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CarComplaints.com Notes: Ford significantly updated the Fusion for the 2010 model year. We wish they hadn't

Throttle body issues have led to a ton of reports about a sudden deceleration and loss of power while driving. Ford issued a “customer satisfaction program” in March 2014 that, unsurprisingly, has left very few customers satisfied.

2010 is also the year we started seeing complaints about the power steering failing. Throttle and steering failure? Yeah, that’s why this is a clunker.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
7 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
60,668 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2010 Ford Fusion drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2010 Ford Fusion Owner Comments (Page 32 of 41)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #183

Mar 012011

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 1,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Transmission started going out after only two or three months of purchasing it. I couldn't believe it. Ford dealership took care of it.

- Miami, FL, USA

problem #182

Jan 052013

Fusion

  • 52,000 miles
Had 2 separate incidents, 1st was driving down highway going 70mph when car jerked, cruise control disengaged, lost acceleration, wrench symbol apperead on dash and trying to accelerate made car jerk even more. Fortunately I wasnt attempting to pass another car. I pulled over and shut car off, read manual for what the symbol meant than I started car and symbol was gone. I decided to go ahead and finish trip home and everything was fine. Next day going to local grocery store going about 10mph had exact same thing happen. I just spoke with dealership I bought car from and its to be looked at tomorrow. I had just bought this car 3wks ago, so pretty disappointed in Ford and pray that nobody gets injured with this mechanical issue, I definitely wont be allowing my child to ride in the car until its completing repaired, and by reading other consumers issues may be never.

- Lyons, KS, USA

problem #181

Nov 282012

Fusion

  • 16,700 miles
First event was while exiting a mall parking lot; stepped on gas pedal, and instead of accelerating the car seemed just about to stall. I got off to the side of the road, and before shutting off the engine noticed the "wrench" symbol illuminated on the instrument cluster. I waited a few minutes and started the car, noting the "wrench" was no longer on, put it in gear and drove off. The car ran fine until 12/28/12, when while traveling at approx 70mph on I-90 the engine began to again down shift and lose power. The third occurrence was the morning of 12/29/12; in each above incident I was able to get off the traffic way, park, shut off the car, restart it and drive away. The wrench was illuminated each time. On 01/03/13 my car was serviced by the dealer from where I purchased it, and they said the problem was the throttle body. They had one in stock and replaced it. Kudos to them, but, more than a little unnerving. And if it was replaced with the same style unit, how do I know it won't happen again, perhaps at a most inopportune time? at the time of writing this I don't have the VIN available, however, fwiw, the build date is June 2010. It is the sel AWD with the V-6 engine, 3.0L I believe.

- Erie, PA, USA

problem #180

Jan 012013

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 46,666 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While traveling at 70mph on the freeway in my 2010 Ford Fusion SE (46,000 miles), I felt a bump as if was hit from the rear or the transmission locked up. The wrench symbol lit up. The car lost all acceleration. I pulled the car over. While parked on the emergency lane the car kept surging and the RPM bounced between 500 and 1000 rpms. I turned off the car and after several minutes I restarted the car as if there were no issues. Approx. 8 miles later still traveling at 70 mph it did the exact same thing as before. This time when restarting, the starter stayed engaged for approx 10 seconds after releasing the key. The car had the same stalling issue 12 more times for the next 15 miles to my home. I spoke to the dealer, he said it is a defective throttle body and needs to be replaced. He acknowledged it is a known issue, but not a recall so my out of warranty cost would be around $600. This is a major safety issue and needs to be addressed by Ford before someone gets killed, if they haven't already.

- Crestwood, KY, USA

problem #179

Dec 102012

Fusion 6-cyl

  • 33,864 miles
I was driving down a local road at the limit when the wrench light warning indicator came on, after the indicator was on there was not throttle response, engine was still running and yet no power going to the wheels. I was able to roll over to the side of the road and put on hazard warning lights, car while at idle was jerking and bucking. I then limped the vehicle to a parking lot, placed it in drive and filmed the issue with a cell phone in a parking lot and narrated as to what was happening. Once the vehicle was shut down and then restarted the light went out and the problem did not persist. I took it to the dealership and no codes showed up in a diagnostic and the dealership "could not reproduce the problem" but suspected it was the throttle body controller as this was a common occurrence.

- Norfolk, AA, USA

problem #178

Jul 152012

Fusion

  • 55,000 miles
The contact owns a 2010 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to respond to acceleration attempts. The contact shut down the vehicle and then restarted. The vehicle then functioned properly. The vehicle was not taken to a mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and advised the contact to take the vehicle to an authorized dealer for inspection. The failure mileage was 55,000.

