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.
After waiting for traffic signal, I began my turn left. Just past the intersection, I lost power with sort of a chugging motion in the vehicle. I was able to get off the road. The indicator on the instrument panel was of a small wrench, indicating throttle control/powertrain in the manual. I called the dealer and was able to start the car and drive in. The charge for installing ds7Z 9E926 D (throttle body and motor as) was $400.46 plus tax. With less than 38000 miles on this vehicle, I did not expect to have this kind of repair.
I am a homehealth nurse, I work in a very mountainous, rural area where I do not even have cellphone service. I was on a very narrow, curvy road, when the car just quit accelerating, the small wrench appeared on the dash, I was able to coast far enough to get to a wide spot where I could get the vehicle safely out of the road, barely missing an 18 wheel coal truck from hitting me. There was no warning, the vehicle drove fine all day and then it just quit. I was able to turn the car off and restart and attempted to drive it and again this happened 3 times before the check engine light finally came on. The nicest person in the world help me and he was able to detect the problem with his computer and he was able to adjust the throttle into the closed position and then I was able to get the vehicle home without anymore problems. I then took it to a Ford dealership and had the throttle body replaced before I did get killed if this was to happen again. I do wish Ford would just get this part recalled before someone does get killed.
While driving freeway speeds, I lost power. Wrench light came on, engine remained running and I limped to the side of the freeway. When re-starting car, problem disappeared. Took car to private mechanic ([xxx]) and he could not find a problem in the computer history. He suspected throttle linkage. Car drove fine until Oct 25, 2013 when it recurred on the freeway. While coasting in the hov lane, we put vehicle in "neutral" and tried to restart, problem did not resolve. Only after coasting to a stop and putting the vehicle in "park" and restarting would the problem re-set. Very hazardous losing power at freeway speeds and trying to limp to the side. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I was driving in congested morning traffic and the engine stalled. The wrench indicator light popped on as I lost acceleration. I was able to coast on to the median. However, I was almost struck from behind by another car. After about 30 seconds, the car started back up and I immediately went to work and made it home without problems this evening. After researching on the internet, it appears this is a recurring problem and just a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured or hurt. I am afraid to drive now as other complaints indicate this has not only been occurring for quite some time, but it may also continue to happen more frequently and eventually stop running altogether.
- Shreveport, LA, USA
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Going to dinner with his two boys vehicle almost stopped in the highway and almost rear-ended. Pull vehicle over waited restarted and drove a short distance and it stopped again in traffic. Throttle body going bad. There has been numerous complaint and someone is going to get killed over this defect.
As I was driving down the interstate with the cruise control set at 70mph, the vehicle turned the cruise control off and decelerated almost immediately to 60mph which caused an uncomfortable thrashing forward of myself and my 2 children. We had our seat belts on, so we were not injured. The vehicle continued to lose power, so I pulled off the highway and placed the vehicle in park and turned off the engine. I noticed a little wrench had appeared in the left corner of my dash display. I looked up this symbol in my owners manual. I then decided to go ahead and try to continue driving as I was a good 75+ miles from home and I was in a very remote area. When I started the engine, I noticed the service engine light came on and did not go back out. I proceeded down the interstate approximately 2 miles before the vehicle did the same thing. This time I attempted to accelerate and with the gas pedal to the floor, had no success. The car just continued to lose speed, so again, I pulled off the highway and this time I let the vehicle proceed as far as it could without applying the brake. As the car was nearly stopped, it started to shake as if it were about to shut off. I turned off the engine and again, restarted after a short break and was able to make it the rest of the way home.
2010 Ford Escape. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle decelerates without warning. The consumer stated the deceleration, happened at different speeds. There was no jerking of the vehicle, no warning light illuminated. It just lost speed quickly. The only option the consumer had was to drive the vehicle from the passing lane to the shoulder, crossing several lanes of traffic, turn it off and re-start it. The first time it happened it ran fine afterwards for weeks. The second time it happened, the same thing, but the third time it happened the vehicle decelerated four times within 15 minutes.
