold absolute ([ital e],2[ital e]) ionization cross sections. In particular a recently observed deep minimum in noncoplanar geometry is reproduced for the first time.