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.
While idling waiting to pick up my children at school. The car started to lunge / accelerate unexpectedly. Had I not had my foot on the brake my car would have moved forward and hit the car in front of me or a person leaving the school to go to the parking lot. This is not the first time that this has happened in the recent months and I am afraid that I am going to hit someone while in the stop position at a light or in the parking lot.
Our Ford Freestyle will randomly surge backward/forward at a high rate of speed when going from park to reverse, or going from reverse to drive, or going from park to drive. This has caused my wife to almost hit several cars. It will also surge forward when sitting at a stop sign or red light. This has caused us to have to slam on our breaks several times to avoid a accident. There needs to be a recall on this vehicle before someone is injured or killed because of Ford's failure.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that when attempting to accelerate from a complete stop, the vehicle would lunge forward abnormally. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 59,000.
For a number of weeks, my 2005 Ford Freestyle has lunged forward while sitting still. After the car lunges forward the dashboard readout says: "engine failure mode". this happened on Friday July 6th while stopped at a red light and almost lunged into speeding traffic, and more recently on Friday August 3rd while at a stop sign. This issue comes 18 months after replacing the vehicle transmission at 50,000 miles at the cost of more than $5,000. I wish to report this issue to the NHTSA as I am seeing many other reports for this very issue reported and think that this needs to be a recall as this is a very big safety risk.
On March 4th 2010 I was backing out of my sisters driveway when my car surged and caused me to back into her neighbors garage across the alley. Since then I have had numerous close calls from almost hitting pedestrians in cross walks to almost hitting the front of stores, or other vehicles while attempting to pull into or back out of parking spots. The car also surges at stop lights. I have started putting my car in park while idling so that I don't end up in an accident. In may of 2012 I hit a metal fence post while attempting to park my car at the local rodeo. The car is dangerous & I do not allow my daughters, who are both old enough to drive, to drive my vehicle. Ford needs to recall this dangerous malfunction before someone is seriously injured.
- Ulysses, KS, USA
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The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. While in reverse with the contacts foot on the brake, the vehicle suddenly surged backwards. The contact continued to apply the brakes until the vehicle stopped. The vehicle then stalled without warning. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The technician was unable to diagnose the failure. There was an investigation under NHTSA action number: PE11018 (vehicle speed control) that may be related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while reversing at approximately 5 mph, the vehicle suddenly surged backwards. The failure also occurred while the vehicle was in drive. The failure occurred mostly at low speeds and when the air conditioner was activated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for a diagnostic test. There was an investigation under NHTSA action number: PE11018 (vehicle speed control) that may be related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact was driving 4 mph when the vehicle began to accelerate independently. The failure recurred four or more times both forward and in reverse. The vehicle had not been taken to a dealer or a mechanic for diagnosis or repairs. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 57,000 and the current mileage was 65,000.
The same thing happens every time the weather gets warm (90+ degrees F). Vehicle lunges forward or back without my foot on throttle pedal and with stall when brake is pressed hard to stop lunge. Have been told by several technicians that the throttle body should have been recalled. We have replaced it twice already. It has ports that "heat" it though the radiator. Have been told that it shouldn't have the ports. We live in fl. This car is not made for hot weather. Might be ok to leave that heated throttle body on in cooler climates, but not in fl. Huge safety hazard. I have had to adjust my driving to compensate for the lunging. (I throw vehicle in neutral instead of pressing brake so that the lunging stops) also, I can sometimes press the gas pedal and the vehicle does not move at all.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the rpms would increase excessively when shifting in reverse. In addition, the vehicle would sporadically lunge backward when the rpms would increase. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The failure and current mileages were 109,097.
When pulling into or backing out of parking space, vehicle speed suddenly increases when foot is not on accelerator. When this happens vehicle "lunges" and sometimes travels fairly far. When break is applied the movement stops, but at times it takes very firm pressure on break pedal for movement to stop. This has occurred with the air conditioner on and off, with steering wheel turned or straight. It has also happened when stopped at traffic lights. This can be very scary when parking in a parking garage or pull into a driveway, as you don't know if vehicle will stop before it makes contact with a wall or a house. Some parking garages don't have concrete walls to help stop the vehicle.
Same issues as investigation # PE11018. I was backing out of a parking space and the engine attempted to surge three separate times. I was in control with my foot on the brake. After exiting the parking lot, I drove about 400-500 feet and stopped. Backed up and then as I went forward, the engine surged and then the car went into fail safe mode. I have had the engine surge in reverse over the past year that I have owned it, but this is the first time it has resulted in a "fail safe" mode. It is now in the shop and the dealer believes that it is a throttle body and/or and ECM module failure.
