My wife drove our son to a friend's house in our 2004 FORD Expedition on July 11, 2006. Upon arriving at the friend;s home, she put the Expedition gear shift into park and then exited the vehicle, with my son. A friend of hers was sitting in the passenger seat so she left the car running with the A/C on. The Expedition sat stationary for three minutes and then without warning suddenly commenced moving forward on its own! The friend frantically searched for the hand-brake (there is none in an Expedition) as she is from Europe and the vehicles in Europe have hand-brakes. Within seconds, the vehicle collided with a parked car that was 10 feet in front of our "previously stationary" FORD Expedition (the left front of the Expediton was damaged and will need about $1,000 in body work - no damage to the vehicle it hit). The transmission somehow switched from Park to Drive, all on its own!!! We immediately called FORD who asked that we immediately take it to a FORD Dealership. FORD asked the dealership to duplicate the Park to Drive scenario - they could not! I had tried seeral times myself and could not, as well. I asked FORD to please open up the transmission to verify that it is in working order. They refused. Even though the vehicle is still under warranty they refused? To sum it up, they said my wife must have exited the vehicle while it was still in Drive. This is impossible - the vehicle's idling speed is set so high that even with A/C off and vehicle facing slightly uphill, the vehicle has too much power to sit stationary while in Drive. It was in Park when my wife got out of the vehicle and again the vehicle sat still idling for 3 minutes before switching into Drive all on its own! On July 14th, we received a letter from FORD's Consumer Affairs Dept. stating "Unfortunately, we are unable to offer any assistance, at this time". They are taking no responsibility whatsoever with the fact that there is something dangerously wrong with the vehicle. FORD has essentially dismissed our concern - we are contacting an attorney!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
My wife drove our son to a friend's house in our 2004 FORD Expedition on July 11, 2006. Upon arriving at the friend;s home, she put the Expedition gear shift into park and then exited the vehicle, with my son. A friend of hers was sitting in the passenger seat so she left the car running with the A/C on. The Expedition sat stationary for three minutes and then without warning suddenly commenced moving forward on its own! The friend frantically searched for the hand-brake (there is none in an Expedition) as she is from Europe and the vehicles in Europe have hand-brakes. Within seconds, the vehicle collided with a parked car that was 10 feet in front of our "previously stationary" FORD Expedition (the left front of the Expediton was damaged and will need about $1,000 in body work - no damage to the vehicle it hit). The transmission somehow switched from Park to Drive, all on its own!!! We immediately called FORD who asked that we immediately take it to a FORD Dealership. FORD asked the dealership to duplicate the Park to Drive scenario - they could not! I had tried seeral times myself and could not, as well. I asked FORD to please open up the transmission to verify that it is in working order. They refused. Even though the vehicle is still under warranty they refused? To sum it up, they said my wife must have exited the vehicle while it was still in Drive. This is impossible - the vehicle's idling speed is set so high that even with A/C off and vehicle facing slightly uphill, the vehicle has too much power to sit stationary while in Drive. It was in Park when my wife got out of the vehicle and again the vehicle sat still idling for 3 minutes before switching into Drive all on its own! On July 14th, we received a letter from FORD's Consumer Affairs Dept. stating "Unfortunately, we are unable to offer any assistance, at this time". They are taking no responsibility whatsoever with the fact that there is something dangerously wrong with the vehicle. FORD has essentially dismissed our concern - we are contacting an attorney!
- Christopher G., Canton, GA, US