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.
This incident first happened while I was pulling into a parking spot and since many times. The car gets stuck in full throttle and sometimes impossible to stop I have to throw into neutral to keep from slamming into vehicles, it has torn up my new brake pads that I put on in the fall. It will be fine for a period of time then all of sudden out of no where the car will get stuck in full throttle. I have been told by a Ford mechanic that this is a common issue.
My daughter reported that her 2005 Taurus excel seated for no reason. This has happened several times. The last time there was a near accident but she managed to get to the side of the road. Vehicles RPM went to 4000 and she had to push hard on the brakes until stopped. Vehicles on the highway were stopped suddenly in front of her at the time. I was just on a site and found more than 110 complaints for the same thing. This is very dangerous for a 17 year old driver. Please help.
I first notice that the cruise control had stop working after that a little while later I would be driving along and the car would pick up speed on its own I would press the brake but that wouldn't slow it down so I hit the gas petal and finally the speed would drop. I feel so unsafe what if this is to happen on a rainy or icy day I could hurt myself or someone else what can I do that's not going to be costly?
While driving, went to brake to slow down for traffic, throttle appeared to be stuck., took foot off of brake car accelerated on its own to 70 mph. Took car to local dealership, they determined it was not the throttle, but a defective cruise control cable, it would hold the throttle open.
The issue started as a throttle sticking closed. This required a harder than normal push to get the throttle to open and increase engine speed. This eventually turned into the throttle sticking open and not returning to idle. The on the road fix was to push quickly on the throttle pedal a couple times to get the throttle to release to idle. This also necessitated riding the brakes to keep the cars speed under control. Over time the issue became worse, with the throttle sticking open more often. What I found when investigating the issue was that the cruise control cable fitting at the throttle linkage was disconnected. The fitting would snap back onto the proper place but was very loose and would pop back off easily when the throttle was actuated. I used a plastic tie-wrap to tighten the locking mechanism in place. Another item that I found was a lot of varnish where the throttle butterfly met the throttle body (inside the throttle body) at/near idle. This contributed to the sticking closed/open issue. I used carb cleaner while the engine was running to clean the throttle body around the butterfly, and outside the throttle body on the linkage. The issue at this point has not returned. I do feel there is an issue with the connector at the end of the cruise control cable. Since it seems to be affecting others about the same mileage, it seems to be a wear issue of an under designed connector. I don't know if the varnish build up (amount) is out of the ordinary, but have not had the sticking throttle issue on any other car I have owned. I could see this causing an accident for others that may not understand the mechanics of what is happening.
- Fairborn, OH, USA
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I was driving at approximately 40 mph when I was approaching a red light. I took my foot off the gas pedal and hit the brakes and had to used two feet to stop the car. The motor was still trying to drive me forward. I reached down and pulled the gas pedal up and the engine slowed down. This was a one time occurrence for me so far, but I read the issues with the Taurus cruise control and was wondering if this has anything to do with that issue? I did not have the cruise on during the incident and it does not even work at this point. It just stopped working about 6 months ago.
While driving the car just accelerated on its own and the cruise control quit working. To date the cruise control still doesn't work and the accelerator will go on its own.
A member of my family was approaching a regulated intersection and slowing down in the left turn lane. The traffic light was red. His foot was on the brake and he was slowing down but felt the engine still revving. He checked the tachometer and saw it was around 3000 RPM. He stopped, held his foot on the brake, shifted into neutral and repeatedly tapped the accelerator. After a few taps, the throttle "released" and the engine resumed a normal idle. He proceeded to drive home about 1/2 mile with no further incident. Earlier on the drive that same day, he noted that the speed control was not working. Once the vehicle was home, we took off the cover near the throttle assembly and discovered that the cable from the vehicle speed control system had come off the throttle at its attachment point. I also noticed that the cable end is held onto the throttle arm with a plastic detent. It was very easy to put the cable end onto the throttle assembly and was also quite easy to remove it (required very little force). Because we were not able to simulate the incident it is not possible to be sure of the cause. But one very likely cause is the speed control cable being in the pathway of the throttle arm as it rotates to allow the throttle to reach idle location. If it got in the way, the result likely would have been as noted above. Prior to this incident, there had been no indication of throttle sticking.
The accelerator would continue to race after I remove my foot from the pedal. I have to pump the pedal for it to stop accelerating. The cruise also would stop working about the same time. What was happening was the cruise cable was getting in the way of the throttle and making it stick. I just had this repaired at a dealership.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle had suffered from an intermittent unintended acceleration failure for the past ten years. The contact stated that when the failure occurred, the vehicle would be stopped and there would be an increase in the engine rpms. The contact had to apply heavy pressure to the brake pedal to keep the vehicle stopped. The vehicle had been to the dealer three times, but the dealer could never diagnose a failure. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 110,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that upon removing his foot from the brake pedal, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The contact immediately shifted into neutral and applied the brakes. The contact had to tap the accelerator pedal in order to reduce the engine rpms. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 91,000.
Driving down expressway and car began to speed up on its own. Could not get it to slow down. Had to put car in neutral and pull into emergency lane. I then turned car off and was able to stop. Had to be towed to shop. Throttle was fixed.
