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.
Engine seized due to defective intake manifold gasket used by Ford motor when vehicle was assembled. This causes antifreeze to enter oil pan without warning and contamination of engine oil. Technician affirms the engine bearings are destroyed and van requires replacement engine.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestar. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 25 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the cowl needed to be sealed. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred two additional times. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 59,000.
Vehicle loses power, erratically shifts gears, RPM gauge bounces around and check engine light comes on. I later find that the error code is P1740 (torque converter clutch inductive signature malfunction) after further research I see that there was a recall for this model and year of vehicle for this exact problem yet my specific vehicle is not covered under the recall. I bought this vehicle from a used car dealership and I believe they knew about this problem beforehand and kept it from me, telling me how good and reliable this vehicle is. The vehicle still drives for now but who knows how long and whether any additional damage may be done just by continuing driving it. I bought this because we needed a safe family vehicle and now I'm out all the money I spent on it without enough left to fix it. I obviously can't drive my family around in it and risk it just shutting off in the middle of driving down the road.
I was mid turn when the gas pedal stopped working with a loud grinding sound. It would not shift back into gear and the loud grinding sound still persists.
Drove through a puddle and the engine quit. Apparently, the water splashed the on board computer (PCM). I towed vehicle to the dealer and they implemented the Ford technical service bulletin (tsb) reference number(s): 06-14-10, vehicle worked fine until the fall of 2014. Now the vehicle won't start at all if it sits out in the rain. If it does the water gets into the PCM and prevents it from starting. Now it appears as though water is intruding somewhere else and it is confounding the PCM (engine computer) with more water / moisture. The car is now worthless to me and I will have to scrap it since it cannot operate in a normal midwestern climate. I surely do not want to spend another $1500 to $2500 to fix the problem only to find out it is temporary. This is simply a design flaw. Ford should recall these vehicles and pay off the owners to have them destroyed since the wet PCM can cause the car to stall when accelerating or simply driving down a rainy road.
- Canton, MI, USA
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While driving at normal speed the engine shuts off. This has happened five times in the last week. When the engine shuts off there is no power steering, brakes, or control of the vehicle. The first time it happened, I was driving my family down the road at 60 mph when the motor just died. I was able to pull the van off the side of the road and stop. I restarted the motor and it ran fine. When I got home I put the van in neutral, and revved the engine. It shut off again. My wife was driving and it happened to her with the children with her. She said she could not steer the van when it died. It scared her very badly. There is no check engine light, therefore there is no code to tell me what is wrong. The motor just shuts down without warning. If this happened at the wrong time it will result in a very bad traffic accident. I have research this problem online, and have found several Ford Freestar vans having the same problem. So this is not an isolated incident.
The engine repeatedly sputtered and stalled on my way home during a bad rain. It runs with no problems during dry weather, leading me to believe there is a leak causing an issue.
Driving at approximately 35mph the vehicle stalled out and lost all power (engine running smooth before this). Fortunately was able to safely coast to side of road. After short while able to restart van and drive short distance. Stall repeated and had to coast to side of road again. Again able to restart and get home (less than a mile). Had heavy rain day before, research has revealed this to be a very common problem with this vehicle and is most likely water leak onto pmc. This is a safety hazard that needs to be addressed, this could have happened while towing camper in two weeks with family on highway.
This has happened several time over last year or so that I have owned this vehicle. When driving down highway and it starts to rain cars sputters and seems to loose power. Twice it has stalled on me going 55 miles an hour on highway and have had to try and coast to side of road in traffic with people beeping with loss of steering. Luckily both times after a few mins the vehicle started again and was able to make it home. Have changed wires and plugs, runs fines in dry weather but still stutters and tries to stall when its wet out or rains! very dangerous and wont let wife take kids out when it rains in fear they will get stuck somewhere.
After wet weather the night before, vehicle running rough (to the point of near stall), hesitating to burn fuel properly to get up to speed and not shifting properly. Vehicle was then parked, re-started and acted normally. Within the past week, each day after rain the car reproduces this issue and only after exposure to rain. Yesterday I noted gap in cowl to sheet metal above PCM as well and also noted that a body seal next to the PCM was soaked. It is consistent with the internet complaints about PCM being exposed/flooded with water. This is a serious concern as to the damage it can do to the vehicle's most expensive components (engine, transmission, etc) as well as potentially produce an accident on the road should other anomalous behavior surface. It is also important to note that as this vehicle ages, more of the population of produced vehicles would be exposed to this concern as gaskets lose effectiveness due to compression set, deterioration of seal, the plastic the seal is attached to warps, etc.
While driving through town at 30 miles per hour, engine stalled, lost power steering and speed control. The engine light came on and the transaxle light was blinking. Thank goodness I wasn't on the highway. I believe one bad part had been replace with another as the torque converter part had been replaced and here it was doing the same thing all over again less than 1 year later. I figured I had no options, what could I do, had it towed. I just feel if they are using inadequate parts to replace bad parts the danger continues to apply and they should be held accountable.
