Diving along the freeway I had the cruise sent at 65mph and suddenly the Mariner was accelerating on it's own. I step on the brake and it disengaged the cruise and slowed. I actually thought it was a fluke of some kind. Then driving home I didn't use the cruise and the car just slowed down about 15mph while I had my foot on the gas staying at 55mph. I've experienced this loss of power about 6 random times. I've used the cruise on long stretches of highway(that I rarely drive) and the Mariner has accelerated on it's own 4 times. The fourth time resulting in a speeding ticket of 15mph over. This was 1 of 2 times the acceleration was gradual. Otherwise it's as if the gas pedal was to the floorboard as it takes off. I see on the NHTSA that there are others having this same problem. I've questioned this at the dealership and they can't find anything wrong nor recreate the problem and there is nothing from Ford about this problem. As soon as I am working again I will be trading my Ford Mariner in for a different vehicle. Until then I won't use my cruise and hope for the best. This is scary that this happens and Ford doesn't acknowledge it!

- Hartland, WI, USA

Was traveling home for lunch, turning corner and vehicle suddenly went to idle. Pushed gas pedal and it went to the floorboard, but engine remained at idle. Was unable to accelerate at all. Was able to idle home blocking traffic as I went. Checked gas pedal and found that throttle cable had broken. The wire itself had broken. The rubber grommet and crimped end remained in-tacked. This could have been very dangerous if for instance I had been pulling onto freeway or crossing a busy intersection, or in heavy traffic. I believe this part should be inspected on all vehicles of this year and make. This type of breakage could cause an accident and possibly a fatality.

- Stephenville, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2008 Mercury Mariner. The contact stated that when placing the vehicle into drive, the accelerator pedal could not be depressed all the way down and the vehicle would hesitate. After coasting for a while, the vehicle would rapidly accelerate without warning. The vehicle was not inspected by a dealer or an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 37,000. The current mileage was approximately 40,000.

- Hampton, VA, USA

Accelerator gas pedal difficult to depress when weather gets cold (below 50F). It requires a harder press to engage and have the car move. It is dangerous when crossing an intersection after a stop. For the failure to work right keeps us in the intersection as we try to move out of the way of oncoming traffic. Having to press harder results in loss of control as we maneuver the car when turning at an intersection. We took the car to the dealer and they added a lubricant. It helped a little, but it was again difficult the next cold front that we had (temperatures below 50F). This condition graduated from the first winter we owned it in 2008 to this winter starting in 2011. It appears that the pedal works better after the car has been operating for a while, like 20 minutes or so.

- Laredo, TX, USA

In December of 2009 I reported an incidence of unintended acceleration. Since then we have not been using the cruise control much. Yesterday I activated the cruise control at 60mph on a long flat area. There is a mountain pass and curves between that area and our home. I hit the brake and slowed down around the 35 mph curves. On the down grade I took it out of over drive and dropped down a gear. The road flattens out again at the bottom but I did not reengage the cruise control. At one point at an intersection I had to brake to ten miles per hour or less for an oncoming car. Just after making a left turn onto our street the car began rapidly accelerating on its own. I didn't have my foot on the gas pedal. Since the road is straight I allowed it to accelerate to see what it would do. It went from 10 mph to 50 mph before my wife asked, "why are you accelerating? I replied, " I'm not. It's doing it on its own." It disengaged as soon as I hit the brake pedal. There is no way this was caused by a floor mat. I was only going about 10mph when it began accelerating and I took my foot off the pedal. The last time I complained to Ford the car was under warranty and had less than 36,000 miles on it. Ford said they couldn't do anything about it since it was intermittent and they hadn't experienced the problem. Another safety problem we have had with the car: When it had 26,000 miles on it the front end began shaking when braking. Ford said the front rotors were warped and resurfaced them under the warranty. They refused to change the pads or install new rotors. About 15,000 miles later it began vibrating again at speeds above 50mph. Now the vibration is severe. We are looking at a complete brake overhaul. We have never detected the brakes being overheated while the car was being driven. Another problem we had was that the trans cooler went out at 26,000 miles. Ford installed a new one under warranty but refused to drain and replace the transmission fluid.

- Bonanza, OR, USA

On May 15, 2010, I was accelerating onto a freeway in roseville, mn. The accelerator cable snapped completely disabling the gas pedal. The car immediately slowed down, and we were nearly rearended at 55 miles an hour as I frantically tried to control my vehicle, steer it to safety and put the hazard flashers on. The vehicle has 50, 980 miles so it no longer has bumper to bumper warranty on it and this piece is not considered part of the powertrain and will not be covered under the warranty. This was a dangerous situation and I feel that Ford Motor Company needs to address this issue. The service manager at my dealership feels this is a defect in the manufacturing of this vehicle.

- Roseville, MN, USA

About 2 months ago, the accelerator on my 2008 Mercury Mariner started sticking. Today it stuck and remained stuck for about 2 minutes. I took it to the dealer and was told they could not duplicate the problem, but could put a $347 part in it just in case it is the problem. I was charge $70 for the diagnosis.

- Lakeland, FL, USA

Unintended acceleration. Ascending a winding grade on Oregon 140 at 50 mph the accelerator pedal suddenly shot unaided to the floor putting the car in passing gear. When I hit the brake pedal it instantly disengaged the accelerator. The car was not in cruise control mode although it had been earlier. I had disengaged the overdrive function through the button on the gear shift lever and was in straight drive gear. We bought the car in January 2009. This was the 3rd time we have experienced this same problem. This time was the most pronounced and serious since the accelerator was floored. We were passing over the cascades between medford and klamath falls. Two or three miles further up the highway we entered the snow zone and there was ice on the highway. Had we been there at the time of the sudden acceleration the car could have spun out of control.

- Bonanza , OR, USA

On 09-24-2009 while traveling on I-95 towards Maine near portsmouth, New Hampshire, our vehicle a 2008 Mercury Mariner, with 15,682 miles on the odometer, lost all braking capability at 65 mph. Being a retired police officer I was able to talk my wife, who was driving, over into a breakdown lane in an effort to avoid collision with tractor trailers, motor vehicles and fixed objects. Ultimately the vehicle was turned onto an off ramp and onto a sidewalk and grass area to increase friction to reduce speed. This was several miles in the making and when the vehicle slowed to under 40 mph we placed it in neutral and were able to stop the car. We noted that the rpms were in the 4,000 to 5,000 range as the throttle appeared stuck. After towing to portsmouth Ford, in portsmouth, New Hampshire; technicians there determined that the problem was a stretched throttle control & cable assembly (part #7L8Z!758 cable ass-throttle contro and part # 8L*9725 shaft mt79758A-accelerator cable). Techicians stated that the stretch accelerator cable (which they said was poorly designed) caused the throttle and cruise control to lock, which over rode the braking system. Warranty repairs were made invoice 497086 tag customer #8023451243. We narrowly avoided what could have been a catastrophic accident and feel this should be brought to your attention as a defect may exist in other simllar 2008 Mercury Mariners.

- Rutland, VT, USA