I was traveling @ about 40 mph when it sounded & felt like the engine quit. There was a wide shoulder so, I pulled to the side of the road. The engine was still running but running poorly and wouldn't rev up over about 1000 RPM. The check engine light came on along with an orange "wrench" light. I switched the engine off, restarted it, and it ran fine for about 1/2 mile. Then, the same thing happened again, and again, and again. In the next 2 miles the same thing had happened 3 more times. After almost getting rear-ended by a Ram truck the last time it quit, I pulled into a parking lot and called my mechanic who came and towed it to his garage. Almost $400 later, my mechanic had replaced the electronic throttle assembly. He told me the Ford dealer parts person said he knew the part number by heart because they had replaced so many of these parts.
I was accelerating into traffic when, all of a sudden, my vehicle lurched forward, began to rapidly lose speed, and would not accelerate--even with the gas pedal pushed to the floor. Simultaneously, the yellow wrench light illuminated on the lower left-hand side of the dashboard. I had to immediately cross over two lanes of traffic and pull to a side street, at which time, my car came to a complete stop. I then put the car in park and turned off the ignition. A search of my owner's manual revealed that the wrench light indicated a powertrain or throttle failure. I immediately contacted the Ford dealership and had the car towed in for inspection. I was told it was a burned out throttle body assembly as a result of a faulty vapor lock cap. A day later, the throttle body was replaced along with the faulty vapor lock component at a cost of over $700. Neither part was covered under my warranty. Interestingly, I went back through my service records and noted that in December of 2012, I stated to a local Ford service manager that my car was sluggish and would not immediately accelerate through turns. The service tech could not replicate the problem and so nothing was done aside from cleaning the throttle body and fuel system. If you are experiencing occasional "hitches" or lag times in acceleration when the gas pedal is depressed, be aware that these are hallmarks of a failing throttle body and it may be time to take your vehicle in and have the throttle body and vapor recovery system examined. It's time to issue a recall, Ford.
Had a car full of family while I was driving up a hill at about 35mph when the car thrusted forward then felt like it shifted into neutral. I had to coast into someone's driveway and had it towed to the dealership. The dealership called and said the problem was with the throttle body.
Traveling on a major highway in the middle lane at 8:30 pm the truck started to hesitate and act like it wasn't running right. Then I lost total control of the accelerator but the car was still running. I had all I could do to try to coast over to the shoulder of the road to try and figure out what was wrong. Noticing that the accelerator did not engage at all, I turned off the truck and was going to call for a tow truck. That's when I decided to try and start it to see if I could get home on my own. Once I started the truck, it was like nothing happened and I continued home making it without a problem. Since then this has happened 3 other times, always on the highway, and the last 2 times it happened it, once the truck started back up and I drove off, I only got @ 3 miles down the same highway and it happened again, so I just repeated the procedure and hasn't happened since. I have gone ahead and purchased the new throttle body and am having my mechanic install it this week. I will be driving @ 60 miles one way, 120 miles total, a day for work starting this week and I can't afford to get stranded that far from home and loose time from work or not be able to get home. I've been told that at one point and time that the truck won't just start back up every time, so I'll be getting it fixed. Very disappointed that the truck that I purchased in April and only has @ 44000 miles on it would have such a major problem with such an important component. I've been told that they can't keep them on the shelves because there is such a huge problem overall. This can be very dangerous to someone who wouldn't know what to do in a crisis situation. On the box for the part it says Ford genuine parts, made in Mexico. Nice!! maybe you want to rethink where you locate your parts factories. You know the old saying " nothing good is cheap and nothing cheap is good".
