CarComplaints.com Notes: The Freestar was introduced in 2004, but it was essentially just a rebranded Windstar. While there was a redesign of the interior and exterior, the Freestar still inherited some of the design flaws of its predecessor.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 5
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
100,767 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.
Luckily I was not driving my Freestar when the transmission went out, however, it was the coldest day of the year and I was stranded. I was on my way home from work when I went to get in and put the vehicle in reverse and nothing happened. I had to replace my transmission with a nice bill of $2500. I am happy that Ford has finally realized this is a problem and is going to fix it. However, what are they going to do with the people that have already paid for the repair??
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Freestar. The contact was driving approximately 45 mph when the vehicle began to jerk violently with the illumination of the battery and engine warning indicators. The engine suddenly staled and restarted with the continuous illumination of the engine warning indicator. The similar failure recurred and the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated the power train control module would need to be replaced as a result to water leakage. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 151,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Traveling on the highway in connecticuit going back home to Maine. Lost all power on rte 84. Luckily there was no accident. Would not move at all. $850 tow back home. Torque converter. Vehicle has not been fixed yet.
I was driving on the highway and began to exit when the car alerted to "check traction." It started to make a loud noise, then began to decelerate and no matter if I pressed on the accelerator the car began to slow down until it eventually stopped. I was able to get myself to a safe area before it lost its ability to drive. I had it towed and was told by the auto repair person that it was my transmission.
Daughter's were driving 55 miles an hour when the transmission failed / no power in traffic. Car acted as if it was in neutral.turned onto side street to avoid being rear ended slid into brush and rocks. Paint scratches, towing, transmission replacement and possible deadly condition !
- Middletown, NY, USA
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I purchased my 2004 Ford Freestar minivan new and had experienced no problems or symptoms whatsoever leading up to the date of my recent transmission failure in 11/11. Recently, while merging onto a major highway (wife, two children, grandmother in car with me), my transmission simply failed. The vehicle would not engage in drive or reverse and we were stuck in the middle of the highway at night. We pushed the vehicle off the road as much as possible and had it towed to the Ford dealership. The result was a new transmission for nearly $3000. I had been reading for years about identical problems with the 04-05 Ford Freestar transmission and had taken extra precautions hoping to prevent it. My vehicle is very well maintained and I had absolutely no symptoms or indications of a transmission problem. The dealership gave me no reason for the failure other than to give me options for repairing it and to say there have been a number of transmission issues for these vehicles.
We were leaving for a short trip. While driving on the highway the engine RPM's increase and the van was hardly moving. No advance notice at all. We turned around and made it back to the house. Just creeping along. It was just pure luck, early morning with hardly any traffic. From reading other complaint on the internet, it could be a costly repair. As of today, I haven't had a mechanic look at it. With only 60K miles I would think a transmission should last longer. Too many of the same complaints. Ford must of had it designed with "costing cutting" in mind. My opinion Ford Motor Company should offer some type of allowance for shoddy design. There seems to be a great number of failures not just one or two.
Without warning and while engine still running the transmission gave out. I now have no forward or reverse. Costing over $1700 to repair, not replace the transmission.
While driving at posted highway speed (65mph) a failure occurred in my Freestar minivan. The engine was running but there was no power to the rear wheels. This happened suddenly and unexpectedly on a busy highway (route 17) and rendered my van powerless with my wife and three young children aboard. There was no warning that this was going to happen. Luckily she was able to get to the side of the road and avoid accident. The van was towed to a service station and awaits repair. Doing some research found that there have been numerous complaints to the nhtsb about the transmission/torque converters on these vehicles and also a class action lawsuit filed with no address by the nhtsb. This repair will no doubt cost me well over $2000. The main issue here is that this defect has been known for some time and no corrective action has been taken. My family could have been hurt from a known problem. Please address this. Thank you
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Freestar. The contact was driving 55 mph when the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who performed a diagnostic which located the failure at the transmission torque converter. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 61,000.
My husband was driving up the hill to our house when our van had a sudden loss of power. He managed to get on the side of the road and out of traffic. Now the van will not engage in any gear. If you put it in drive or reverse and hit the gas the engine just revs. We need a new transmission.
Whilst driving, engine RPM increased with no vehicle acceleration. Had to coast into parking lot and found transmission had no forward or reverse movement. Luckily there was light traffic and emergency actions were not present to remove vehicle off road safely.
We were on a highway and it just lost all acceleration. Had it towed ($300) to shop. Needed a rebuilt transmission ($2440). Had that done. Now, 15 months later, the transmission is slipping!
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Freestar. The contact was driving 65 mph when the transmission failed. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who replaced the transmission. The manufacturer was notified of the failure who advised that there were no recalls. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 76,000.
My wife started the vehicle up and put it in drive. As she pulled into traffic the vehicle lost all forward momentum while the engine RPM's accellerated to the point it caused the engine to stall. My wife was on an incline when this happened. She put on the brake and restarted the engine, it started fine and sounded normal until she put the engine into drive. The motor reved up and there was no forward momentum. The motor stalled once again. She started the vehicle again and put the transmission into low gear and was able to drive it one block to a Ford dealership parking lot. This all happened with no proir warnig of failure. She drove the van to work a few hours earlier with no indications of imenent failure. After researching the internet, I found several hundreds of other 2004/2005 Freestar owners that have the same systematical failure of the torque converter. This seems to be an ongoing issue with this make/model and should be recalled before someone is hurt or killed from an accident cused by immediate loss of forward momentum due to a failed torque converter/transmission.
Driving on freeway at 60mph the van just stopped accelerating, the RPM acted crazy. We pulled too side of road and would not move in any gear. I have had routine oil changes and maintenance, there was no signs or warning of any transmission problems. Vehicle towed. I have been told my van needs new transmission.
I had arrived at my brothers house after a 8-9 hour drive, unloaded the vehicle & visited for a few hours. We decided then to go out to dinner & would take my Freestar. My brother has ms so I had to pull forward & try to back in to get passenger door closest to his exit from the house. When I put it in reverse to back the van barely started to move & then wouldn't move. I then let it roll down to the street & tried forward & reverse, but the van never moved again. I had it towed to a Ford dealer & was told the transmission was gone. I had them put in a form reman unit. I had to drive my brothers van back home & come back for mine the next weekend.
When driving my car, it was hard to shift and when I came to a stop, it had a hard time shifting gears. I brought it to my mechanic who diagnosed the torque converter had gone bad. He replaced the torque converter and I had the car back for a week and the car died again while driving. The car is now diagnosed with a bad PCM and that will need to be replaced.
Transmission warning light appeared while on vacation. Stopped at a dealer said we were ok to continue. Car has felt weird since. Auto shop just told us we need a new transmission.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Brandon, WI, USA