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.
2005 Ford Freestar van with 60,000 miles. The transmission failed with out any warning, leaving our family stranded at a busy intersection. The transmission never slipped or shifted hard, it just stopped transferring power to the wheels. The van is at a transmission shop now, the initial diagnosis is the splines are stripped out of the torque converter. The shop is removing the transmission to replace the torque converter and inspect the rest of the transmission.
While in driving in wintry conditions on NY rt 86, my wife's vehicle suddenly lost drivetrain power, sending the RPM's of the vehicle 5000 range. My wife was able to coast to the emergency lane due to the lack of traffic. The vehicle was unable to move due to the loss of transmission power. My wife and two kids were left to fend for themselves for 2 hrs on the side of the road while traffic whizzed by at 70+ mph just inches away. NY state trooper just stopped and left offering no assistance. Finally, aaa tow showed up just before I arrived from work, to tow the vehicle to a shop. Thank god they were not struck by a drunk of distracted driver or going uphill. Do I think this is a safety issue? definitely. Picture your family driving in their 05' Ford Freestar. While slowly crossing a set of railroad tracks in traffic, the transmission fails leaving the vehicle unable to move. The driver panics struggling to figure out what's wrong, shifting gears, trying anything. Then the gates go down signaling a train is coming. Your families vehicle and maybe the family behind theirs are trapped. Your family may not have the time to get out. What if you have two or more children in child safety seats. Could you imagine trying to decide which one gets out first. I can think of many scenarios in which the vehicles ability to operate is a serious safety issue. I can understand somewhat that parts can wear out on vehicles 10-15 Y/O, but not on vehicles less than 5/4 Y/O. even the mechanic in the tiny town in NY knew just what the issue was when he saw the vehicle. This issue is not new, the problem is known. I am sure Ford is not about to depart with $$$ voluntarily to fix this safety issue because of their great big heart, or ethics! the organizations who we pay through gov't should keep us protected and demand a recall.
1. driving down the street, suddenly the vehicle was no long being powered, but the engine was running. Transmission has been regularly serviced and has had no prior indications of transmission trouble (I.e. slipping, skipping, grinding or using transmission fluid) 2. according to the transmission mechanic, the splines on the torque converter sheered off, causing the transmission to be stop working. This has occurred 1 time. Metal shavings from the torque converter in the transmission. Luckily we were only doing 30 mph when the failure occurred and were close to home. 3. the transmission is being rebuilt w/ a new torque converter. According to the transmission shop, the 2004-2007 Ford Freestars have an inherent defect in the torque converter. In order to address the issue, a re-manufactured torque converter with reinforced splines must be installed as the Ford replacement part suffers from the same design flaw. Approximately $2,200 to resolve this manufacturers defect and at this time, Ford's fix installs the same faulty torque converter which caused the transmission failure to begin with.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestar. The contact was driving approximately 35 mph on normal road conditions;the engine stalled without warning. The engine restarted after several attempts. However, the vehicle failed to operate in the "drive" and "reverse" gears. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer for inspection. The technician was unable to duplicate the failures and replaced the alternator. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on three separate occasions for the identical failures in which the alternator, mother board and transmission seal were replaced. The failures continued and there were no resolutions. The failure mileage was 20,000. The VIN # was not available the current mileage was 26,000.
- Bowie, MD, USA
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Purchased our 2005 Freestar in June 09 69,000 miles on it. This car was purchased for the sole reason to use to commute or 7 children to and from where we need to be and to get to work everyday. We purchased this vehicle with the understanding that it was a reliable car and the dealership gave us such a "good deal" we could not pass it up. (this dealership is no longer in business to even talk with them), we were just getting back to work with being laid off last year at christmas time. Trying to catch up with all the bills that were collected with limited income. With no other vehicle we purchased this with 3 year loan left on it. Besides having to replacing all 4 tires, we have not had any problems until January 1 2010. We live in mn and were pulling out of the drive way to go to work at 14 below, only for the van to go in D or R or any of the gears with warning at all. Luckily we were only in the middle of our icy culdesac when this happened and not on the icy highway we were about to get on. The transmission completely went out on us leaving us with no vehicle. This was the first Ford I purchased and as it appears with the other cases I am reading about will be our last. If Ford is aware of these problems and doing nothing to fix them, it is going to cost people loss of income or maybe even a life at some point in time. With the economy as it is and everyone trying to make ends meet this is terrible for Ford to do something like this. We cannot pay to get this fixed for awhile, and we will still have to pay for the monthly payments besides. Not a way to start the 2010 year.
Ford Freestar 05 transmission failure. Doing 55 in outside lane and the revs when up with complete loss off power. It was rush hour and we were very lucky not to have an accident. Put the car in the garage and they needed to rebuild transmission due to torque converter failure. $3000 repair.
We were in my wife's 2005 Ford Freestar driving home from my family for the holidays when we in a snowstorm. The car violently jerked during driving several times, due to the transmission and once put us in a spin into the ditch!!!!! this is not acceptable!!!!! it is criminal. My 9 year old child was in the car also and this vehicle only has 55,000 miles on it. We are scared to death to drive it and afraid it will get us killed. What can you help us with" is Ford going to have to answer at all for this failure of engineering and who is going to pay the $3000 to get this suicide vehicle repaired correctly to fix Ford's failure" please help us!
