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.
We have owned this car for just over a year. For several months now, we have been having problems with the car surging/lunging. It happens without any notice, and you have to slam on the brakes to stop it. Initially, I only noticed the problem when pulling into a parking space. The vehicle would lunge forward. In the last couple of months it has started lunging backward and forward, regardless of how fast I was going (pulling in, backing up, or driving down the highway at a steady speed.) once, the car lunged as I was backing up and hit another car. Minor damage. Not reported. It is starting to happen more often, and the car has also begun dying if it happens whole backing up. Turning the car off and restarting it solves that. I've had to start parking further back in spots because I don't want to hit the car in front of me. This has indirectly caused cosmetic damage (coming out of a store twice I've noticed scrapes that look like someone backed into me.) I don't understand how this can be such a widely reported and potentially dangerous problem without a recall or even acknowledgement of the issue (if you call Ford.) my car has lunged forward at red lights and stop signs toward oncoming traffic, as well as driveways with children nearby. It may only be a few feet, but even that can be deadly considering when the problem occurs most.
I had left the vehicle idling in park while I went to check the mailbox. When I gotback I shifted into reverse and when I took my foot off the brake the vehicle lunged back almost striking a pedestrian I have complained about this before and I notice the investigation has been open since May 2011 I have also noticed there have been alot of complaints about this problem on the web. Just an fyi it seems to lunge when taking off in forward or reverse. I also noticed there is a class action suit against Ford for this problem in California.
I was going to pull out into a 4 lane road and was easing up to see better...out of nowhere the car begins to accelerating. Once I got out into the road the car just cut off and I had to quickly restart it to avoid being hit. Then I turned in to chic fil a and was in the drive thru line. It was a pretty long line so we would ease up ever few minutes. The car jumps and starts to accelerating and I stomp on the brakes. The car was accelerating so much that the force of the brakes stopping the car made my tires squeal.
My 2007 Ford Freestyle will lunge unexpectedly in idle, with foot on the brake. Sometimes the vehicle will surge and shut down. This happens more with the air conditioning on. I will shut off the A/C, then restart the vehicle and drive without A/C.
- Tigard, OR, USA
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Car lunges when brakes, traveling forward slowly or even when sitting still with brake applied. Also happens when changing from park to drive or reverse. Started erratically but problem is almost constant now. We have surmised from other postings this is a throttle body problem, however replacement seems to rectify issues temporarily but reappears.
My Freestyle has started to lunge forward at times when immediately taking my foot off the brake in forward or backward motion. After making a turn today it did it too, but this time the transmission light came on. It has happened many times over the last couple of months. The weather has been very hot too. I have a new teenaged driver so this is disconcerting.
While driving in 90 degree + temperatures, we have noticed that the car lurches while reversing from a parking spot, or at a stop. Braking does stop the unexpected acceleration, however it still feels unsafe. This has happened 3-6 times, and as recently as today (7/17/12). It is not driver error - again has happened enough that we are able to analyze that the foot is not on the gas. Check engine light comes on when this occurs.
I was backing my wife's car in and it started accelerating without me pressing the gas, actually my foot was on the brake thank goodness. We promptly took vehicle to Ford dealership and they said it was the throttle body, and that it needed to be replaced, and of course it was supposedly not under warranty. Then they charged me $900 to fix it.I have since done lots of research online as well as in person and have come to the realization that there are thousands upon thousands of this same complaint for the 2005-2007 Ford Freestyle. I have also found that almost everyone who has had a failed throttle body has had multiple failed throttle body's as well as A/C compressor failure.
If you have your A/C on and leave your car idling for just a few minutes then when you put it in reverse or drive, it surges a few feet like 4 to 5 ft unless you really hold the brake down. It really seems to be getting worse as time goes on.
Our car has on several occasions accelerated on it's own. Mostly when it is hot out. It will accelerate either in reverse or forward without even having our foot on the gas pedal. On 6/21/2012 it almost fordced us out into an intersection.
My 2007 Ford Freestyle has been having unexpected acceleration while at very low speeds in either forward or reverse. The acceleration can be stopped by the brake, but happens unexpectedly. I have previously reported this to the Ford dealership where I purchased the vehicle, however, they were unable to replicate the problem, so no action was taken. The problem has been occurring with increasing frequency over the past year. It is worse when the car has been running for a long time, or in hot weather it seems with air conditioning running. The lunging will sometimes happen repeatedly in the course of trying to park the car, then the car will sometimes stall. I have serious safety concerns while driving in parking lots as it is difficult to control the vehicle. The problem is exactly as described in NHTSA investigation PE11018.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Starkville, MS, USA