- Ruck, TX, USA

problem #177

Dec 052012

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 43,400 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Vehicle would lose all response to the accelerator pedal. It would happen at any time without warning, but first happened after speeding up after going over a speed bump. The next day it happened 3 times. On that last day, the day of the appointment at the dealership, it happened 4 times. The vehicle would not react to the input from the accelerator pedal. You would have to pull over, assuming there was a safe place to pull over, and shut the car off in park then restart it. Everything would be normal until it acted up again, anywhere from 1 mile to 5 miles later. Obvious safety issue, you can't power the vehicle to get out of the way of oncoming traffic it were to happen on a turn or merging on a freeway. A wreck could very easily have happened from this failure. It ended up being a bad electronic throttle body. This was not covered under the powertrain warranty and the total cost to replace was $352.40.

- Statesboro, GA, USA

problem #176

Nov 262012

Fusion 6-cyl

  • 53,000 miles
While driving down the highway, my car stalled and went into "safety mode" or low power mode. I was unable to accelerate. After pulling over, noticed the car was idling rough. The maintenance wrench light came on. I turned off the car and restarted it, after a few seconds of rough starting the car turned back on, the wrench light went off and the vehicle drove fine again. However, the same incident happened multiple times later that day and through out the week. I took it to a Ford dealer and they were unable to find anything wrong with the vehicle, since there were no codes currently on at the time of service. After doing some research online, I've found the throttle body is defective, yet Ford refuses to replace this under warranty, or replace it unless there is hard evidence that is the issue.

- Montgomery, NY, USA

problem #175

Apr 152012

Fusion

  • 55,000 miles
Transmission slips gears and engages very hard, causing the car to lurch forward. On one occasion I nearly rear-ended a car in front of me because of this. While driving at low speeds the car will shift rapidly between two adjacent gears, as if it is "confused". car will sometimes not shift at all; the RPM's just sit at that threshold for a while before knocking hard into the next gear, again causing a dangerous lurching motion. While on the highway the car will lose power suddenly, more prominent when the car is traveling up a steep incline. You could keep pressing the gas but amazingly the car seems to loose more power when you do this. The only way to get power is to open the throttle 100 percent in which case the car again jerks into gear very hard. This situation has happened plenty of times and is very scary. On some occasions the power was needed to accelerate in front of another car in another lane, to avoid an obstacle in the roadway. The latest incident that occurred was very scary. The transmission was making a funny sound, almost like a zipper being zipped. This seemed odd to me because it sounded almost like the gears were rubbing up against something, however I didn't think anything of it because the car seemed to be operating properly. Then I went to make a left turn across cross traffic. When there was a break in traffic I pressed the gas, the rpms went up to about 5K and the car slowly grinded into gear, almost like a person who doesn't know how to drive a stick shift very well. This caused my car to nearly get stuck in the middle of an active intersection and I was nearly T-boned. Thank good the other drivers saw me struggling and stopped. The issues with this powertrain seem to be endless and the worst part is that they occur at random with no warning.

- Eastchester, NY, USA

problem #174

Nov 122012

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 68,900 miles
First incident occurred while vehicle was traveling at 50mph w/no cruise set. Vehicle jerked hard and ability to accelerate was lost. Vehicle started running rough and wrench light was observed to be on. Second incident w/ cruise set at 60mph, vehicle jerked and cruise was automatically deactivated. Was able to pull off side of road at which point vehicle was observed running rough and wrench light was on. Turned vehicle off and restarted. Vehicle began running fine. Third incident occurred hours after second incident with no cruise on and vehicle traveling at 60mph. Vehicle jerked hard and began running rough as pulling off side of road. Wrench light was observed on again. Upon research of issue, it was noted that several other consumers with same vehicle experienced same issue (source: www.fordfusion.net). in every case that consumers posted on the forums, the throttle body had been found faulty by a Ford dealer and was replaced. Some users also noted that their incidents occurred on busy populated highways in which safety could have been compromised.

- Warsaw, IN, USA

problem #173

Nov 222012

Fusion 6-cyl

  • 42,630 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

We were driving back from shopping, had the cruise set at 65 mph. The car lost power and would not accelerate. I looked down at the dash and notice the wrench light had come on. We pulled off the road and I notice that the vehicle was running rough and still would not accelerate even after putting the car in park. We were contemplating who we could call at such a late hour. I decided to turn the car off and see if would restart, it in fact did and the engine seem to be running normally. We continued to our destination with out further incident. The car has remained in the driveway since the incident. This is the first problem we have had with this vehicle, we bought it used in February of this year. It had 29,700 miles on it and had no issues reported to car fax. It was a one owner vehicle and that was a rental car from initial sale of car in Hawaii.