On Sunday, 12/27/09 we came out of church and got into our 2005 Ford Freestar to go home. After starting it up I put the transmission into D and it would not move. We had no previous problems with the transaxle at all. I put it into R and nothing happened. I allowed the engine to warm up for a few minutes, then tried again. The van would not move in D, but jerked and moved when put in 3. I began to drive it home in 3. it slipped in and out of gear constantly, and the transaxle light stayed on, but it got us home--about 5 miles. I checked the fluid when I got there. It was just a little low. I added some and drove it around the block, but no change. I called our Ford dealer the next day, who told me to bring it in the next day. It didn't move until then. I warmed it up for 1/2 hour before driving, then drove it to the dealer--about 5-6 miles away. It shifted fine in D for about the first mile, then it began to slip and jerk in and out of gear. The next 3 miles were highway miles. It would be driving fine at about 50 then kick out of gear and lose motion completely, then grab and take off again. Back in town, when stopping at a light it would try to stall. When put into N it would rev up to 2000 RPM. The dealer charged $100 to check it. They called later and said it might be the stator and needed to be torn into--$850. After 2 days, they called and said the entire inside of the transmission was full of metal shavings, the splines were stripped, it was shot, and it would be $3400. The van has 53,100 miles on it. I bought it with 4,700 miles on it when it was 6 months old and serviced the transmission at this same dealer at 36,000 miles. It has been well cared for.
While driving my Ford Freestar I lost power I was able to pull over but the van would not move at that point. Could get the RPM's up but would not move. The place I took it to said it seems to be the transmission. I cannot afford this and it could have been a very dangerous situation had I been going faster. The van is still financed and I owe to much to even sell it. Can you please help me"?"
Vehicle shut off while driving down a residential street, luckily in a 25mph zone. My wife was driving with my two children (infant and 3 year old). Vehicle would start in park, but as soon as a gear was engaged, it would stall. Dealer ended up replacing the tcm (transmission control module) stating that water "shorted" it out due to a faulty seal. The service manager himself stated that Ford will not honor the warranty on this part, even though there seem to be countless claims on the same issue, because the part was damaged by water, not as a fault of the part itself. They will also not take responsibility of the faulty seal.
We were driving our 2005 Ford Freestar minivan on the highway at approx 65mph when our tachometer suddenly surges then we lost all ability to accelerate so we had to coast over the shoulder of the highway.
2005 Ford Freestar transmission failed without warning. This van is a lemon. My 4 kids and I were driving, and transmission failed without warning. Had no previous problems with this van before this incident, ,, Ford should have a recall for this problem as I know this is happening frequently to Ford owners.
While driving on the highway, experienced a sudden and complete loss of power. Repair shop advised that the torque converter had failed and stripped the splines. Transmission had to be replaced.
After turning corner and attempting to accelerate vehicle suffered transmission failure/loss of motive power. Steered vehicle to side of road. Vehicle was towed to transmission shop, which rebuilt transmission and replaced torque converter. 7 months later transmission began to slip again and shop found torque converter failed. As of 11/2009, vehicle has had total of approx. 5 trips to repair shop, including original incident. Torque converters failed and were replaced in each subsequent repair. Transmission seems to "slam" into gear when shifting from park. Somewhat better after repairs but not totally resolved. Vehicle in garage out of service until it can be traded in/replaced. Do not believe vehicle is safe to drive.
This is the 3rd time the torque converter has gone out on our Ford Freestar van. Two times on the interstate traveling at interstate speeds leaving my wife stranded and terrified! this time I experienced it and took it to the transmission shop myself. There seems to be a real problem here 40000 transmission goes, 90,000 and 97,000 please help!
While my wife was driving our 2005 Ford Freestar limited 4.2L with several kids, the vehicle stopped moving leaving her stranded in the middle of a busy intersection. The vehicle had to towed to the local Ford dealer where were told the torque converter had failed causing extensive transmission damage. The van was out of commission for almost a week while the transmission was rebuilt. Many of these same vehicles have had this exact issue.
I was traveling on a 4 lane divided highway at approximately 55 mph with my wife and 2 daughters. I noticed the tachometer was surging, then it pegged. The van began to slow. I tried to accelerate but the tach just increased but no increase in speed. I tried different gears but the same result. Luckily traffic was light because it was Sunday morning. I was able to coast across two lanes of traffic and into a vacant parking lot. There I tried reverse and all other gears but the van would not move. This was the first such incident. The van had approximately 50,000 miles. I called my insurance companies roadside assistance and they had the van towed to matthews Ford, which ironically just across the highway from the parking lot we stopped in. They determined the torque converter failed. It cost $1800 to repair that we paid for entirely. Ford did not accept any responsibility. If this had happened on a busy highway, a serious accident could have been likely. After doing some research, this is a very common problem with this vehicle but no attempt has been made by Ford to correct it or compensate those who have already paid for the repair.
I was driving my 2005 Ford Freestar van on 11/21/09 when the transmission failed at 60 miles an hour. I steered the van onto the shoulder of I-35, called a tow truck and had it hauled to sebald's motors in askov, the closest Ford dealer. They completed repairs on the transmission amounting to #2,210.18.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- St Albans, VT, USA