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.
While driving the instrument cluster would behave erratically and then completely stop working for 10-30 seconds, after this the wrench and seat belt light stay on. Then they reset and all gauges work normally and then this reoccurs. During these occurrences the engine would act sluggishly and there would be slower acceleration. This has been happening for 3+ months and today the gauges have all stopped working, the same 2 icons are lite and now the reverse lights stay on whether the car is in park, drive, neutral or reverse. The turn signals, lights and brake lights all work but do not display on the dash. Seen the tsb's from Ford, the investigation done by NHTSA PE07058, this needs to be re-opened and a recall performed by Ford.
While driving to work all of a sudden the cluster lights in the instrument panel all went out and the speedometer, odometer, control temp, and gas gage all zeroed out and a wrench and air bag light came on. Then after about 10 minutes of driving everything starting working again and the two warning lights went off however, then the check engine light came on. I had a diagnostic done and the errors were all electrical. Have to take it in a few days to the Ford dealer and be charged a $90 fee up front just for them to look at it and diagnose the problem. According to all the complaints it's been a very well known problem that Ford should have dealt with in a recall. Not just try to sweep it under the rug. I'm sure it's going to cost me an arm and a leg when they get done. I have always owned a Ford but now I think I'm going to make a switch to a Chrysler (since I do work there now) and I know I will be taken care of not just taken.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge failed and displayed an erroneous reading of zero. In addition, the turn signals and headlights were inoperable. The contact also stated that with the brakes depressed, the vehicle would surge forward abnormally. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure, nor was the vehicle diagnosed or repaired. The current and the failure mileages were 60,000.
I have a 2005 Ford Freestyle with two issues.. issue #1- when shifting into gear (drive or reverse) or starting to accelerate the car lunges forward or backward. It is a requirement to stay a few feet back and foot firmly on the brake at all times as not to hit other vehicles or pedestrians. Issue #2- instrument panel randomly began to illuminate lights (ie check engine, seatbelt, air bag) for a period of time and then they would disappear. Then the gauges (ie gas, temp, and speedometer) began not working. Took it in to shop and they confirmed a faulty instrument cluster.
I have more than one complaint. 1) shortly after buying my used 2005 Freestyle I would be driving both at higher and lower speeds and I would loose all control of the vehicle. It would not respond to gas or steering. It was like it was losing power but it was still running. I had several near misses when this would happen. I was lucky that when I bought my Freestyle it was "certified" and under warranty, otherwise the repairs would have cost me over $1200. My Ford dealer replaced the kind of sensor/brain as they called it. Has been working sense. 2) air compressor needs to be replaced now. I thought the A/C wasn't blowing cold enough, I finally told it to a repair shop I trust and he said he couldn't understand I had any cool air at all. 3) brakes, rear most of all, have been replaced several times. Way too soon and anytime it's wet they squeal like crazy. Guess I need to have them changed again. 4) transmission issues are starting now. I roughly have 90K miles and hoped this would be my last car for several more years. I hate to trade it in and start another car payment and let this car get back out to some other unsuspecting soul.
- Shelbyville, KY, USA
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While driving on the highway with my wife at a speed of 55mph the motor suddenly dies and the wrench symbol appears. I tried to restart the car by turning the key - didn't work. Luckily we were close to an exit and I let the car roll out and onto a parking lot. There I tried again to start the car and it suddenly started again and the wrench symbol is gone. I went to a mechanic to have it checked out but he couldn't find anything. And the car runs fine w/O incident since then. I am just glad that my 3 kids weren't with us in the car that day and that nothing serious happened. A motor dying on a highway can cause serious trouble ! shortly after I bought the car about 2 months ago the cel went on and the error codes for torque/throttle body were given. I went to valvoline to have the fuel system cleaned and the codes taken out, no problems since then. But I've noticed that the car is very sluggish when I accelerate and then suddenly lunges. Needless to say that I think this car is not the best model Ford developed, we did some research on this model and there are so many complaints. Ford needs to do some serious customer care !!! and of course I find my car highly unreliable and expect it to break down any day.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the instrument cluster had a interruption in power, causing the dials to operate improperly. The contact was unable to read the speedometer due to the malfunction. The contact had the instrument cluster replaced by the dealer three times bu the failure continued to recur. The contact called the manufacturer regarding the cluster malfunction and the manufacturer advised that there was nothing they could do to assist. The failure mileage was 101,000.
2005 Ford Freestyle surges and accelerates from a stop or low speed. It is particularly evident when shifting the transmission from drive to reverse or reverse to drive. The acceleration can last for maximum 5 seconds but you better have your foot firmly planted on the brake or the vehicle could lunge forward or backward into oncoming or parked cars and pedestrians. It doesn't happen al the time, often after the car has been run and parked for a 15-30 minute period.
Request to re-open NHTSA defect investigation #PE07058. The entire instrumental panel stopped working while starting, stoping or driving at low speed and on highway. Also when it happens, no turn signal alarm, no air conditioner, and controls on the steering wheel not working. Have not been able to check outside lights. It happens from time to time, comes and goes, lasts about 2-10 seconds. A few occasoins, it trigged air bag, coolent warning and check engine lights to come on. Check engien light stayed for a few days. I think it is a design or production defect since Ford knew it back in 2006 according to its tsb. I think it's dangerous, especially when driving on highspeed, at night and in bad weather, you lose the info of speed and air conditioner and don't know if turn signal light is on.
2005 Ford Freestyle unexpectedly accelerates when car is put into gear (forward or reverse), this seems to be aligned with other complaints associated with NHTSA investigation PE11018. The engine will rev when putting the car into gear and will lurch in the direction of the gear that it was placed in. This is not due to the driver inadvertently pressing on the gas pedal at the same time as the brake. The driver has to firmly press on the brakes to prevent the car from moving. If the brake is only pressed just enough to put the car in gear the vehicle will actually move 3-4 feet. The happens sporadically but does occur at least 4-5 times a week.
