This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Initially driving down the road at approximately 55 mph and the check engine light came on and the vehicle went into a stall. I lost all power even though the engine was sputtering. I pulled over and turned the vehicle off and restarted it. I lost power about 2 more times on a 20 mile trip. This has since happened during every drive on various distances. Sometimes at highway speeds and sometimes from a standstill.
All the sudden the gas pedal didn't do anything when I pressed it and my vehicle slowed to a dangerous speed for the road I was on forcing vehicles to swerve around to miss hitting me. The wrench light also came on. I was able to eventually pull over and turn my vehicle off and restart it. After restarting it the gas pedal seemed to work fine. I took it into the dealership and they said it was the throttle body and it needed replaced.
Vehicle enters limp mode and all power is lost, engine starts to stutter and tachometer jumps, wrench light (power-train) comes on. 3 times in 1 week. Mph = 60, 45, 30. Avoided accident and pulled over. Restarted vehicle and back to normal. No check engine light or codes stored. Dealer states they cannot diagnose unless they can recreate the problem. Danger of rear ending, T-bones upon left turns, and intersection pileups.
While driving the vehicle at around 50 mph it lost all reaction to the accelerator and coasted to a stop while in heavy traffic. I turned the car off and waited 5 minutes, then started it again and began to drive. Within seconds the vehicle repeated the incident. I managed to get it into my driveway after repeated stops and restarts of the engine.
As I was driving and the cruise control was set the road I was traveling had slight hills. It seems as though when the car went to down shift and speed up is when it lost power and went into limp mode. The last occurrence was on 10-17-13 while I was driving on a flat road. I had to brake for traffic when I went to accelerate is when it lost power and went into limp mode.
- St. Paul, MN, USA
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When driving on a busy 4 lane road, the vehicle suddenly lost fuel power and began creeping down the road at less than 5 km/H the wrench light was flashing and it was a few hundred meters to the nearest side street, fortunately I was able to make it to the side street without getting struck by traffic moving 60 km/H faster than I was, I thought that the computer may have had a one time failure but this happened again 3 days after with my young son in the back seat. That was Monday Oct 14 2013, I am super mad at Ford for not recalling this throttle body problem already it seems like a constant point of failure and it is unsafe to drive these cars when this is happening.
While driving on the highway, at approximately 65 mph, the vehicle bucked and instantaneously slowed down and was unable to accelerate. At that moment when the vehicle bucked the dash indicator (a wrench) came on showing the problem being the throttle control/powertrain. I was on the highway in the middle lane, in traffic when I lost the ability to accelerate and was luckily able to navigate to the right and coast to the exit that was less than a quarter mile from the incident. I placed it into park and it sputtered just prior to turning off the vehicle completely. After waiting about 10 minutes I then restarted the vehicle and the dash indicator did not come on, I therefore proceeded and drove it home. Because this occurred late evening I was not able to contact the dealer until the following day.
I was driving to work on the expressway during the morning rush hour doing 70 mph when my vehicle stalled. I had to risk moving over three lanes to the off ramp without having power. I rolled up the exit ramp and pulled safely to the side of the road. I was able to restart the car but noticed both the check engine light and service light were on. The car died two additional times before I got to an auto repair shop. The repair shop told me the service code was P2111 which indicated a problem with the throttle. This was a terrible incident and I was relieved to make it safely off the road.
I was traveling in the center lane on I-75 at 65 mph when my car lost power. The car continued to run but had no acceleration. Their were cars beside and behind me. I finally was able to get off the freeway and into the emergency lane. I cut the engine off and restarted it, it acted the same. The orange wrench light came on. I decided to drive it to the next exit which was about two miles. I finally got to the exit and called the local Ford dealership and was told by service people they had no way of getting the vehicle to their shop and was also told I could call or they would call for me a tow truck. I called several places and finally found a private garage that was available to come and pick me and the vehicle up. They told me while loading the vehicle on the tow truck that they had the equipment to check it out and repair it. They contacted me after checking the system out and stated that the drive by wire was bad and the throttle control body needed cleaning. To made a long story short after the tow bill, parts and labor to repair the vehicle it cost me $747.38. I feel that Ford Motor Company should be responsible for some of the expenses if not all. They should at least have a recall and check this part for malfunction before someone gets hurt or killed from this safety issue.
