The contact owns a 2005 Ford F-150. The contact noticed white smoke coming from the exhaust. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they stated that the fuel injectors failed, thus causing the engine to fail. The cost to replace the component would be approximately $7,300. The manufacturer stated that there was an initiative that would extend the warranty on the fuel injectors. The contact is waiting on a decision on whether the manufacturer will assume financial responsibility. The failure and current mileages were 73,000.

- Winder, GA, USA

While operating vehicle in cold conditions or on cold starts the engine races. Also during this time as you try and apply the brakes the motor races and if in gear it will surge/leap forward. This cause the vehicle to crash into a block wall and damage the front end of the truck.

- Aiken, SC, USA

My wife was at a complete stop at a red light in the left turn lane. She is driving a Ford F150 truck, with less than 6,000 miles. While waiting at the light, the engine began accelerating unexpectedly. She had her foot on the brake and this initially held the vehicle in place. The acceleration continued to increase and she pressed harder on the brake petal, in an effort to keep the vehicle from moving forward. The vehicle's acceleration increased and the vehicle lurched forward, striking the stopped vehicle in front of her. No one was hurt and I had the vehicle towed to the Ford dealership. The service tech at the dealership, told me that it could be a number of problems with the fuel injection system. It should be noted that the day before, I was driving the truck and while stopped at a red light, I thought I heard the engine running in a loud or rough manner. I turned the radio off and listened intently. I check the gauges and they were find. The light changed and I drove forward and the funny noise went away. Could this have been an indication of bad things to come? finally, I found a similar incident on the NHTSA complaint site, dated September 8, 2005. The incident on that date is almost exactly what happened to my wife.

- Whittier, CA, USA

Runaway throttle/un-commanded acceleration event. Brand new vehicle, only 110 miles on odometer. While waiting for a stoplight with right foot on brake and transmission in drive, engine began accelerating unexpectedly. Neither I nor anything else in the vehicle was pressing on the accelerator in any way. The un-commanded acceleration increased. I pressed harder on the brakes and the acceleration continued to increase, to the point that the rear wheels broke loose and started to squeal (this is a rwd vehicle). Then I moved the transmission selector to neutral, at which time the torque to the rear wheels was removed. The engine raced to about 3000-3500 RPM as observed on the tach and then returned to normal idle. At this point everything was normal, so I continued to drive to work since I was very close. No further problems were noted. I parked the vehicle in our parking lot and called the dealer (berge Ford, mesa, AZ) for further advice. All of this happened within about a three second period. The vehicle had been started from cold at about 6:30 am after being parked in garage overnight (on board thermometer read 89 F when I started out). Runaway throttle event occurred after driving about five miles. Air conditioning was on the entire time.

- Mesa, AZ, USA