- Bertram, TX, USA

problem #172

Aug 122012

Fusion 6-cyl

  • 55,033 miles
Tell us what happened: My husband and I had purchased a 2010 Ford Fusion in July 2012. About 20 some days after purchase. I got into the car and started the car trying to go up my driveway and the car lost all acceleration and the wrench light came on. I called the dealership explained what happened they picked the car up and gave us a loaner to drive. The dealership replaced the throttle body. Around August of 2012 my husband, my grandson and I were driving and went to make a turn onto the highway and without warning the car lost all acceleration again placing my family in a dangerous safety situation. We called the dealership and told them what happened and they picked up the car again. This time they mentioned there was issue with wiring and the PCV valve which also dealt with the throttle body was replaced and assured me the problem was fixed. Last week my husband was driving the car on a highway and proceeded to pass an eighteen wheeler when out of nowhere the car lost all acceleration, the check engine light came on for about 15 or 20 seconds and thankfully went back into gear. My husband was going over 70 miles an hour and lost all acceleration without warning! this is an extremely dangerous safety concern. This now would be the second time it placed our lives in danger. We no longer have the car but I fear that someone else will buy this car and something worse could happen the throttle body in this car was replaced three times. Once through the manufacture, car fax reported it replaced, and once when I purchased the car. Something needs to be done to ensure the safety of these vehicles very soon before someone gets seriously injured or killed. My concern is it is very likely this car will be sold again to someone else since we took it back to the dealership where we purchased it from without having this issue fixed.

- Garner, NC, USA

problem #171

Oct 272012

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 27,100 miles
Throttle body failure: Fist occurrence- driving on highway all of a sudden no power. Pressing on the gas nothing happens. No check engine light came on. Pulled off to the side of highway and put the car in park. The car starting shaking and the wrench light came on. Turned car off, then back on and everything was okay. About 6 hours later this happened again as I was passing in the fast lane, then suddenly lost power. Again, no check engine light. Same scenario as the first. Took it to my mechanic and no error codes register. He checked twice. So for a week and a half the car was fine. Then happened twice again, no warning, just lost power. This time a check engine light came on after I put the car in park. Had it towed to the auto shop and a code did register this time. Had it taken for Ford and they had to replace the throttle body. This was a very dangerous situation especially when speeding up to pass as the speed limit on that part of the highway is 75 so cars were coming up fast behind me. If I had caused an accident and injuries occurred the fist or second time it happened on the highway, it would have seemed my fault and there would have been no error codes to at least validate what happened. Please, please, issue a recall for the throttle body before someone is hurt. Not to mention the people just out of warranty that have to pay for this repair.

- Helotes, TX, USA

problem #170

Oct 292012

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 106,000 miles
Each time (8 times) traveling at 40-67 mph and with traffic around and wrench light comes on along with check engine light; car then loses speed rapidly to only a few miles per hour. Barely able to pull over before completely stopping. Been in shop twice and both times, codes do not show anything nor have they seen the warning light and it happen to them after driving it for a total of 150 miles testing it. After each time it happens able to sit for 10-15 minutes and it start back up and run. Very concerned for my family's safety as we have had several near miss accidents due to the car drastically dropping speed (out of our control) with each occurrence. After research on internet reading several stories of exact scenario (blaming throttle body)and Ford has done nothing about it. Please please please recall the parts and prevent a bad accident happening.

- Duncanville, TX, USA

problem #169

Oct 302012

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 42,135 miles
The car would not accelerate. It did not lose its braking or steering, but we had no choice but to pull over. Updated 11/07/12 updated 11/15/12

- Fitzgerald, GA, USA

problem #168

Oct 222012

Fusion

  • 920,000 miles
Was driving home from work and the car just stopped. Unable to get the car to start getting a wrench showing looked in manual shows something to do with the throttle. I am over the new car warranty. I spoke to the dealer and they were aware of the issues with the Fusion. Repair cost over $500.

- Pascagoula, MS, USA

problem #167

Oct 242012

Fusion 4-cyl

  • 48,500 miles
Wrench light came on and car went from 35mph to coasting. I was able to pull to the side of the road and shut the car down. Waited a few minutes car started up and I gave it some gas it went for a few minutes and then the car sputtered and all the lights came on and car stopped. Was close to Ford service center, they just called and said the throttle body has gone bad.

- Cincinnati , OH, USA

problem #166

Oct 242012

Fusion

  • 46,000 miles
This is the second time car lost power and the wrench light came on also. The first time was Oct. 22, 2012, the speed at time was 40mph. Shuddered pull to the side of the road and restarted the car. Fault cleared after this.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

problem #165

Oct 082012

Fusion

  • 43,000 miles
Engine shut down to very slow idle when starting from intersection. Barely able to get vehicle out of road. This has now happened 4 times, each time when moving thru intersection. This is very dangerous when traffic is approaching from all directions. After engine has been shut off a few minutes it runs ok. It happened twice on the first occasion then ran good for 5 days when it shut down again, then ran good for 6 days when shut down once more.I see on the internet that this is happening to lots of other Fusion owners. It's just a matter of time until someone is crashed into because of this stalling. The problem seems to be the throtte body needs replacing. I think Ford needs to recall these vehicles now before a tragedy occurs.

- Roanoke, VA, USA

problem #164

Oct 022012

Fusion

  • 45,000 miles
This is the second time car lost power and the wrench light came on also shuddered pull to the side of the road and restarted the car. Fault cleared after this.

- Bushnell, IL, USA

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