Pulling out from a red light car accelerated to 25 and lost all engine power. Stepped on accelerator and nothing happened. Coasted to a stop.in passing lane. Shut off, waited 30 seconds, and restarted to drive away. Traffic behind me in passing line trying to go around me unsafely. Ford dealership tested and said failed throttle body. Mechanic said he has seen quite a few of these. Cost $358. Thank goodness I was not on I-95 which I travel often when this happened.
I was driving on a city road and the engine randomly died when I was traveling about 40mph. All the lights and radio/electronics remained on (never lost time or preset radio stations, headlights, dash, etc) but as I tried to give it some gas, it wouldn't respond. When I realized the engine was not running after a few seconds, the rpms were at 0 and the battery light and oil light was on. No codes thrown or check engine or wrench light. As I pulled over and put it in park, I attempted to start it, and it started right up like nothing was wrong. Didn't "cough" or crank and crank...fired just like it was brand new. I took the vehicle in to a local body shop and they checked normal issues that would cause the Escape to randomly shut off and did not find anything. Then I did research and determined there was an investigation upon the throttle body. This same issue has happened a total of 3 times, of which the most recent was in July and September.
I was driving appx 50 mph and out of the blue the car briefly sputtered and the wrench light came on. I pressed the gas but couldn't accelerate. I coasted to the side of the road and turned the engine off. When I cranked it back up everything seemed to work, and the wrench light was off. I called my Ford service department from the roadside and immediately drove it in for diagnostics. They said it was the throttle body, and the part was back ordered. Left car at Ford because I didn't want to take the chance of this happening again on a road or highway with no place to pull off. Bought the car new in 09 from this dealership and have had all scheduled maintenance done at this dealership. No mechanical issues until this one. Driving habits are normal.
Faulty electronic throttle body vehicle lost power twice while my wife was driving home - extremely dangerous situation. Engine remained running but all power lost. Had vehicle towed to Ford in hopes the repair would be covered under extended powertrain warranty or via technical service bulletin. No.... this is astounding to me - a quick google search will tell you there are many issues with this part across multiple Ford models. This was a $340 repair, for a faulty part, and one which puts people in potentially extreme danger. Please conclude your investigation asap.
Loss of acceleration and/or power. Gas pedal did not respond. After a few scary moments was able to get vehicle to side of road. Had an idea what was wrong based on a conversation with a person who described a similar situation that was do to a malfunctioning throttle body was able to get the car started and the computer reset itself, as was also described, and made it to the local Ford dealership who made repairs to the throttle body. My concern is that Ford is very aware of the problem and has been for sometime but is doing nothing to warn consumers of the potential of danger associated with loss of power under highway driving conditions - this needs to be done and at minimum the consumer should be compensated to some degree for what is, for all practicable purpose, faulty parts and design problems that are on going. Could you imagine this situation happening to someone in their 80's - at night.
Traveling along a rural highway, vehicle suddenly lost power and wrench light came on. I was forced to coast dangerously to a safe place to pull over, with another vehicle nearly hitting me from behind due to the sudden loss of speed. Gas pedal seemed to not be working. Once vehicle came to a stop, the car had an extremely rough idle. After turning the car off and restarting, the problem seemed to be reset, and gas pedal worked again, but the problem occurred again the next day, dangerously again along an interstate highway. This should be a recall - the sudden deceleration is very dangerous!!!!
