This issue is totally uncalled for! This is most definitely an issue that Ford could have prevented! This car was purchased for my grandmother to have something reliable and it is anything but reliable. She is an older woman and only drove it to get groceries in the small town we live in and the car has been very well cared for and kept in a garage. It has never even been driven over 55mph and the transmission failed at only 80,000 miles!!!! This is heartbreaking because she is on a fixed income and Ford builds crap like this when there customers trust them!!!!! SHAME ON YOU FORD!!!!!! Your junk your selling to your customers could have left an old woman stranded!! All because of your greed!! Now she's stuck with a pile of worthless junk because you don't fix a problem you are well aware of!! I mean seriously you have over 10,000 complaints on this exact transmission and you've done nothing to make it right!!! Your customers will eventually figure you out and then what?? Do you really think your company is above this! You are only as big as your customers you idiots are going to take the whole company down with you and your greedy little selves!!!

Wife was supposed to leave in a couple of hours to help with sick grandson in Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Trans just quit ... no prior symptoms or warning ... no gears forward or reverse ... like a lot of others have reported. Towed home for $125 and now sitting in the driveway. I'm reading internet posts trying to figure it out. Could be this problem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQt4w70hYU - seems to explain it pretty well.

I had thought Ford resolved these Taurus trans problems from the earlier models ... guess I thought wrong ... seems they just kicked it down the road and then stopped producing the car 3 years later hoping they'd all crash or die and all go away. I had been thinking positive thoughts about Ford since they didn't take government money to bail them out of their financial difficulties like GM did. Or did they get some special "under the table deal" and kept their mouth shut in exchange for the gov't hammering GM and selling Chrysler to Fiat.

Might be time to re-teach the wife to drive a stick again like we used to when we were young ... never had a manual fail other than normal clutch replacements. Working a clutch is just a bit more difficult now that I'm partly disabled. Well, I'm just glad it happened a few miles from home rather than some obscure part of the PA Turnpike.

Update from Oct 25, 2015: Just as suspected it was the torque converter. The splines in the disc welded to the back of the case were stripped. This stops the pump shaft from turning. No pump = no fluid pressure = no gears. Replaced the torque converter and the car runs like new again. Only thing done to the transmission was fluid and filter change. It's just a lot of labor getting it out and back in. As one trans parts supplier told me, the AX4N trans is pretty bullet proof up about 200,000 miles. The torque converters are junk. Rebuilt converters by DAACO have splines twice as thick as original and so do TRANS STAR which now owns DAACO. So if you plan on keeping the car for awhile, insist on one of those or risk the same problem again. Make sure you change your fluid and filter regularly to protect the trans from unnecessary wear. Ford Engineers should be called to task for this stupid design decision.

One evening after work I went out to get in my car and drive home. I started my car which was fine and shifted it into reverse. It never moved. I could not get it to go forward or backward. A friend pushed it hoping that it would catch but it did not. I ended up calling my partner to come and get me. I work an hour from home and this occurred at work so I later had to have it towed to a mechanic who could not look at for weeks. In the interim I had to use my partners car leaving her without transportation. She finally went out and bought another vehicle. I was told it will cost $2400 to fix because it needs a new transmission. I had no warning whatsoever that I had any problems with this transmission until it just quit. To say I am mad is an understatement. Who has $2400 laying around that would want to put it in a 13 year old car?

Simply driving along the highway, and accelerated slightly when the car acted as if it was in neutral. I coasted off of the road, thankfully I was able to do that safely. I heard many diagnoses for the problem, including the torque converter or transmission fluid being bad, but of course it was the most expensive issue: the transmission was shot. If the car wasn't worth as much as it is, I would've just bought another car. Maybe a '92 Toyota that seems to have a fraction of the problems of this 12 year old crap car.

I was not certain that it was the transmission until I read all of the complaints on this website. Every example of what happened to others was what I experienced. I was going down the interstate at 70 mph, had just passed a car and all of a sudden I started loosing speed as if the car slipped in neutral. When I tried pressing the gas the RPMs just revved up. The car I passed, passed me and I managed to coast over the right lane off the side of the road. It was in the middle of the afternoon, 100 degrees out, and I was pissed. I put the car park, went back to drive and pressed the gas and again nothing just RPMs.

I popped the hood, and looked to see if I saw anything that looked weird (belt broke etc). Nothing, it sounded normal. Called boyfriend he came and got me 30mins later, called roadside assistance and they had it towed to a friend's shop. He's not a transmission guy so he called around to other mechanics and lo and behold the diagnoses was the transmission. He checked the fluid and it had that overflow in it, and that pretty much was the tale tell. I bought this car brand new in 2003, have almost 150,000 miles on it. I really cannot complain as besides normal wear & tear I have only had to replace the starter and now the transmission. BUT from what I hear it's going to be expensive!

While driving down I-95 to have a Brown University visit my son was turning off the Expressway and transmission failed leaving him stranded nearly a hundred miles away from my house this car has been running great ever since we got it a year ago Ford refuses to do anything about these transmissions they are a bunch of idiots with a $0.02 washer in the torque converter that could easily have been beefed up and this problem would never a car needless to say I'm going to have to spend between $1800 and $2000 to have it fixed please be aware of this transmission issue as I see there are a ton of complaints about it I am calling Ford tomorrow to complain don't buy a 2003 Ford Taurus

I was departing from parking lot and the car suddenly had some noise in the hood then lost all the power. After starting engine again, I can shift the gear into D or R, engine works OK but the car won't move at all. Before it happened, the transmission works fine, no delayed engagement, no slips or jolts...the transmission just stopped without any warning signs at all.