Our Freestyle has experienced mild but worsening unintended acceleration for two years now, but it was always "mild" and did not cause the car to lurch forward even when the driver's foot was hard on the brake pedal. Then we had a new problem: No cold air from the ac at idle. We responded (6/11) to a mailed promotion from hertrich Ford (easton md) for an ac "tune up." They did nothing but add dye to our refrigerant and "clean" our air ducts with disinfectant. So we turned to the owners' forum, myfordfreestyle.com, and quickly diagnosed the problem: A seized-up pressure control valve. Apparently Ford dealers refuse to perform this simple repair (part cost $40) and will only replace the entire ac compressor ($800 + labor). So we ordered the valve online and had a competent local mechanic replace the valve (1-hour labor plus cost of refrigerant). The ac is "good as new", but the unintended acceleration is now much worse. The incidents always occur at very low to no speed and when maneuvering the car (I.e. parking, K-turning, etc.). in all of these situations, both the ac and the power steering pump are demanding/drawing near-maximum power from an essentially idling engine, nearly stalling the engine; the electronic engine/idle control then kicks-in and hugely "over-reacts" by revving the engine to 2,000+ RPM. Even with your foot on the brake, an automatic in drive is going to surge quite far at 2000+ RPM. Please look at the myfordfreestyle.com website: Note that almost all of the complaints about unintended acceleration come during hot weather months and a few also note the problem is much worse with the ac on. It took us less than 30 minutes on the website to diagnose both the ac problem and unintended acceleration problem. It is inconceivable that Ford has not been aware of both of these problems for years. (surely Ford's customer relations staff monitor owner forums).
Sitting at stop light, engine surges and lurches into "fail safe" mode. Car slips out of gear into neutral, and limps to a stop. Has occured multiple times, especially in the heat of summer. Taken car into multiple shops, have never received consistent answer. Answers range from transmission failure to a bad computer, or a sensor.
My 2005 Freestyle is making loud rattling sound (coming from trans) and the failsafe mode indicator as well as the yellow wrench have been appearing. I have had it in the service dept of dealership many times for surging and power failures, etc, and they have made numerous repairs - (including the ac compressor) and replaced a head gasket (which is leaking badly now?), and it appears this time it may be a throttle body problem" the dealer won't look at it till next week and wants $200 to check it out" people waiting in line (at the service dept) today told me they had the exact same problems (with Freestyles). There should be a recall if so many people are complaining.
I own a 2005 Ford Freestyle and about 1 year ago, when ever I would back out of my garage or pull into the garage at a slow speed, sometimes the car would lunge unexpectedly either forward or backward depending on if I was backing out or pulling into my garage. It occurred at least 3 or 4 times per week until it finally got so back that my check engine light came on. At that point, I took the car to the dealership and they charged me over $600 to replace the throttle body on the car. This did resolve the issue somewhat, but at least a couple of times a month I still experience this lunging of the car, but it is not as dramatic as it was before they replaced the throttle body. I was really worried about this issue as we have a lot of kids that like to play around our house and I was always worried I was going to run into one of them when backing out of the garage so I had to make sure I kept one foot on the break just in case. This is a very serious issue and it is something that is definitely a safety hazard to the public. Also, my wife has a 2006 Ford 500 and it experienced the same problems and we had to get the throttle body fixed on it as well. I spent over $1,000 within the span of a few months on the same issue in two different Ford vehicles. There is definitely something wrong with the throttle body mechanism and Ford needs to be held accountable for this dangerous situation they have put car owners in and they should be required to refund the cost of anyone who has already spent $600 or $700 to fix their throttle body. The Ford dealer told me to keep my receipts in case this issue made the recall list.
2005 Ford Freestyle complete shutoff of electrical system including turn signals. This is the second problem. The first was the surging that everybody is complaining about. After a wrong diagnosis and replacing the throttle body and PCM, the whole problem was fixed by replacing the alternator. My concern is the complete shutoff of electrical system is a safety issue. This second problem is current.
2005 Ford Freestyle sel has lost power and turned off completely twice. Both times, I turned the ac and radio off and it started back up immediately. I have also experienced the sudden surge others have described when slowing at an intersection for a stop sign and it does require a quick hard break to keep from entering the intersection. Both of these events are extremely dangerous.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that all of the gauges on the instrument panel were malfunctioning. When the failure would occur, the reverse lights would illuminate and stay on. The vehicle was taken to a local repair shop where the vehicle was diagnosed as the cluster module being defective and needing to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was out of warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 46,000. Updated 05/04/11
Over a period of about 2 summers, the 2005 Ford Freestyle would surge while sitting at an intersection or slowing during the approach. The surge was a rapid acceleration of the vehicle which required a heavy, or a quick brake. A quick response was required to avoid a rear-end collision, entering an intersection, or striking a pedestrian. The surges seem to be related to the operation of the air conditioner. The car had gone into a "fail-safe" mode while sitting in a drive-thru. I began using the ac sparingly and would turn off the ac completely when driving in the city or approaching and intersection. However, while approaching a turn on a state route, with a speed limit of 55, the vehicle unexpectedly shutdown leaving the vehicle exposed to on-coming traffic. The date listed below is an approximation. Around the same time Toyota was having problems with "run-away" vehicles, I contacted the Ford Motor Company alerting them of this hazard. I was told to contact a dealership. The dealership replaced the throttle body. I was told that the "computer" could not/did not show any information about the "fail-safe". on-line, it appears that many people have had these problems. Due to the season, I will not know if the problem was corrected. I'm hoping that the family isn't in the car if it wasn't.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Depew, NY, USA