Throttle body malfunction. This is the second Ford Escape 2009 that I have had this issue. Both issues occurred within a month of each other. Vehicle stalls out while driving resulting in loss of all acceleration. Wrench symbol comes on and have to put car in emergency lane. I can turn it off and then it restarts. This has happened multiple times and is very dangerous especially at high speeds with no emergency lane available. Currently in shop replacing throttle body at Ford dealer today 9/30 and cost is $400. Its not worth risking my life or my wife's life. Issued consumer complaint with Ford. Ford will not do anything to help regardless of the risk.
Identified as throttle bottle malfunction. Driving in cruise control at 70mph and car stalls out. Wrench symbol comes up and car looses all acceleration. Almost had an accident and had to safely get on the curb. Car continues to rev. Turn car off and then restart and everything is fine. Also took video of incident. This had occurred multiple times. Had Ford install new throttle body for $400 on 8/10/13. No more issues and Ford verbally acknowledged that this was the issue. Own two 2009 Escapes and both have had the same issue and both have replaced throttle body. Called Ford consumer service and they stated they could not do anything to help the situation.
My wife was driving on the highway when the vehicle abruptly shut down in a high traffic metro area as an orange wrench light appeared on the dash. After resting on the shoulder for a minute and speaking with me (her husband), I asked her to try and start the vehicle again. It started back up as normal with the orange wrench light now not showing. The car ran as normal for about 10 minutes and then it happened again. She was able to get the car home safely. The next day I took a look at the car, did some research, and drove it around for awhile. The car ran fine for about 15 minutes until it occurred again. Apparently the orange wrench light means there is an issue with either the power train or the throttle box. The vehicle shifts gears as normal so I am left to believe there is an issue with the throttle box (as I have read many complaints regarding this exact same issue with the 2009 Ford Escape).
As I was driving, the accelerator pedal ceased responding because power to the accelerator was lost. The car coasted to a stop on a busy highway. I was able to turn off the ignition and restart and drive in low gear a short distance. But after about 300 yards, low gear ceased to work as there was no longer any power to the accelerator. I was able to put the car in reverse and back off the road. I consider it fortunate that traffic was relatively light and I was not hit by another vehicle. I had my vehicle towed to a Lincoln Mercury dealer, who advised the diagnostic computer code (P2111) indicated the electronic throttle body was "bad", and there was nothing to do but replace it. They could not tell me any details as to what had caused it to go "bad", and advised they were not able to do any investigation as to what caused the malfunction. All they could do was send the old throttle body back (presumably to Ford), and install a new electronic throttle body for an installed cost of $720.24. I complained directly to Ford in dearborn, mi (global director, automotive safety office) by U.S. mail, and received a voicemail on 9/5/13 from [xxx] at Ford executive offices ([xxx]). I returned the call and she requested I send a copy of my invoice for the throttle body installation ([xxx]). a few days later (9/9/13 I believe) she called and the bottom line was all Ford would offer was a partial reimbursement of $240, which I have not yet received. She admitted no wrong (except perhaps by inference of offering a partial reimbursement) and advised Ford could not guarantee that I would not experience another throttle body malfunction. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
7/30/2013 started up after stopping at an intersection. About half a block later, I stepped on the accelerator and nothing happened. Then it sputtered, the wrench light came on and the car would not move. I coasted to the side of the road, turned on hazard lights and turned it off. It started right up after a few seconds and proceeded normally. About a month later, the same thing happened driving home at night. After stopping at a stop sign, I accelerated and the car lost power, the wrench lit up and I coasted over to the side again. Again, it started right up. A week later, it did the same thing in heavy traffic. I put on the hazard lights and coasted to the edge of the road. It started up, but did the same thing after a few yards. I made it very slowly into a parking lot and it stayed there until that evening. When I tried it later, it died a couple of times and I drove it home on the back streets late at night when there was no traffic. After researching the problem on line, I saw what others had done and had the throttle body replaced. That was 6 days ago. So far, so good. However, my confidence is gone and I won't be driving it in freeway traffic anytime soon.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Penix City, AL, USA