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.
Stopped at a stop sign, pulled out of intersection and after driving for less than a minute, my van just wouldn't do anything. I would push the accelerator, the engine would rev, but that van wouldn't accelerate. So I coasted it to the side of the road. Called someone to come and help me. We put it in neutral and pushed it into a parking lot and that's where it is now.
With my wife and 3 children in the vehicle, we were driving at approx 70mph when we suddenly lost power. RPM's spiked when the gas was touched, but moving forward or reverse in gear were not possible. We pulled over on the side of a major interstate, arranged for a tow, then set for a taxi to get my family off the highway and to safety. It was 11:30 pm and we had to spend a night in a hotel after the van was towed to a dealership for review. Upon their opening Friday morning we learned that the torque converter had gone bad, that this is a common Freestar problem, and that the vehicle could not be repaired until Monday. Rather than spend 3 nights in a hotel on top of the 1 we already did, we rented a car and drove the 3 + hours back home from where we were. The van was repaired and we picked it up on Monday. Miles at time of incident were 62,814 and as I type this - 63,394. Total cost for repair, $1803.07, hotel $150.93, rental $206.43, tow $60, taxi $22.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestar. While traveling at 15 mph making a left turn, the vehicle failed to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was advised that the transmission would need to be replaced. There were no prior warnings of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The current and failure mileages were 117,000.
2005 Ford Freestar-sudden transmission failure at highway speed. No prior warning, no knocking or sound, just a total disengagement of any gears. Vehicle still ran but could not engage any gears. It acted as if it were in neutral. This happened on an interstate and fortunately I was able to stop the vehicle prior to going over a long bridge. After reading on the internet, this has happened to countless others and I found out that an investigation was launched over a year ago by the NHTSA. My family and I were lucky that I was able to stop prior to the bridge. I then had to have the vehicle towed about 40 miles and found out this morning that it was the transmission converter and pump shaft which will cost about $2,000 to repair.
- Wichita, KS, USA
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Our 2005 Ford Freestar just stopped one day without any warning while traveling at 45 mph! it was towed and repaired. Fortunately, our extended warranty covered the cost of the new rebuilt transmission and installation of torque converter. It had 70,415 miles at the time.
I was taking my family to the beach for a day trip and one hour in to the ride on a major highway the transmission on my 2005 Ford Freestar stopped working out of no where! the engine revved up and I had no power to the wheels! I was able to get it off to the side of the road, but from there it would not move. No reverse no drive. This is a very unsafe situation, had I gone the way I was going to I would have been on a interstate which is 4 lanes and I wouldn't have had a way to get to safety! I've read that this is happening to allot of these vans! the public needs to know about this!
2005 Ford Freestar transmission failure. Car only has 88,000 mi. There was no warning of problems. My son was driving on major hwy at 65 mph when failure occurred. Fortunately was able to roll to stop on shoulder. Car needs new transmission.
Failure of transmission occurred at highway speed with no warning. Vehicle RPM raises with no acceleration at wheels. Initial diagnosis is torque converter splines failure.
We were accelerating after a stop light, traveling at approx. 25 mph when the vehicle failed to continue to move forward. We coasted and put the vehicle into park in a left turn lane. The vehicle would not shift into any gear. We had the vehicle towed and found out that our transmission needed to be replaced. There were no warning signs or warning lights in the vehicle that would indicate a problem with the vehicle. The repair shop could not explain the reason for the malfunction. Our transmission fluid was clean and they could not explain the reason the transmission failed. The van only had 50,645 miles at the time and it was 4.5 years old. We replaced the transmission with an out of pocket expense of $2682.60. There was no explanation from Ford Motor Company after phone calls were made.
-no event leading to failure while driving on highway I-75, van lost ability to accelerate. Tach would show engine was revving, but no acceleration. Was able to get to emergency lane. Could not move forward or reverse. Was towed to transmission shop, failure so complete car could not even be road tested. This is a failure of product, not of user.
