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.
Have owned this car for 1 week. While replacing the spark plugs, found the cruise control cable was not connected to the throttle, which explained why the cruise didn't work. Reconnected the cable. On a test-drive, had the cruise set at 50. In testing the 3 right-side cruise buttons (resume, set, coast) the car accelerated past 65 on its own. "off" button and brake pedal did not disconnect cruise system. Rode the brakes to a stop and shut the engine off. Started the engine and it revved up to 3,000 without my foot on the pedal. Engine returned to normal idle speed after a blip or two on the gas pedal. Carefully drove home and checked - the cruise cable had come undone from the throttle again. Unintended acceleration of this model should be a recall issue before someone gets hurt.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Taurus. The contact stated while driving various speeds and depressing the accelerator pedal it became stuck intermittently. The failure was not diagnosed by a mechanic. Both the dealer and manufacturer were made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 165,000.
When accelerating at about 40 mph the cruise control would not work when I tried to engage it, however the car began speeding up quickly while my foot was off the gas peddle. I tried to engage/disengage the cruise control but got no response, except the engine RPM and car was still speeding up, the car was getting close to 60mph and I began putting on the brakes the car was still trying to accelerate and RPM still going up as I was stopping the car. This car continues to accelerate faster on it's own when driven and today 5/19/14 again from about 35 to 50 in about a mile, this was not as severe as the first time but is troubling and a waste of my gas and brakes. This is a Taurus sel with automatic trans. And a 3.9L V6 engine. I found the cruise control cable off of the lever it connects to near the intake manifold( after reading about other Taurus models/years with the same problem). I will be contacting a Ford dealer to see if they have a fix as cable is still very loose after I tried to reconnect it.
I was headed to the grocery store a little after noon and when I pulled away from a stop sign and accelerated toward 45 mph the RPM kept increasing after I took my foot off the accelerator once I reached the desired speed. They quickly jumped to between 3000 and 3500 RPM so I applied pressure to the brake and thought it would stop. It didn't. the second I let go of the brakes the car started to accelerate on its own quickly. I pulled over, turned the car off, but when I turned it back on the rpms went high again as if I was flooring the gas pedal. I turned around and cautiously went back home, riding the brakes the entire way (almost 5 miles) and parked it. The next day everything was normal.
Driving down a side street going approximately 15 mph. The vehicle started racing and speeding up. I applied the brakes and could feel the jerking of the car fighting to speed up. I pulled over and put the car in neutral which caused the RPM meter to race. I pushed hard on the hard accelerator and let off and that stopped the RPM's from racing. This has been happening more and more over the past few months. One time, I had to turn the car off and when I started it up it was still racing. A combination of pressing hard on the accelerator (in N) and turning the car off seems to help. There is not always a place to pull over, this is an accident waiting to happen. My mechanic had no ideas why this is happening so I researching solutions myself.
- Oakland, ME, USA
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The contact owns a 2004 Ford torus. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 mph the vehicle accelerated independently as the brake was being applied without warning. The failure occurred five times over a one month period. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who did not diagnosed the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 87,000. Updated 5/27/14 updated 8/17/17/
Vehicle suddenly began to accelerate after I had taken my foot off the gas pedal. It reached approximately 50 mph before I applied the brakes. It responded to the brakes, but was difficult to hold at a stop for a stoplight. Putting the car in park or neutral caused the engine to rev to 3,00 - 4,000 rpms. The problem recurred several times on a 4 -5 mile drive. Car was taken to a dealership where the problem was diagnosed as a faulty cruise control cable holding the throttle open. Cruise control cable assembly was replaced and problem has not recurred. I have contacted Ford to discuss the issue and mentioned the high number of similar complaints seen on this site.
Car continues to accelerate at moderate rate when foot is not on the accelerator. I was still able to stop the car easily using foot brake, but when stopped the car was revving at a much higher rate than usual. Not clear yet whether the problem is getting worse.
I was driving and coming to a complete stop, when the car began to accelerate itself. I brake, that didn't help much. It stopped the car, but did not stop the engine from abnormally revving itself up. I pushed the gas and it was okay, but still at a higher RPM than normal. Again, 5 mins later, while sitting in traffic it revved up again. It was at about 2500 RPM, coming from a dead stop. I freaked out and tried to put the car in park thinking that would help. When I put it in park, it revved itself to about 4000rpm. I turned it off. I turned it back on a short while later and drove to a parking lot and kept it parked.