Was on the interstate with speed control set to 70 mph it started about 45 min in to my trip to look like I was going to fast so I looked down I was going 85 mph so I tried to disengage and it would not hit brakes to try to dis engage it would not so I shut the car off and put in neutral when I got stopped I got under the hood and removed the cable from the throttle body for the cruise and I do believe it damaged my transmission when I shut the car off and let it roll my transmission is jerking now also another issue to look in to on the 2004 to 2007 Taurus is the clock spring for the airbag in the steering wheel I know several people who have had failures and mine is failing now it sounds like it is broke when you turn the steering wheel you get a sound like theirs is a loose bearing floating around also it has jammed on me where I had to jerk it and made a pop sound real hard to turn the wheel while making a turn I missed hitting another car by 2 foot.
This failure date is actually the first of 2 failures. The first failure resulted in the cruise just being inoperative. The Ford dealer replaced the cable and everything was fine until at approximately 87000 mi during November of last year. This time the cable unhooked again holding the throttle open this time causing my wife to have to stand on the brake to stop the car. When she put it in park the engine idled at approximatelly 3500 RPM. We took it to the dealer and demonstrated to the service manager how the clip on end of cruise cable held the throttle open. He agreed that this condition was unsafe. He recommended changing the cable again at our expense. We declined. No point in putting a part on that is going to fail based on the history and possibly cause an accident next time. Repaired it myself by pinning the clip so it can not come apart again.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 60 mph with the cruise control activated, the contact depressed the brakes but the vehicle continued to accelerate. The failure also occurred when the cruise control was not being utilized. The engine began to race and the rpms increased to approximately 5000. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics but the technician was unable to diagnose the failure. There was an investigation under NHTSA action number: PE12005 (vehicle speed control:cables) that could have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 148,000.
I am one of those people who are having a problem with the cruise control and/or accelerator sticking while driving. My problems started on December 5, 2011. I work for Ford, and was on my way to work at Michigan assembly. I pulled up to a stoplight on us-12 about 8 am, and my car was idling at 3800 RPM! it seemed that something let go after that. Since then, it has stuck here and there. I almost hit a SUV in front of me yesterday, and almost blew through a stoplight the night before on the way home. I had to literally stand on the brakes! I have done a little research, and believe that the problem is more than just a sticking cable. I unplugged the connection from the brain box to the servo, and that seemed to alleviate the problem somewhat. Unfortunately, it also eliminates the horn! blipping the accelerator sometimes helps, but the other day when I did it, the pedal felt mushy and unresponsive for the three times that it stuck. I think that Ford should replace the whole assembly in anyone's car that has experienced this problem. It can be very dangerous! it seems that the components wear out after so many years. Due to vibration or environment, I'm not sure. I have replaced every sensor in the intake tract. I took it to a garage last week. They had it for a full day, did a compression test, and scanned the computer 3 times. They could not find any vacuum leaks. It still idles at 550 RPM, as it has since December 2011, instead of the normal 800 RPM that the computer insists that it is idling at!
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While traveling 50 mph, the contact noticed that the vehicle had suddenly begun to accelerate and the accelerator pedal lost all pressure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the throttle body gasket and cruise control cable were replaced. The failure mileage was 66,000 and the current mileage was 75,000. Updated 07/10/12 the consumer stated the accelertor issue was addressed several times in 2010. Updated 07/11/12
My wife has complained to me several times about the car just increases speed by itself to the point it get nearly out of control. She said she almost cannot stop it with the brakes when it does this. She puts it into neutral and the RPM gauge goes to over 4000. She has had into a garage to have it checked and they found nothing other than the cruise control cable was loose and needed to be secured. When we got this car the cruise worked. I drove it for several days after she complained of this problem. I couldn't get it to do it for me but the cruise control is no longer functioning. I finally got it to show some form of self increasing speed as I would go up a hill. I tried it a couple of times and it would increase speed on its own. I tapped the accelerator and it seems to stop increasing speed. I am a very experienced driver where my wife is not. I could see where this could happen and panic could set in quickly. She was very panicked and refused to drive it for awhile.
2005 Ford Taurus - throttle sticks, vehicle will speed up without pushing on the gas. This has occurred numerous times, quite scary regardless of location or speed. This has occurred in town and on the interstate. Vehicle must be put in neutral and the gas peddle must be pushed to the floor to get vehicle back under control.
I was driving in Suburban rush hour traffic, 35-40mph, slowed for red light and engine started racing. Rpms over 2000, car would not slow down. I had to literally "stand" on the brake pedal to prevent hitting the car in front of me. My car then slowed down to about 5-10 mph, I shifted to neutral and turned engine off. There I sat, traumatized, blocking traffic for several minutes, before restarting engine, pulling off road and turning engine off again. After about 10 minutes I restarted and drove to my destination without problem recurring. There were no engine warning lights. This was second time this has happened, oddly enough at about the same location in my commute (after about 20 minutes of driving). Broadcast and internet sources indicate that you are investigating this issue. I contacted Ford, where customer service personnel were polite but not very helpful. They acknowledge issue, but say there's no recall. They took contact information, but would not give me an incident/case number because "our computers are down." I contacted two local dealers, who say they have heard nothing about the problem, but will be happy to take a look (at their regular service charge of $200-300). Please add this to your list of safety complaints for this model.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Mishawaka, IN, USA