I attempted to start vehicle and the engine was difficult to turn over. When it did start the rpms were going up and down. When I tried to put car in reverse it would not engage causing vehicle to roll forward. ( I was parked on a slight declined driveway). After reading about similar problems I checked the PCM (power control module. It was filled with water !!! after unplugging the PCM and allowing it to dry out I plugged it back in and the problem was corrected. It appears to me that the PCM is located in a bad location causing it to have problems when it rains or snows. I made a temporary fix by putting silicone caulking around the cowling where I believe the water is getting in....
This is about a 2005 Ford Freestar. When accelerating, specially in rainy conditions, the vehicle's engine makes a screechy noise and loses power. The screechy noise sometimes stops and the vehicle is able to continue moving. Usually when it's wet/rainy the engine loses power and vibrates. It's very dangerous and stressful because it usually happens when attempting to pass slower vehicles on the left lanes and when the vehicle loses power we attempt to move to the right lane's shoulder. Lucky that this happened when traffic was light at 6am. After restarting the engine I drove on side roads to reach my destination. This has happened at least twenty times since 2013.
While traveling on the highway with no warning the vehicle lost all acceleration. Once able to get to a safe area to pull over the vehicle started to respond. Since this occurrence this situation has happened intermittently for the past year. I have brought the vehicle to the Ford dealer and 2 different mechanics, all of whom have changed many different items ranging from a tune up to a new coil and multiple cam shaft sensors. All 3 have performed many diagnostics but to date have been unable to locate the problem which still exists but with more regularity. I am no longer able to drive the vehicle due to its performance and I am scared to put my wife and children in the vehicle. When I did do some research on the internet I came across hundreds if not thousands of the very same complaints, someone has to force Ford to address this safety issue. Mini vans are most commonly used for transporting our most precious passengers, children. Will it take a car full of children dying for Ford to acknowledge this problem exists and that they need to do the right thing.
Engine, internal catalytic converter failure. On Ford extended warranty to 10 years, or 112,00 miles; the repair is not covered within the warranty.. quoted cost to repair will be $3,300, when completed by [xxx]-hilltop-Ford in richmond, California. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
In the morning the vehicle battery had been drained and we had it towed to the dealer. They replaced the alternator. We picked it up and the check engine light came on. They said it was the mass air flow sensor and replaced it. Two weeks went by and one day the vehicle wouldn't start. We had it towed to the dealer and they said it was the mass air flow connector and replaced it. The next day the vehicle wouldn't start. We had it towed to the dealer and they said nothing was wrong. The engine always idles very rough and no one can correct it. It has stalled in traffic. I have done research and have been made aware of a problem with the PCM module on these vehicles. Apparently rain gets it and soaks the module causing all sorts of electrical and transmission problems. Ford is aware of the issue and has issued a service bulletin and repair kit for this problem, but no recall.
Was in a 30 mile per hour speed zone came to a caution light and had to make a right hand turn on a very dangerous corner....many tractor trailers use this turn, while making the turn, engine stalled and was hard to control steering with no power. Managed to pull to side of the road when several tractor trailers came around the same corner. Had I not been able to move over I would have been hit as they would have had no where to go, just a 2 lane road. Car started but when I tried to move it, it went about 20 feet and stalled again. Had to call a tow company. Torque converter has already been replaced once at approximately 99,900 miles. Flashing light on dash says to check transaxle. Not fixed as yet...code P0715 came up on the tech machine, turbine speed sensor check fault. I have checked for these codes and it seems that Ford sent these vehicles off the production lines with these problems to begin with. I find that nothing ever gets done until someone is killed or severely injured. It's a sad world we live in that life has to be lost before manufacturers are made to correct what should have been fixed before leaving the plant.
While merging onto route 50 off 628 the car died. I drifted onto side of road, but in park and restarted it. Took exit off 50 at 450 and car stopped again. Put in park at red light, started up again and drove down riva road. Car stopped 4 more times before getting to my residence, each time engine stopping, no power steering and no brakes. Called koons Ford annapolis and had the car towed there the next day (since the incident occurred on a Sunday). They kept the car for 1 week and could not confirm or duplicate any of the conditions. Possibly PCM but not sure.they found one error while driving it, but the computer could not find it. Paid for diagnostic test. Car has been running fine until 7/6/13 when exactly the same thing happened. Took back to Ford and 2 days later was told it was the PCM. Could not say how long it would take to get a new one as Ford does not have them it stock, but for $1300 could place the order. Found a Ford tech blog that describes exactly what every one is going through and how to fix it. Water is leaking under the cowl and shorting out the PCM. There needs to be a recall on this before some one dies.
I was driving on a city street when my engine light began flashing/blinking. I was having trouble with van making weird sounds and vibrations. I immediately pulled over. Just had tranny recall work done, same light on. I called Ford-they said it was a miss and I should bring it in. I was too afraid to drive that far, and I have no $ for a tow or fix. Was told by mech friend that it could be any of many sensors and I'd have to trial and error to find it. This is not the first time this has happened to me, and it seems to be worse when it has rained or is very damp out. It vibrates, shakes, and sounds like the engine is not right. Also I have no get up and go, it wants to stall out every time I try to accelerate, and I had a near accident once. Seems to be worse on hills or any inclines. Not a happy Ford customer-again. These problems have been on-going for the last six months or so. Anything over 25mph and the van "shimmies" really bad.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Solon, OH, USA