Vehicle accelerating on its own and gets stuck. Unable to stop car, have to slam on brakes and put the car in neutral. Car continues to accelerate and lifting the gas pedal with my foot does not stop the problem. Had iac motor replaced, throttle position sensor, and egr valve replaced but none of that helped the problem. Car seems to be stuck in cruise control or something and I am unable to stop the acceleration.
I was trying to stop for a red light. The engine RPM suddenly increased and when I pressed the brake the RPM kept increasing. I shifted from drive to park and the RPM still kept increasing. I finally pumped the gas pedal while in park and the RPM went down. This happened again about 20 minutes later when I accelerated after being stopped at a light.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the throttle seized. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was found that the throttle cable was off track. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Every once in a while, the throttle in my 2004 Ford Taurus ses will stick and I have to tap the gas a little bit to make it unstick, and also when I turn on cruise control, on the dash it lights up, but cruise control doesn't engage.
To start decelerating on a multiple-lane freeway in heavy traffic, I removed my foot completely from the accelerator. I was surprised to find that instead of slowing down, the car began to gradually speed up even though my foot was not touching the accelerator pedal. The speed rose from 45 to 48 to 52 mph without my touching the pedal. I then braked, and the car slowed, only to resume speeding up when I lifted my foot off the brake. After I braked again, harder, the car slowed and the ghost acceleration problem went away. However, the same thing happened again several times during the 50-mile freeway trip. The pedal seemed to be mechanically sticking. The problem did not seem to be electronic, although I could not be sure. After exiting the freeway, the accelerator got stuck several times while on local roads. I was familiar with the problem by now and was ready at any time to shift into neutral if necessary. I did shift into neutral once to avoid a potential collision when approaching an intersection. While the car was in neutral, I tried tapping the accelerator pedal to see if that would unstick it. Instead, the rpms merely increased to a higher level, sticking again at the higher rate. I managed to get the car home, mostly on the freeway, without any serious mishaps. I previously had been somewhat skeptical of the much-reported acceleration problem with Toyota vehicles. However, I can now say from experience that when your car holds its speed or speeds up after you lift your foot off the accelerator, it's a strange and unsettling experience. I can easily imagine some drivers panicking. We were lucky that I was driving, and not my wife or kids, who have much less driving experience. At home, I discovered online that Ford has recalled many 2000-2003 tauruses for sticking-accelerator problems. I can tell you that it's a problem for our 2004 Taurus as well.
Wife was taking child to an appointment in another city (half hour from us) and got into town there and the accelerator stuck. She called me scared wondering what to do. She was able to make if off the busy street and into a parking lot. Put in park and the rpms went up to over 4K. Shut car off and turned back on and same thing. Had to have it towed back to our house. Thought we fixed the problem and then last night it happened to me as I drove down the highway. Had to hold brakes to keep at highway speed and keep from running into car in front of me. Now cruise isn't working.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle accelerated without manual force on several occasions. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was unknown.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal failed and became stuck to the floor board. The contact was able to release the accelerator pedal from the floor board by switching gears to neutral and then tapping the accelerator pedal several times. The failure was experienced numerous times. The contact stated he was a private mechanic where he diagnosed that the cruise control cable needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 76,000.
My car began accelerating on its own. It was traveling around 65 mph without touching the gas pedal. I had to drive with the brakes depressed to keep the car from accelerating even more. When I turned the car off and then restarted it, the engine was going very fast and if I put it in drive, it accelerated on its own. ' however, today it seems okay.
While driving and approaching an intersection I began to apply brake for red light, the rpms spiked to 4000. The car continued to accelerate on it's own.tried to tap brake again..no change. Put the car in neutral and tapped gas to finally get the rpms to lower to at least 2000 level. This has happened at least 4 other times.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the vehicle accelerated without manual force. The failure recurred on several occasions. The contact was able to stop and restart the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis where but they were unable to duplicate the problem. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 78,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Carmel, IN, USA