My car is lunging forwards/backwards and my motor revs up at the time this lunging occurs. Sometimes it happens while I am sitting at a red light, stop sign, or drive thru (anytime the car is on and my foot it on the brake) and sometimes it happens right after I put the car in drive or reverse as I go to release the brake pedal (before putting my foot on the gas). I have to hurry and press the brake back down before hitting someone or something. This is very scary for I have almost hit people walking in crosswalks, cars in parking lots, and have almost ran into back side of my house where I park on a daily basis. After having this happen to me today on my lunch, I went online to see if there was a recall for this problem and found that many other people are experiencing this and there has not been a recall but it is or was under investigation. I also noticed others have had to have their air conditioner repaired and/or motor mounts fixed. I have also had to repair the same exact things, done by my dealership. I would have the lunging problem and then it would stop for a while and then start again. I didn't realize this until reading about others but I, like them, experience this worse during the summer months when it is hot weather. Other than this lunging and motor revving problem I have been satisfied with my car. After looking online this is obviously a Ford problem and is not fair to the customers to have to pay to have this problem fixed.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact was driving 30 mph when the vehicle accelerated abnormally and independently. In addition, the vehicle would sporadically stall when the failure occurred. The contact was a mechanic and inspected the vehicle. He was able to generate failure codes that indicated throttle body failures. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 141,000. Updated 8/31/12 the consumer stated with each failure the check engine light came on and when accessed through the obdii connector, P2104 tac forced to idle and P2111 tac system stuck open trouble codes, were presented. Updated 09/11/2012
Road trip from bc to Ontario, driving through mountains, first occurrence in chase, bc, at dairy queen car lunged in drive through, heard whiny noise from engine, gets worse when turning steering wheel. Last occurrence on trip, driving back into hope, bc, after cruise control want to speed up a bit but no power, get out of cruise control and car stalls while going about 60 kph!!! manage to get off the highway onto merging lane. Husband checked fluid levels but everything is topped up. Manage to start up again after 3 tries and get home safely. Address is in Canada, please ignore californa and zip code.
Pulling into parking space facing restaurant, with foot on brake pedal, car lunged forward. Curbing kept me from hitting people walking into restaurant. A/C compressor replaced a few day prior to this incidence; however, car has been lunging since A/C compressor was replaced. The day the ac compressor was replaced and I drove the car off of the Ford dealership lot, my car lunged pulling into parking space at the post office -- I thought the floor mat had gotten caught on the gas pedal and was causing the problem the lunging happens both going forward and backwards. Took car back to Ford dealership where A/C compressor was installed; gentleman at "quick lube" desk said he had never heard of this problem with the Freestyle or at least he had never written up a service report for this problem. Have discovered on-line numerous entries regarding this problem with the Freestyle. Feel Ford Motor Company should take responsibility for correcting this problem.
When driving at low speeds (5-10 mph), whether in forward or reverse, the car will lunge forward (or backward if in reverse). This has happened at least 10 times over the last 4 days, resulting in several near-miss accidents with vehicles, as well as almost hitting a pedestrian multiple times. The engine lunging has only occurred at low speeds, mostly when the temperatures are above 85 degrees. The engine lunging occurs when I'm driving at low speeds, such as when I'm backing out of a parking spot, or driving in traffic in which I'm driving at a low speed. The time before last, it was in the school parking lot when I was picking up my son from summer school. Both these times, a pedestrian was almost hit when the car lunged forward. Today, I was in traffic in the walmart parking lot when the car lunged forward, almost causing me to hit the car in front of me. When this happens, the check engine symbol lights on the dashboard, as well as the engine failsafe mode coming on. I have to turn the car completely off and back on to get these lights off.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated the vehicle would abnormally accelerate when first started. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for repairs or inspection. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 70,000 and the current mileage was 80,000. The VIN was not available.
This has been occurring since the car was purchased in 2005. In hot days when the ac is on the car lunges forwards or backwards. It just depends if you have it in drive or reverse. When sitting at a red light or stop sign the car's rpms go high for a minute then the car slows down and stops. There has been times where it lunges forwards so hard it almost hits the car or whatever is in front of you. Ford needs to fix this problem before a death results. If you are aware of this problem and Ford is too then why is nothing being done!!!!
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle.the contact stated that while driving at any speed the vehicle would stall without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the throttle sensor was replaced. After the repair the vehicle failed again. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer here the throttle was replaced a second time but to no avail. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and the egr valve was replaced. The failure was still not corrected. The vehicle was currently at the dealer awaiting repair. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 55,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Yuma, AZ, USA