The car is regularly and well maintained. No check engine light on when it happened.

Later it turned out to be the stripped torque converter splines. The splines are only 0.16" thick by Ford's obvious defective designs, which can be easily stripped.

TAURUS 2003 SHOULD REALLY BE RECALLED BY FORD.

I HAVE A 2003 FORD TAURUS THAT HAS BEEN KEPT IN VERY GOOD CONDITION. THE OTHER DAY I WAS BACKING OUT OF THE GARAGE AND LIKE MANY COMPLAIN, THE CAR SEEMED TO GO OUT OF GEAR. I TRIED TO PUT IT IN OTHER GEAR TO NO AVAIL. I CALL MY LOCAL MECHANIC AND ASKED HIM WHAT THE PROBLEM MAY BE. I WAS TOLD THAT THIS YEAR CAR IS NOTED FOR TRANSMISSION FAILURE. MECHANIC ASKED ME TO CHECK TO SEE IF FLUID WAS HIGH ON THE DIP STICK, WHICH IT WAS. MECHANIC TOLD ME THAT THERE IS A PUMP IN THE TRANSMISSION THAT PUMPS FLUID TO THE TORK CONVERTER WHICH BREAKS PUMPING THE FLUID BACK INTO THE TRANSMISSION.

THIS PUMP IS THE WEAK LINK THAT FORD HAS NOT AND WILL NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR, PUTTING THE COST BACK ON THE CUSTOMER, IN MY CASE $2000. IF FORD WILL NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS THEN THERE ARE A LOT OF CAR MANUFACTURES THAT WILL. I WOULD BE HAPPY IF FORD WOULD PICK UP SOME OF THE COST. HOPE THIS HAS HELP SOMEONE.

Well kept. Beautiful condition Taurus Wagon Deluxe edition. Every available option and only 85,000 miles. Driving down the road and come to a incline up the bridge. Car starts to accelerate then revs up like it is in neutral. Drop it down into a lower gear and am able to make it up the bridge barely. Take it to the shop and low and behold Tranny is shot.

Hard to believe all of the problems with these cars and many many with low miles. Should be covered from Ford. Especially if under 100,000 miles. Terrible service.

I wish I had seen this site 4 years ago! Well, I was driving on the thruway on the on ramp when it sounded and felt like I was in "Neutral". I couldn't get past 35 MPH, so I hopped right off and the tranny died while I was moving into the shoulder. I turned off the car and it restarted, but would not shift into any gear.

My mechanic said that there were no fluids leaking. And, I checked the levels last week and they were in normal range. The engine light was on for a few weeks, but he said previously that it was another problem - not to worry. I did, however, notice a puff of black smoke coming out of the left front wheel well a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was the engine oil burning (had a leak in gasket) or the air from the icy cold. Not sure if it is related, but that is what prompted me to check the fluids.

$1500 minimum to fix - when the car is in need of more than the transmission. Scrapping it. Live and learn. I am just glad it did not die while I was up to speed and in full on traffic.

August 24th 2012, my wife and I started out on our 4 day mini-vacation. I was driving 65 mph with the cruise control on in the carpool lane when all of a sudden my engine raced for about 3 seconds. I hit the brake to release the cruise control and then stepped down on the gas pedal and the car felt like it was in neutral. I pulled over to the side of the road. We had to be towed to the nearest Ford dealer. With only 61500 miles on the car and we have never towed anything with the car, the transmission had failed. They charged us $3700.00 to replace the transmission.

After looking up all the Taurus transmission problems from 2001 to 2008, I was really disgusted that Ford never did anything to correct this problem, they continued to sell these vehicles without changing any of the parts that were failing in the transmission knowing all along that their customers were going to have trouble with their transmissions and will be coming back for service work to repair these defective transmissions. Ford should have corrected this problem !! I will never buy another FORD !

I work until midnight, left work with no problem. Got on the highway and driving along doing the speed limit (70mph) and all of the sudden my car felt like it was in neutral! As I was losing speed in the center lane semi(s) and cars passing me I had to try to get over to get on the side of the highway. Scared sh*t-less due to not having the speed to get over before getting hit!!!

It was a well maintained car!! Had it towed to the shop and I was told it was my transmission!! No RECALLS!!!!! I called and they told me there were none...... I hope and pray no one is hurt or killed due to this problem!!! Just happens ought of the blue. Yes, there are good people who will stop and help and then you have some people who look for a woman on the side of the road who needs help in the middle of the nite, and thank god I didn't have children in the car when this happened..... !!!!! Not a happy person!!!!

Update from Oct 23, 2014: Had the problem fixed, it was my only car and the cost was 948.68

Sounds just like all the rest of the complaints here. Slowed down for a stopped vehicle in my lane, hit the gas to change in other lane and the engine roared but the car would not move. Had just enough forward momentum to pull off to side of road. At 56,000 miles this is unacceptable! Saw a YouTube video where Ford uses a cheap thin piece of metal in the torque converter that has a known record of failure. I was hoping for at least another 50,000 miles out of this thing. Not paying to fix and now car is virtually worthless!