I was driving my 2005 Ford Freestar in the city I live in. When I reached an intersection, I stopped and then proceeded to go thru when my vehicle stopped moving right in the middle of the intersection. I had to get help moving it to the side of the road. This was very dangerous for me and my children because of oncoming traffic. I later found out that my torque converter had went. My van only had 45,500 miles on it when this happened.
I have a 2005 for Freestar. Today I pulled into a parking lot and put it into park, engine running. When I tried to leave, none of the gears would engage. After being towed to my local repair shop, the mechanic determined that the transmission was shot. [it was also reported to me that this model/year has had numerous failures like this.]
2005 Ford Freestar minivan had been traveling at highway speeds for 1 hr and 15 minutes. Suddenly lost power on a major interstate. The engine would rev but would not engage the transmission in any gear. This happened only once, no warning, no engine light, strange sounds, no slippage or grinding. Car has 103,000 miles approx. Taken to local mechanic who states complete rebuild is necessary. Updated 2/23/11 updated 11/17/2011
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestar. The contact stated the vehicle would not shift into reverse. After several attempts, the contact was able to move the gear shift lever to the reverse position and then into drive. While in drive, the vehicle was severely hesitant to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to a local repair facility where the contact was informed that the transmission was defective. The transmission was replaced at the contacts expense. The failure and current mileages were 39,965. Updated 10/06/10. Updated 10/08/10
Was driving my 2005 Ford Freestar sel through our town had made two or three stops no problem started to go through a light and notice it was not taking the gas had to change lanes to get off side of road and pull over almost got hit by side and back from traffic through the light had two of my three children with me no warning at all had not acted up or no lights came on. I notice the vehicle was still running when I put it in park went to put back in gear but notice I was not hearing it go in any gear and when press gas it would just rev up. My son un hooked the battery and waited and put it back on to see if it was computer and would reset itself still nothing. Phoned my husband at work and he had to leave work and check it out we was right beside the Ford dealer and they said it sounded as if it was the transmission. We had it towed to our fathers home and called a Ford mechanic he said it was in transmission we found a used one for $1100 and to rebuilt is between $1600 and $2000 I have read online over and over again sounds just like my story. It is just a miracle that someone hasn't got killed over this without any warning. My husband has just got back hours at work it has been rough the last two years and then this. We are going to have it rebuilt due to not wanting to pay out $1100 and not knowing how long it will be before it goes out.the company that is rebuilding ours says there are new parts so it may last longer.they said we were lucky we got the miles out of ours that we did, but it is driven by me in a little town most of my miles are from taking my little girl to school the last five years. Ford needs to be responsible for this!
I have a 2005 Ford Freestar with approximately 100,000 miles. It started hesitating and losing power about a week or so ago and then yesterday as I was driving, thankfully in a parking lot it would not go forward. I had it towed to a local Ford dealer and they tell me it's the torque converter. I've been reading alot today about similar problems other people are having with this vehicle. The dealer tells me it will cost $1,800 to fix.
Transmission failure on highway during July 4th holiday weekend. On our way out of St. Louis, we were on a slight incline doing 65 when the rpms ramped up. Cruise control was engaged at the time until my husband taped the brake. Once the cruise was disabled, my husband tried to accelerate, we just continued to slow down. My husband immediately put the hazard lights on and proceeded to coast to an off ramp from highway 61 which in fact turned out to be the on ramp for I-70. We parked on the side of the onramp, turned the van off and started looking for answers. Van runs but it just was not going anywhere. No warning, due to the commotion we lost our bearings so we didn't know for sure where we were to tell the towing company. We ended up being towed to wentzville Missouri, dumped off at a super 8 and had to wait til the following day to rent a car. The van was taken to a transmission shop in town. They didn't look at the van until July 6th, they stated the transmission had internal issues. Only option was to replace with refurbished for $2600. Now it's July 9th, had the van towed to our house for $500. Looking for a cheaper transmission since we don't have that kind of money laying around. Not sure yet how we'll proceed.
I own a 2005 Ford Freestar and the torque converter went out. It does have over 100,000 miles on it. I had been running errands all morning and got home and parked it. Later that evening when I tried to move it, it would not go into any gear. Luckily, this did not happen to me while driving down a busy highway.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Glasgow, KY, USA