This letter is intended to address ineffective service by aamco that led to failure of a transmission in my vehicle. As you see by the attached letter, I voiced concern about this last year and all aamco suggested was to take it back to the dealer that performed the ineffective service. I requested the right to take the vehicle to another aamco center, but your response was to take it to the center that I already had doubts about. Let me set the scenario again. "with initial grinding sounds and lack of reverse, I took to clinton transmissions in 2011 and they informed me the transmission needed to be rebuilt. The vehicle was parked until 2012. ?in 2012, I called the waldorf aamco center and they informed me it may not be the transmission and to let them look at it. It was towed in and I was informed that the transmission was fine but the transfer case was bad. ?all totaled, I paid $1534.76 for transfer case, $430.03 for parts, and $600 for labor. This does not include the other services that the center said I needed. ?the vehicle was taken back twice for an od light that came on as soon as I left the center. They seemed unable to diagnose the problem. ?I felt concern for the period I was driving and wrote corporate to request assistance. ?earlier this year while driving to South Carolina, the grinding sound started again and reverse went out. I notified corporate and the waldorf center and was told to go to the nearest aamco. ?I went to the columbia, South Carolina aamco and after diagnostic, told me the same thing that the clinton transmission told me in 2011. The transmission had internal damage and needed to be rebuilt. "I left the vehicle in columbia and had to purchase a new vehicle. With these facts in mind, aamco can surely see where ineffective service led to a safety failure.

- Cheltenham, MD, USA

The engine slowed down and just quit. Would not restart. Had it towed to a repair facility *again* and found out that (two)* timing chains went out. The drivers side snapped in two and the passenger side (rear) had over 1 1/2 inches of play in it and obvious stretching of the timing chain. The front broken one totaled the engine, all tensioners, spacers etc were nor in pieces lying in the engine. And guess what to replace the rear timing chain you have to completely remove the engine from the vehicle! thanks again Ford!!!!!!!!

- Kenosha, WI, USA

We maintained our vehicles regularly, after replacing the transfer case not 8 months ago now the transmission went out. Spent $2400 for a rebuild. Shop states this model is a piece of [xxx], and the have made a lot of money from Ford poor engineering on this model. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Kenosha, WI, USA

After turning a corner at less than 15 mph a loud sound was heard and the engine raced but stopped moving. Tried all gears and after having it towed to a repair facility I was informed that the transfer case broke.I had to have it replaced.

- Kenosha, WI, USA

The contact owns a 1997 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 45 mph, the transmission failed causing the rpms to increase continuously. The contact drove the vehicle to the dealer for inspection and was advised that the speedometer needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified and stated there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The failure mileage was 256,000.

- Ocala, FL, USA

Transfer case failed with no apparent problems. When taken apart by tech. It looked perfectly fine. Must have complete replace of transfer case, can't just change parts. Msn auto-tecs brings up a number of mechanics who found same problems. Ford has built better after market replacement but never notified anyone of this problem. Some mechanics say that customers have brought in with this problem and they have never engaged their 4X4.

- Taber, UN, USA

My vehicle suddenly started accelerating when I was proceeding down the interstate. I could slow the vehicle down somewhat by aggressively applying the brakes. However, this would just get me slowed down a little until I would release the brake. The vehicle would suddenly speed up again. I was traveling on a fairly busy stretch of interstate at the time of the incident. I luckily did not have a need to stop quickly while this problem occurred. I tried hitting the accelerator a few times to get it to stop sticking in the "wide open" position. I even tried manipulating the cruise control (which was off). After several failed attempts to remedy the problem, I started trying to think of a quick game plan to get out of this potential disaster. I am very thankful that my wife was not driving at the time and that I did not have others in the car during this nightmare. I was finally able to find a shoulder where I could pull off the road. As I said, the road was extremely busy and I was very worried about getting off the road safely with a semi-truck not far behind me. I pulled toward the shoulder and put the car into "neutral". the RPM's, which had been running extremely high for about 3 minutes, moved even higher at this point. The RPM's were pegged to the top of the gauge for about 30 seconds. As soon as I felt I was off of the roadway enough, I turned the key to the "off" position. When I got out of the car there was a horrible burning odor coming from the front of the car. I am not only concerned about the problem that may have triggered this incident, but I am also very worried about collateral damage that this undoubtedly caused. I feel that this caused an excessive amount of wear and tear to the engine and the braking system. On top of all of the physical damage done to the car, the experience was scary to say the least. My wife refuses to even get in the car at this point. Needless to say, she doesn't want my kids to ride in it either.

- Scott Depot, WV, USA

While driving about 55 mph vehicle suddenly accelerated without prior warning, and odometer will stay stuck in place. Consumer states vehicle has been repaired, and transmission has been rebuilt.

- San Diego, CA, USA