Backed out of parking space, wrench lit on dash, no throttle control, erratic idle. Placed in park, shut engine off and restarted, light went off. Drive 5 minutes, wrench light came on again, no throttle control. Almost got rear-ended. Again put in park and restarted, made it home. Very dangerous loosing power like that with no warning, some say its the throttle body, others the electronic gas pedal. Vehicle is out of warranty and I don't want to throw money at parts. Ford should recall this.
On Sunday October 13, 2013 I was driving my 2010 Ford Escape on a 2 lane highway going approximately 45 mph when the wrench icon illuminated and my car started bucking and came to a stop. The engine didn't shut down, but idled erratically with no accelerator response. I coasted onto a shoulder where I restarted the engine and was able to continue driving until the wrench icon illuminated and it happened again. It has happened multiple times since and I am currently sitting in a carson city, nv Ford dealership (October 17, 2013) where they are telling me that the throttle body is bad. I showed them the NHTSA investigation and they said they wouldn't cover it because there is no recall.
While making a left at an intersection the engine cut to idle and would not accelerate. After pulling to the side of the road the car was shut off and started again and ran ok. The car was take to the dealer the next day. We were told the throttle body was bad. I was also told they go bad a lot and they not covered by the engine warranty. Traffic was light at the time if it was heavy this could have caused an accident. There have been times in the past were the car hesitated badly from a stop.
While driving at 55 mph, car went into limp home mode, greatly reducing speed on rural highway. Code was for throttle actuator stuck closed. Dealer cleaned throttle plates only, and returned car. Next day, the same thing occurred. This time dealer replaced throttle body. This is a dangerouls situation for which I have noticed there have been complaints and an investigation. A safety recall should be ordered. A side effect in limp mode was the engine ran rough with decreased gas mileage while car was driven a few miles to dealer in limp mode.
While driving out of my subdivision, my Ford Escape lost all power. The engine was surging but the vehicle would not respond when pressing the gas pedal. I turned the vehicle off and restarted it, but the same problem occurred. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where a diagnostic test revealed a failed throttle body. Even though my vehicle is slightly under the 5 yr/60,000 mile powertrain warranty, the dealership is insisting on using my extended warranty to cover the part which will cost me $100 deductible and I will be responsible for the most of the cost of my rental vehicle (extended warranty company only pays rental car for labor hours on vehicle repairs, the vehicle will not be pulled in for repair for several days).
I was driving from Virginia towards the Delaware beaches. After crossing the bay bridge in Maryland on route 50... driving in the left lane traveling 55mph, and all of a sudden I lost the ability to accelerate and began losing speed. I had to pull all the way over to the right lane losing power as each second passed. I was able to coast along the side of the road to pull off the highway. After getting to the Ford dealership.. I was told that I need a throttle body.. I'm here at the dealership now.. and the part is well over $400.. have not received the bill yet.. but my guess, with labor between $500-$600! this is ridiculous as the car is only 3 years old! please make Ford recall this part - throttle body - as it seems unfair to have such a high cost repair after 3years of owning the vehicle -- thank you for all your help! this is a safety risk -- someone could have died in this process..as this occurred on the highway -- please do the right thing, and save future lives.. thank you!
Stopped at a light. When it turned green, turned right, as I was going around the corner the car did not respond correctly. Immediately pulled into a parking spot. With it in park, tried pushing on the accelerator, it did not respond at all. When I tried backing up it lunged backwards. Shut the car off and walked home. Luckily I didn't live far from where this happened. Called the dealership and they came up and immediately said it was a problem with the throttle body and turning the car off would reset it so it's drivable for a week or so. Had them replace the part so this wouldn't happen on an interstate or out of town! sounds like a very dangerous problem! also found out that our car was just past the warranty for this problem and even though there have been many documented cases of this happening there has not been a recall for the defective part. Ford, in fact, couldn't keep up with demand for replacing this part earlier this year. Sound like a problem that needs to be addressed, big red flag!! very disappointed in Ford for overlooking this dangerous situation.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Gaithersburg, MD, USA